Alistair, wdyt?

AKSchilb

My husband is in love with the name Alistair right now.  I've been going back and forth on how I feel about it.  I love it when I think of Cookie Monster being Alistair Cookie for Monsterpiece Theater but other times I'm not so sure.  My family tends to use formal names in public and then shorten versions of names in the family, like to everyone I am Amanda but to my family I'm Mandy.  For Alistair, I really dislike the name Al and I don't want to use Ally because I have a niece named Ally (Allyson).  The only other nickname I have seen to use is the name Alec since Alistair is a form of Alexander. So...

What do you think of the name Alistair?

Do you like the nickname Alec for Alistair?

Can you suggest any other nicknames besides Al, Ally, and Alec? 

TheWop

Pretentious, snooty.  I honestly don't like it, even though I'm sure it'll get a lot of love on this board.

526SadieSadie

Sounds pretty pretentious to me, I don't like it.

shutupanddance07

Not gonna lie... It's terrible. 

I don't think you should ever tell anyone your unsolicited thoughts on their child's name, but hey... you asked... 

queenbone

Alistair is very British sounding, I don't think I could pull it off, but I'd like it on someone else's kid. (Especially if they were recently emigrated from England.)

Alec seems like a bit of a stretch to me. I think Al would be best for the NN. Maybe keep the name on your list and Al might grow on you? Or could the NN be derived from the FN and MN initials? That's generally nms, but it might work for you.

mhickey426

I picture a rich old man who only has his money to keep him company.  I don't like it at all.  I am sorry but it is my opinion.  I feel like it is a tough name for a little kid to grow up with.  I also don't see Alec as a nickname for Alistair

mommytoconnor

Hate the name, picture stuffy shirt old man. sorry.

abbieaggie

I like it, we have a guy at work from Scotland and he spells it Alister (maybe its a different name, but your spelling seems the way his name is pronounced).

I think its different enough, but still a real name.  As far as nicknames, you can nn your child anything you want, my name is Amber and my family calls me Abbie - which is usually used for Abigail. We have Mary on our short list, but if baby is a girl she will go by Maggie.  GL

raefre

When we first got married, we considered the name.  Although it would fit with our last name, it just isn't my *favorite* name.  Would I think it was pretentious? No. Would I side-eye it? No. 

Alec works for a NN.

mamainseptember

I don't like it at all. It reminds me of a soap opera I use to watch in high school, Passions haha. 

amandaf6383

I love it. I nannied for a boy named Alistair from birth to age five and I just think it's a lovely name.

[Deleted User]

NMS, and sounds a bit pretentious to me. I've never met anyone with the name, and it reminds me of Emily Griffin's book, "Something Blue".

Alec may be stretching it as a NN, but I suppose you can use any NN you want. 

cmw&tdm

Our oldest son is Alastair, he's six years old today. We obviously love the name. We always get tons of compliments on it, it probably helps that DH is from Scotland and it sounds really good with our last name. As far as nicknames, I think Alec would work but it never stuck with us. I've also heard of Ace, Dare, or Alex. Since Alastair is the Scottish variation of Alexander, I think any of those nns are reasonable. This year there is another Alastair in DD's class at preschool, something you wouldn't expect in TX.

I'm not a huge fan of the spelling with the i, I like the three As in Alastair.

MrsI

I have a friend in England names Alistair and he is a great person so I only have good associations with it.  His NN that I know is based off his LN so I'm actually not sure if or what is family uses as a NN just what all his friends used when he was here.

Guillerma

I agree with PP's.  It sounds very pretentious and very English/ Scottish. If you ARE one of these heritages and have a matching last name it is a little different.  

slukd79

TheWop:

Pretentious, snooty.nbsp; I honestly don't like it, even though I'm sure it'll get a lot of love on this board.

This to a tee.