Please NO ONE DIE OR GET OFFENDED at this but, if youre giving your child a "nickname" or they are going to be "called by" xyz, then why not just name them the "nickname" name instead of the "formal name" ? I know this is going to be really unpopular... and im not trying to be a jerk here, just trying to understand. And i guess it bothers me because My legal name is Kimberly. i never in my life have went by it and everyone knows me as Kimmy, so i HATE using a name that i dont go by when filling out legal/formal documents... THOUGHTS?!
We haven't decided. DH likes Louise (he wants to call her Lulu which made my ovaries die of cute) for his Great Grandma) I like Josephine (NN - Jo, after my grandma Mary Jo). I also like Lydia and Amelia. Whatever middle name will start with an R as we all ended up with R middle names.
Honestly, names stress me out terribly. Especially girl names! I have name regret with both my other girls! :P
@owlcup I love Louse! We have something similar (Eloise) on our list of possibilities.
@Kimmy717, I totally get you. I feel similarly. I know someone who named their son John but from day one, they called him Jack. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?
@Kimmy717 Well, speaking for myself, we already refer to the baby as Fin and his name will be Finley. But we also say Finley sometimes. And I want his name to be Finley and for him to be referred to as Finley at school, work, etc. Not Fin. So basically, I want both names.
@Kimmy717 Well, speaking for myself, we already refer to the baby as Fin and his name will be Finley. But we also say Finley sometimes. And I want his name to be Finley and for him to be referred to as Finley at school, work, etc. Not Fin. So basically, I want both names.
I do this with my husband. His family calls him David and his friends call him Dave. I use the two interchangeably. If we would have had a boy, we would have done the same (Joshua/Josh). In that situation, I'm okay with a nickname .
@Kimmy717 Well, speaking for myself, we already refer to the baby as Fin and his name will be Finley. But we also say Finley sometimes. And I want his name to be Finley and for him to be referred to as Finley at school, work, etc. Not Fin. So basically, I want both names.
I do this with my husband. His family calls him David and his friends call him Dave. I use the two interchangeably. If we would have had a boy, we would have done the same (Joshua/Josh). In that situation, I'm okay with a nickname .
To me this is understandable. I just never understood the whole, were naming you this BUT were calling you THIS. as mentioned by @ElcaB
Please NO ONE DIE OR GET OFFENDED at this but, if youre giving your child a "nickname" or they are going to be "called by" xyz, then why not just name them the "nickname" name instead of the "formal name" ? I know this is going to be really unpopular... and im not trying to be a jerk here, just trying to understand. And i guess it bothers me because My legal name is Kimberly. i never in my life have went by it and everyone knows me as Kimmy, so i HATE using a name that i dont go by when filling out legal/formal documents... THOUGHTS?!
I think some people like the formality of the legal name and the casualness of the nickname. With my son, it was more about tradition. He is the 6th generation Charles but we call him CJ - we wanted to honor the tradition but didn't really care too much for Charles.
I do scratch my head when the nickname isn't really shorter than the real name - example: my neice is named Alice but called Allie.
We were actually going to go with Nathan but we changed our minds after DH suggested Carson. I told DH we can save Nathan for the 3rd boy haha (he is one of 4 boys and now we have 2 so far!)
So we will have DS1 Calvin Paul and DS2 Carson Charles :-)
Please NO ONE DIE OR GET OFFENDED at this but, if youre giving your child a "nickname" or they are going to be "called by" xyz, then why not just name them the "nickname" name instead of the "formal name" ? I know this is going to be really unpopular... and im not trying to be a jerk here, just trying to understand. And i guess it bothers me because My legal name is Kimberly. i never in my life have went by it and everyone knows me as Kimmy, so i HATE using a name that i dont go by when filling out legal/formal documents... THOUGHTS?!
I think some people like the formality of the legal name and the casualness of the nickname. With my son, it was more about tradition. He is the 6th generation Charles but we call him CJ - we wanted to honor the tradition but didn't really care too much for Charles.
I do scratch my head when the nickname isn't really shorter than the real name - example: my neice is named Alice but called Allie.
This is me exactly. I want to give my child a name that will stand up to any formal occasion. I just don't see myself saying three syllables every time I call her. I have a three syllable name and just about everyone shortens it to the first syllable. That's totally fine, but I wouldn't have wanted that read at, say, my graduation.
We named our daughter Elizabeth but call her Elle. We loved the name Elle, but didn't exactly love it with our last name. With our last name, if we outright named her Elle she would sound like an ethnic restaurant or like a car from the 70's.
Also, I feel like while some nicknames are cute when they are little, the child may opt for the more formal name as they get older or become professionals. Nice to have options.
