Luke vs. Lucas

1026pumpkin

Do you think Luke is ok as a "full name"?  I love the name Luke, but somehow saying a full name out loud, Lucas sounds more proper to me, but I would never actually call LO Lucas, would always use a nn of Luke.  What do you think?

PinkLillyLover

Luke.

ShoeFanatic614

Luke is very much a full name. I know several people named this and I've never felt like their names were "missing" something.

2MamazInSeattle

My two cents is that giving your kid some choice within their name is nice. I'm a Jennifer - I was Jenny growing up, and became Jenn as an adult. I'm Jennifer to the people closest to me. My sister is Julia at work, Julie in 'real life" - I dunno, but Luke may want to be Lucas professionally one day? And, Lucus is a little less common (which you may or may not care about) and I think affords more fun for middle names (or a different set of them) than Luke. Either way though, Luke or Lucas are both great names!

TuftedTitmouse

Luke

plunderb

Luke is perfectly fine on its own. It is a standalone name, not a nickname. Just like Mark. As in Gospel of.

I think the argument about choices and professionalism makes sense when you're talking about nicknames like Jack, but Luke is not primarily a nn.

That said, I like Lucas, but that's my bias against the letter K, even when it's legit.

Mochadoodle

I prefer Lucas as FN.

pamiva1

I love the name Luke!

Cangel24

Luke is a great full name. I love the name!

kayjay10

plunderb:

Luke is perfectly fine on its own. It is a standalone name, not a nickname. Just like Mark. As in Gospel of. I think the argument about choices and professionalism makes sense when you're talking about nicknames like Jack, but Luke is not primarily a nn.

This is a very good point.  I do prefer Lucas though.  At the same time, I don't care for Marcus and would just use Mark.  I say either works.

queenbone

I consider Luke to be the English variant. Just like a lot of other saint's names. I don't consider Luke, Mark, Mary, or Lucy to be NNs, but rather the English variants. As strict as the Church is, I don't think they'd go for using NNs in the Bible.

Lue94

Luke

[Deleted User]

I like both, but I think Luke goes better with Henry than Lucas.

1026pumpkin

Thanks so much, ladies!  I really prefer Luke to Lucas, just didn't want jip LO out of a true "full" name.  I agree with the PP who mentioned that it's nice to have the longer name for professional reasons, and that's what gave me pause. If I say Lucas MiddleName LastName, it seems to have a nicer ring to it, but we would always call him Luke, be chasing him around Target screaming Luke, etc.

Lol, this may all be for naught, since we don't even know if LO#2 is a he or a she!  I just really got the name Luke stuck in my head, and figured it would be nice to get at least one name worked out.  We didn't pick DS's name until they were kicking us out of the hospital. 

utahbaby

My husband is Lukas, went by that his whole childhood, but now goes by Luke.

scbedi

I think Luke is fine.

JLGY

I still go with Lucas and just use nn Luke. I like having options for them when they're older.

+ASH+

I named my youngest son Lucas and we call him Luke (named after my Grandpa Luke - his full name was Luther and he hated it, so he went by Luke his entire life). I think it's a name that very much stands on it's own - easily - but it's hard to match a middle name with it. That was the problem we ran into because we used another grandfather's name for his middle name and it didn't flow well and we both loved the name Lucas and it worked perfectly.

Be warned: We fully prepared to call him Luke - the entire family and friends all called him that for years and then when he turned 5, he stated to everyone that his name is Lucas and that is what he wants to be called. He's now got every single person in the family calling him Lucas - except his mom and dad. It doesn't seem to bother him when we do it, but he corrects anyone else who calls him Luke - and his teachers and friends at school aren't even aware that it was his primary name for five years - they all call him Lucas. 

katie6/26/04

Yes I like Luke as a full name.  When we were having DS, DH was set on the name Luke and I wanted Lucas if we were to go with Luke.  He ended up being named Benjamin because we really couldn't agree.  Now that we are having another LO, I am not keen on Lucas at all and like Luke much better.  It's now our top 2 boys' name and I feel good about it

Fletch82

I think both are great names. Luke can stand alone. Pick which either you like more.

papps101

We named our son Lucas and part of the appeal was the nn Luke... we liked both. Right now we only call him Lucas and it sounds weird when we call him Luke. To me, Lucas is the younger name and I think as he grows older we might start calling him Luke, but maybe not...

jenheartsmonsters

plunderb:

... I like Lucas, but that's my bias against the letter K, even when it's legit.

I'm the opposite-- when a legit K is available, I want to use it! That's why the K is so many points in Scrabble: it's a hard letter to play. When I see a place to use it I feel like I win bonus points.

  

Shortie24

I like Lucas. That way you can still use Luke as a NN, and it'll give him an option of what he wants to use when he gets older