Hank is a NN for Henry?

nargelica

The only boy name i can honestly say that i love is Henry. However, I just found out that Hank is a NN for Henry. I seriously hate the name Hank. It doesn't sound anything like Henry. I'll be pissed if we decide to name our boy Henry and people call him Hank. Bleh!

newy25

Yes, it is. I don't understand it either. Sort of like Jack for John or Chuck for Charles.

janbrady

I don't think people would use Hank very often these days. It seems so old fashioned to me (my Grandpa went by Hank as a young man).

Amarie13

Yes, but I wouldn't really worry about it. I think as long as you call DS Henry that's what he'll be known as.

nargelica

I hope people would respect the fact that his parents call him Henry and never Hank. Although I have no problems w/older grandpa type guys names Hank-kinda cute actually!?

bruin

Yep, Hank is a nn for Henry - but if you keep calling him Henry (and don't make a big deal out of "Don't call him Hank"), then he'll most likely be known as Henry! Great name!

*JCsGirl*

Yep, I know what you mean.  Every name that I love comes with a bad nn.

LoriFalce

I don't get Harry or Hal, either, and both of those are also Henry nicknames.

Tess12

Hal is a nickname for Henry, too.  I don't think you need to worry about Hank.

LMS05

Amarie13:

Yes, but I wouldn't really worry about it. I think as long as you call DS Henry that's what he'll be known as.

I don't agree with this. DH is named Phillip, but goes by Phil. His parents NEVER call him Phil and get mad when people do. If you absolutely hate Hank, I wouldn't name him Henry because people may call him that. ?

rc1276

Hank is definitely a nickname for Henry, but is kind of a leap. Even if one person calls him that, it wouldn't stick unless he went with it.

For example, my name is Rebecca, and I have one friend who insists on calling me Reba, just to annoy me. Nobody else picked up on it. Not a big deal.

If you really like the name Henry, go for it and call him Henry. Done deal.

newportbride715

I love Henry. 

I don't think people would.  It's not like it's an obvious shortened way to say it- like Joe/Joseph, Mike/Michael...

LoriFalce

FWIW, no one calls my son Joe or Joey. We've made it quite clear that we love the name Joseph and that's what he's called.

redstars93

DS is named Henry and we call him Henry. Although I do call him "Hank the Tank" from time to time because he's a big boy. DH hates when I do that.

We named him after DH's late father who was named Henry but everyone called him Harry. We thought about calling DS Harry but we decided against it. He's totally a Henry.

FWIW- Henry is a GREAT name. We get a lot of great reactions from people when they hear his name. Yeah, I may be biased.

LMS05

LoriFalce:

FWIW, no one calls my son Joe or Joey. We've made it quite clear that we love the name Joseph and that's what he's called.

Your son is very young. This may change as he gets older. It did for my husband. ?

cathy_and_matt

I could have written this post! Henry is our name too, and my DH just told me that Hank was a NN for it. I had no idea. I thought Henry was short enough that there was no need for a NN (although my grandpa is John and people call him Jack, so I should have known better). 

I'm not a fan of Hank, but I love Henry so we're sticking with it. I'm just hoping that it's an old enough NN that no one will even think to call him Hank...

Melinz

I never heard of Hank, but i know my grandfather was Henry and everyone always called him Harry

mrs.meteowrite

Luckily Henry is short enough that people won't always feel they have to make it shorter.  AND, you figure if you were surprised by the nickname, not everyone will know it.

 I work with a Henry, and people do call him Hank, mostly when they want to be irritating. 

Temp950106187509203

I know a couple of Henrys who are called Hank, but one's a jr. and ones a III, and both of them have *always* gone by Hank (to differentiate from their dads).  The few other Henrys I know are always Henry.  I wouldn't think it would become a very widespread nickname for your son if your family always calls him Henry.  Like pps said, some people may pick it up occasionally, but it will either not bother him (it is his name, after all, and at some point you'll lose control over what he goes by), or he'll say "please call me Henry."  No big deal.