@Kimmy717 I am with everyone else, I love my formal name but I want options for different situations. I also would like to preempt a nickname I don't like (Jules) with one I do like (Jude). Aaaaalso, I don't want to give my kid a nicknamey name instead of a formal name... I have a friend who goes by Kimmy to her pals, but she is an attorney, and I am pretty sure she is happy to use "Kimberly" on legal documents
@Kimmy717 I think there are several obvious reasons to give your child a full name instead of a nickname as a first name.
1. Having a name that can have a nickname or two gives your child more options when they are old enough to choose what to go by. 2. It's not a nick name if it's a first name, it's just a name. I go by my full name with everyone except my family. Going by a nickname indicates that our relationship is closer, and I like that.
eta with my first we chose the full first name thinking we'd use the nickname mostly, and it turns out we use the full name all the time too. So I guess you just never know
We named our daughter Elizabeth but call her Elle. We loved the name Elle, but didn't exactly love it with our last name. With our last name, if we outright named her Elle she would sound like an ethnic restaurant or like a car from the 70's.
Also, I feel like while some nicknames are cute when they are little, the child may opt for the more formal name as they get older or become professionals. Nice to have options.
... So your last name is Camino?
My husband pushed for Elle Last time but had to veto it for the same reason. Once I heard it as Spanish for "The (last name)" it couldn't be unheard.
We're team green. Decided on Thea Sue for a girl. I like Jasper Joseph for a boy & DH likes Edwin Joseph. I like Edwin well enough, I'm just not sure about calling him Ed. It seems weird to me. What do you think??
I get the first name and nickname for the reasons above, I have a flexable name and love it. What I never have gotten, this is quite rare, are the people who say oh we are going call the kid by it's middle name only.
Calling a kid (especially boys) by their middle names is pretty common in the south -- at least in my home town in Louisiana. One of my brothers and four or five of my cousins go by their middle names. I went to college in New England, and you could almost always guess that the guys who went by their middle names were southern, too. It was a trip living in such a culturally different place for 4 years. It never struck me as different until I moved up there!
ETA: my bro said he'd never do that to a kid, though, to avoid the confusion
Thanks for all the feedback y'all. Ive just been curious on everyone's thoughts. Names are such a hot button issue so i hope no one found it offensive.
I texted husband to see if he was now okay with using Ross as a middle name, it's a family name for me and means a lot. He replied saying "Yes, it's great!" WAY TO GO HUSBAND! So now we are officially going to have our little man, Cooper Ross.
I get the first name and nickname for the reasons above, I have a flexable name and love it. What I never have gotten, this is quite rare, are the people who say oh we are going call the kid by it's middle name only.
A week late...my husband goes by his middle name. He is the 5th generation Charles and his parents decided to call him by his middle name, I guess to give him a name different from his father and all the other men in the family. My son is the 6th generation Charles. We debated if we wanted to keep the tradition. We gave him a middle name that begins with a J and call him CJ.
I think we are set on Jensen for our little boy. We haven't really said we are 100%, but that's what we call him and its the only name we both haven't hated after saying it a few times.
@Kimmy717 I'm one of the people whose parents gave me just the nick name and I wish I had the full name as an option.
Plus, I love the idea of longer formal names with interchangeable short names. My daughter is Gwendolyn and we use that and Gwen pretty equally. We want to keep that style for our son too, though it's not a deal breaker of it's not.
So to chime in, so many good names here! We've decided on Hadassah Reagan. Haddie for short! Her big brother is Malachi Washington so we wanted to keep one Hebrew name and one presidential. Her big brother got a pres name when he tried to come out on the fourth of July and DH couldn't let go of Reagan for a girls name so there it is hah :-) I love being able to have a name to call her to try to wait out the next 17 weeks. Gah! So close but so far!
DF has one name picked and won't budge. I have (or had) many others picked and really loved about 2 of them. But, all names have been no...no...no (with a side eye look or curled lip) ugh! This is so difficult lol!
With DS, it was pretty much the same. Tyler...no. Jeremy...no. Laramie...no. And, there were many others when he finally loved Conner! I left it up to him to pick the middle name or decide if we were going to use DF'S middle name, Michael. But he decided on Matthew instead.
We had Dominic Wayne Jones for a boy and Amelia Claire Jones for a girl. We had out boys name pretty much right away (after my boyfriend's late uncle). We didn't even bother looking at other boys names. At our 18 week ultrasound we found out we were having a girl, so we didn't get a chance to use it this time, but maybe for the next one! It took about a month for us to come up with a girls name that we could agree on (I really liked Everly but apparently it sounds like a "lazy Beverly"; while he liked Furiosa... like from Mad Max... not even kidding. His reasoning is because its a kick ass kinda name and NO ONE would want to date a "Furiosa"). Amelia was the only name that we could mutually agree on, and as it turns out it is actually a family name on my side. I was a bit hesitant on Amelia at first, but the more we actually use it the more I am falling in love with it (and to me Amelia Claire sounds like she should be an author or something).
