[me=Linkachu]high fives Ked. XD[/me]
The majority of you already know that my real name is Katie (heck, I'll often have brand new members PMing me and addressing me as "Katie" even though I have no idea who they are o.O), but a much smaller number of you would know that my full name is Katherine. Similar to Ked, I never go by my full name unless I'm dealing with legal documents or the management staff at work. My work email comes up as "Katherine", so even though I sign basically everything as Katie I'll still get the odd phone call or email using the other name.
The majority of my family, friends, co-workers, and teachers call me Katie, but a couple of my close friends from high school insist on calling me Kate. I'm used to both names so I don't really mind which people use. Further still,
everyone called me Kate at one of the various elementary schools that I attended, but I can't remember why. I guess I'd introduced myself that way and it stuck.
I don't really have many nicknames for my real name. My older siblings gave me several ages go that I won't be repeating (doubt I could even spell 'em if I wanted to), and my grandfather used to call me Katie-Katherine. Beyond that, I had a friend in grades 4/6 who called me "Kat" to play off her nickname, Leo, and a high school friend who'd write my name as "KT". Finally, Alex and Rach (aka. Doctor Oak and Prof. Cinders) have a tendency to call me Katifer (assuming I'm spelling it right).
Oh, and because I'm bored, this amused me:
Katherine \k(a)-theri-ne,kath(e)-rine\ as a girl's name is pronounced KATH-rin, KATH-er-rin. It is of Greek origin, and the meaning of Katherine is "pure". From the word "katharos". The name may also have come from Hecate, the name of the Greek goddess of magic. Yet another possible source is Greek "aikia", "torture". All these meanings are likely associated with Saint Aikaterine of Alexandria (fourth century), who was born a pagan but died as a Christian martyr. A name in use since at least the third century AD. The early Latin forms Katerina and Caterina became Katharine and Catherine.
My middle name is Nicole, which apparently means "people of victory". While I have no idea where the name Katherine came from, "Nicole" was a spin-off of the male version Nicholas - the name of Mom's doctor when I was born. Apparently he was a really awesome guy who came in specially for her during his vacation time. I rarely go by the name (not that I dislike it or anything), but a certain buddy of mine sometimes calls me "Nikky" when I poke fun at her middle name. XP
Oh, and for the record, "Austin" is not my real last name (although it would've been if my paternal great-grandfather hadn't been adopted).
I don't like giving out my actual last name because it's incredibly rare in Canada, so for anyone who does know it - please don't post it here. Kthx.