Okay so I've been sitting on this for a long time. I think that it's kinda weird when I tell people what I'm naming LO and then they ask, "What are you going to call her?" Ummmm, her name. To me NN are something that the child kinda develops and grows into. Sometimes they are shortened versions of their name, other times it's an extension of their appearance or personality. But just something so that you don't have to call them their real name seems weird to me. Examples of appropriate NN's: my father's name is Linwood so everyone calls him Lin or Redd because of the red undertone of his skin.
Am I alone with this or am I being random again? (I've been known to do that. LOL!!!)
Re: Nick names weird me out...
Totally agree.
i am so with you! i hate going on the baby name board and everyone is asking what a good NN for Evelyn or some thing like that. what is the point of a NN if you are born with it.
my DD is Kennedi Jean, and it took me about a year and half to get her nick name. i started with Kennerbean, then it evolved into Beanie Baby. she loves it. sometimes when i call her Kennedi she says ' no im your Beanie Baby.'
I've noticed that too - we tell people that LO's name is Paige and then they ask what her MN is - Morgan. Then comes the question of "What will you call her?" Well, we'll call her Paige. If we wanted to call her Morgan, we would have named her that.
My brother's name is Nicholas, sister is Bryanna and two nephews are Jonathan and Alexander. They are all shortened to Nick, Bry, Jon and Alex. It wasn't the intent when their names were picked, but it developed over time.
I totally agree! My name is Michelle and I hated all of the nicknames for it, like Shelley or Mitch. And I don't want people giving my LO a nickname (her name will be Annika), and they're already starting to (ranging from Annie to Ann to Nick to Nika). Why can't she just be Annika?
I think some names lead themselves to have nick names: Nicholas, Jonathan, Kimberly, Jennifer, etc. But there are plenty of names out there that don't have an automatic nick name and they don't need one.
DD's name is Hailey. I call her munchkin or pumpkin butt or something stupid. This developed over time and wasn't something that I had planned out.
DS's name will be Jackson. I can easily see us calling him Jack, but overall his name is Jackson. I won't be offended if others call him Jack as well.
I LOVE the name Esme, but I've always like Esmeralda too. Sounds exotic and smart.
For the most part, I agree. I don't mind nicknames, but I don't like shortened names. DH's name is Michael, he goes by Michael and everyone tries to call him Mike, but that's not his name. We are trying to avoid this, LO's name is Ava, short and sweet. If we end up calling her sugar, pumpkin, princess, whatever, that's fine but her name itself cannot be shortened.
Some names inherently lend themselves to shorter names and its unfortunately unavoidable having people try to shorten it, but you simply have to correct them.
Nope, I'm right there with ya! I'm not going to choose a name because it has a cool nickname. These things evolve over time- I don't have one because I HATE HATE HATE Mandy- so I never answer to it, and went around telling people when I was little not to bother calling me that. Thank goodness my parents didn't name me with the intention of calling me by that nickname.
Whatever we name LO, she'll probably end up with a stupid nickname like Monkey Butt that only lasts until she's a couple years old.
LO is going to be named genevieve, and for a while i didn't want to reveal her name, so i just called her g, and now everyone calls her that. so i guess i don't mind so much, cause i started it
also, my name is samantha and i totally go by sam.
So this is one big reason we have shortened LO's formal name to begin with... We really like his name (Theo), and could have given that to him as a formal name... but wanted to give him a name that he can use professionally later on if he chooses. We're also the type to have him go by not only his nn, but a nn of (gasp!) his middle name. Family tradition drives that one. Plus Russell Theodore H-- sounded better to us than Russell Theo H--
DH goes by a nn of his middle name (Richie), and he continues to use it professionally, except when putting his name on academic papers. His brother's nn (that he went by from birth) is Rusty, but he hated it as an adult and he has chosen to use N. Russell for documents and Russ as his professional name. Had his parents simply named him Rusty, he'd be screwed.
Well, my DS's full name is Alexander, but we've called him Alex since before he was born. IDK why that's so weird. Same with DS2. His name is Nathaniel but we call him Nate.
DH and I both like that they'll have options later. If they want to use their full names they can, but they can also stick with their shortened names.
Alex (11/14/06) and Nate (5/25/10)
"Want what you have, do what you can, be who you are." - Rev. Forrest Church
Actually I would have to disagree. I think many names merit a nickname...Charles/Charlie, William/Will, etc. Perhaps, it is because my family is more formal and are all professionals...but if someone wanted to call their child Jim, they would never name him Jim they would name him James. When I think of people just named Jim...I think of Jim Bob Duggar. Hmmmm....not what I am going for.
I totally agree that some names...like Paige or Hailey as mentioned above...should obviously just be called Paige or Hailey. But in many circles giving a formal name and then a nickname is the norm.
Well, we are naming our DS with the intent on him going by a nickname. It's a family name - Philip John. Our DS will be the III. FIL goes by Phil, DH goes by Philip, so LO will go by PJ. This is our way to distinguish who he is in the family while still carrying on this naming tradition. It's something that is super important to my husband, and he has talked about it since we were dating. I definitely want him to have this.
I'm Jenifer, but I hate being called Jenifer unless it's on publications I write. Otherwise I much prefer Jeni, and I tell everyone to call me that. Our DD has a name that can''t really be shortened (Kylee Peyton) but, I do call her KP on occasion.
Anyhow I guess the point of my post is that I don't see what the big deal is about nicknames. If people want to name their kid Matthew and call them Matt, then that's their biz.
DD1's name is Kathleen, but I have called her Katie since the big u/s. Everyone in my family calls her Bug. My dad hung that on her at some point and it has just stuck to this day.
I wanted a name for DD2 that couldn't be shortened. It's one reason I chose Sarah Rose. It's simple and can't be bastardized. My mom is still trying to come up with a stupid nickname for her. I finally got pissy with her and asked why she couldn't just call her by her name.
DH is the only one who can call Sarah a nickname without pissing me off. She's her daddy's jelly bean since BFP, so I've gotten used to that, lol.
Eh maybe it's a family thing, but almost all of my 12 neices and nephews have had a nickname since birth.
Our LO's name is Madelyn, and we plan to call her Maddie.
My neice Michaela is called "K-la"
My neice Mikenah is called "Kenna"
My neice Kaytlin is called "Kaytee" (until she switched back to Kaytlin when she was 16 or so)
My neice Lillian is called "Lilly"
My nephew Joshua is called "Josh"
My neice Emmaline is called "Emma"
My nephew Alexander is called "Alex"
I guess it's just 2nd nature to me. (?)
We are naming LO Annabelle after DH's great grandma. We will be shortening it to Anna.
Different strokes for different folks.
My daughter's name is Mackenzie, but we call her Kenzie, which was the plan even before she was born. I told people that though. I think I would have been insulted if someone actually asked me what I planned to call her... Like somehow the full name you picked out isn't good enough. People can be kind of rude. Is the name you have picked out one that is commonly shortened to a nickname?
We have a Mackenzie and we most often call her Kenzie (though we really do use both). I didn't want to name her Kenzie, I love the name Mackenzie and i love her NN too.
Mackenzie Beth 10.26.05 Ian James 08.09.08 Rhys Edward 07.05.10 William Brendan 04.17.12