Gmail – How to send to a list of people by bcc in Gmail, but Salutation begin with their first names

I am assuming that you are sending the mail via Gmail's standard web interface, and that your "funny name" for the recipient is defined in your corresponding Gmail (or Google) Contacts entry for that person.

I think that the only solution is to manually edit the recipient details in the Compose window, before hitting Send.

For example, if you start typing "Smith" inside "To" (or "Cc" / "Bcc"), the auto-complete mechanism will show you the available options -- say:

 - "Smith from Company A" <smith@companyA.com>
 - "Smith Funny" <smith@companyB.com>
 - "Smith big head" <smith@companyC.com>

And let's say that you choose the third one, "Smith big head" .

You would need to manually edit the "Smith big head" part and change it to something that will not embarrass you, and only then hit the Send button.

Big-headed Smith will never know about your secret label, but your entry for him in Contacts will remain unchanged — ready for next time.

This technique should generally be possible also when sending via an alternative email client, such as Mozilla Thunderbird — but you would need to explicitly test this with each such client beforehand.

First, make sure your account is indeed set to display the correct name.

Visit this page to check your settings in GMail

http://www.google.com/settings/personalinfo

Make sure the name and nicknames are correct.

Second, make sure the emails you are looking at are indeed replies to NEW mail you sent.

If someone replies to an old email, OR they create a new message to you from an pre-existing contact entry, then the chances are they will still have the old name.

Try asking that person to update their contact list if this is the case.