In my journal I use to refer to my therapist by the initial of her first name, E. I told her that once and she got angry/upset and felt I was being disrespectful. It was interesting because I saw her over a 30 year period, a couple of different times (70s-80s and mid-90's-2005) and I brought it up again, later (okay, so I have a death wish :-) and she "understood" why I had a "pet" name for her and said she'd responded poorly the first time. I loved discussing things we'd said/done the first time I saw her, the second time. I could see she had grown and changed too, not just me.

But still, I was uncomfortable calling her by her name too and avoided it if I could. She didn't have an answering service or anything, it was just her cell phone so I didn't have to worry about other people and what I should call her to them.