Why would a guy suddenly stop calling me by my name?

[Anonymous]

My male friend calls people by their names and he used to call me by my name as well. Suddenly he has stopped that. If he sees me he'd start talking to me and usually the tone is a bit different, I somehow always understand that he's talking to me. But why would he stop using my name? In fact he won't use my name while mentioning me in conversations with other people either. He'd say: "she said this", "I was talking about her" and refer to me, etc.

Please don't ask me to ask him. It feels awkward to mention it.

[HollyK21]

This question is so specific, really only he could answer that. If you think it’s too awkward to ask about then I think that is you knowing subconsciously the question is just silly. He may not even notice he stopped calling you by name or that you’d even notice something like that…

[Asker]

No, I'm not really thinking it's silly. He stopped this around 4 months ago and there were situations where he had to use my name and he hesitated.

[HollyK21]

Well, if you don’t think the question is silly then why not ask? Like I said, the answer to this would just be super specific because what excuse could anyone possibly think of as to why he isn’t saying your name? At least if we were trying to draw assumptions as to why he, for example, stopped flirting. There’s a handful of reasons that come to mind immediately, because the situation is generic enough. Something like him not saying your name, I couldn’t possibly think of a reason for that, neither could you and you actually know him.

[Asker]

It's not at all because I think the question is silly. It's because I think there's more to it and I was actually looking for male pov although the question was open to everyone. I had been with him when say a mutual friend called and asked him if anyone is with him and he'd say: "I'm with... a friend/someone" instead of using my name. It's kinda noticeable, he will talk to me without addressing me with any name or anything similar but just by starting sentences looking at me. Only with me. So I was curious if he has started disliking me or something like that but is not being able to be vocal about it. And I don't know if there's something wrong actually so I wasn't confident enough to ask him.

[Anonymous]

You know the guy and can’t answer this but we will know?

[Asker]

This question wasn't really for women. I was just trying to understand the male pov, what exactly makes men stop using the name of a female friend suddenly, whether it's discomfort, dislike or something else. He does have an answer, I don't want to suddenly stir things, that's why I am not asking him.

[Jeff51]

Hope its not hey you. Ask him.

[Asker]

It's usually full on conversations starting. I'd be passing by him and he'd say: "so, what are you up to?" even if there are tons of people around. I know that he's speaking to me specifically because if it were someone else he'd have used a name.