Team green and we're finally making progress. Bennett Richard or Benjamin Robert for a boy. I love Beatrix for a girl but my husband vetoed it. I'm not giving up. Brielle is another candidate. No idea for middle name for girl.
@PSUBecky23 I really like those boys names. Not sure if you'd also consider it for a girl, but I actually have a girl student named Bennett and it totally works on her. She has a very feminine middle name.
DH and I had decided on a girl name before I even found out I was pregnant and were having a crazy tough time trying to figure out a possible boy name. Luckily, we're having a girl so get to use the name we loved and agreed on forever ago. So we'll be welcoming our little June Bee in September.
June is after my grandmother who passed away in 2012 and Bee is a name my husband just loved as a middle name and suggested. We love it more and more each time we say it.
I think we finally decided! Boys names have been a huge struggle and I think we just came up with 2! Boy: Miles Jameson or Alfred Charles (Alfie) Girl: Zoe Maesyn or Mila (still deciding on middle name!)
Kimmy717 chiming in late - DH and I both have long, formal first names and exclusively go by nicknames. We both appreciate our formal names for resumes, some introductions, etc. but like having a short, easy name to use every day. When I started working, I seriously considered using to my formal name, and maybe I will someday if I change companies or something. One other thought - my nickname almost rhymes/has a lot of the same sounds as my married last name. It's hard to understand for first time introductions (sounds like one long name), so I like using my formal name in this situation.
KimmySchmidt this is us 100%. No progress whatsoever.
Re: Have you decided on a name?
@Kimmy717, I totally get you. I feel similarly. I know someone who named their son John but from day one, they called him Jack. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?
I do scratch my head when the nickname isn't really shorter than the real name - example: my neice is named Alice but called Allie.
So we will have DS1 Calvin Paul and DS2 Carson Charles :-)
Also, I feel like while some nicknames are cute when they are little, the child may opt for the more formal name as they get older or become professionals. Nice to have options.
1. Having a name that can have a nickname or two gives your child more options when they are old enough to choose what to go by.
2. It's not a nick name if it's a first name, it's just a name. I go by my full name with everyone except my family. Going by a nickname indicates that our relationship is closer, and I like that.
eta with my first we chose the full first name thinking we'd use the nickname mostly, and it turns out we use the full name all the time too. So I guess you just never know
My husband pushed for Elle Last time but had to veto it for the same reason. Once I heard it as Spanish for "The (last name)" it couldn't be unheard.
DS1-7/21/2011 @ 1:51am
DD-5/29/2013 @ 2:40pm
DS2-5/29/2013 @ 3:21pm
#4 EDD- 9/28/2016
ETA: my bro said he'd never do that to a kid, though, to avoid the confusion
"we should really start seriously discussing name choices"
"we should"
(Blank stare)
(blank stare)
(subject change)
Plus, I love the idea of longer formal names with interchangeable short names. My daughter is Gwendolyn and we use that and Gwen pretty equally. We want to keep that style for our son too, though it's not a deal breaker of it's not.
With DS, it was pretty much the same. Tyler...no. Jeremy...no. Laramie...no. And, there were many others when he finally loved Conner! I left it up to him to pick the middle name or decide if we were going to use DF'S middle name, Michael. But he decided on Matthew instead.
We had Dominic Wayne Jones for a boy and Amelia Claire Jones for a girl. We had out boys name pretty much right away (after my boyfriend's late uncle). We didn't even bother looking at other boys names. At our 18 week ultrasound we found out we were having a girl, so we didn't get a chance to use it this time, but maybe for the next one! It took about a month for us to come up with a girls name that we could agree on (I really liked Everly but apparently it sounds like a "lazy Beverly"; while he liked Furiosa... like from Mad Max... not even kidding. His reasoning is because its a kick ass kinda name and NO ONE would want to date a "Furiosa"). Amelia was the only name that we could mutually agree on, and as it turns out it is actually a family name on my side. I was a bit hesitant on Amelia at first, but the more we actually use it the more I am falling in love with it (and to me Amelia Claire sounds like she should be an author or something).
June is after my grandmother who passed away in 2012 and Bee is a name my husband just loved as a middle name and suggested. We love it more and more each time we say it.
Boy: Miles Jameson or Alfred Charles (Alfie)
Girl: Zoe Maesyn or Mila (still deciding on middle name!)
Kimmy717 chiming in late - DH and I both have long, formal first names and exclusively go by nicknames. We both appreciate our formal names for resumes, some introductions, etc. but like having a short, easy name to use every day. When I started working, I seriously considered using to my formal name, and maybe I will someday if I change companies or something. One other thought - my nickname almost rhymes/has a lot of the same sounds as my married last name. It's hard to understand for first time introductions (sounds like one long name), so I like using my formal name in this situation.
KimmySchmidt this is us 100%. No progress whatsoever.