Mumsnet Talk

Which would you do?

We are having a little girl who will be called Florence (It's okay we are in Ireland it's not popular here at all - 14 in the whole country last year!) However I know I want to call her Floss.

So how do we introduce her? When we send out the text announcing her birth, what do we say?

Thanks x

I would only give the full name. Nicknames often evolve over time so whatever you choose to shorten it to will not necessarily have much effect.

Full name, definitely

Full name. You may change your mind on the nickname. DS has had many nicknames in his short life!

Congratulations on little Florence (DS was going to be Florence if he had been a girl).

full name

When we did this (not the same name, but same situation), texts etc said We are thrilled to say that Florence Jane Grubbalo (Floss) was born at 5am weighing 9lb. On the proper cards we had made up, it only had the full name.

Lovely name btw!

I only ever met men called Florence (Flor) in Ireland. I think it's a Cork thing?
It's a lovely name (for a girl, don't like it for a boy) I'd start with her full name.

I thought when I was pregnant that we would use Millie as a nickname for Amélie and although I sent out birth announcement cards as Amélie I told lots of people when she was born that it was Amélie but Millie as a nickname. In the end, we have always called her Amélie as does everyone else now except one friend who always calls her Millie and it grates on me but I can't correct her as she's doing what I said! (And she obviously hasn't noticed everyone else using her actual name).

So give out her full name and let the nickname develop or not as time passes

full name.

nn will become common knowledge anyway

I would say, "Florence (Floss)"..

Definately Florence. Nicknames evolve naturally - and once she's at school you have little control over what her friends call her i.e. what she likes to be called.

Thanks, most of you agree with my hubbie, so I cannot tell him that I asked on here or he will be full of it
I really just feel that if I call her Floss from the moment I meet her, then that will be her name, but, I guess that might not happen either.

Def full name

Florence (Floss). My friend did this for her baby boy and everyone knew straight away what she wanted him known by.

I would put both! Set out your stall from the start.

If you think that's what you'll call her for sure, I'd put

Florence "Floss" Surname

Congratulations!

What I did - with both my sons - is put the nickname in the announcement texts, e. g. Florence Middlename Surname (Floss) was born today, 7 Feb, weighing...
I put the full name on the cards but always wrote "Thank you for your congratulations on [Nickname]'s birth".
This way most people got the hint!
And while it's true that nicknames evolve, to begin with you as a parent do control what your child is called. My first son has a long name with several nickname options so I wanted to be sure people use the "right" one ;)

I would put both: Florence MNs SN, to be known as Floss.

Even if the nn evolves later, it starts out with your preferred version.

I would add the NN if you don't actually like the name Florence & don't want people to call her that. I know that sounds odd - why would you give your baby a name you don't like? However, I do know a couple of people who have chosen (or been persuaded into choosing) names they really do not like purely because they do like the NN & choosing the full name will keep their DH/DM/grandmother/aunt/uncle/butchers cousin happy . Basically, if you are going to wince everytime you hear the full name then you should announce the NN. Otherwise, I'd agree with all those saying announce the full name & let the NN come naturally .

Congratulations BTW!

I would say 'happy to welcome Florence' then go on to say 'Mummy and Floss are both doing fine' or something.

I think it is perfectly fine to announce that Florence (Floss) Surname was born on XX day, etc. That way people know that you'd like Floss to be her nn - of course you can't control it, but at least people will know. I know someone recently who did this, as the nn's for this particular name were many, and they wanted to indicate their preference. Having said that I much prefer the full name to the nn, and so call the baby that - I am assuming that they like the full name as otherwise, why would you choose it?

A friend recently announced on FB that her DD Evangeline (Evie) Gertrude Fothrington-Smythe* had arrived, weighing 14lb 10oz* - Mum and babe are doing well, etc, etc...'

I think that is fine.

One the other hand, DS has been known by a diminutive since day 1, which wasn't actually planned in advance, it just happened that way - we obviously didn't announce him thus, and he continues to be known the the shortened version and only the shortened version ever since.

What happens when he gets to school is anyone's guess but he IS the shortened version (so much so, that his actual name feels like the name of someone else), so all this talk of parents not being able to decide on their DCs' nicknames isn't necessarily true.

*Details changed to protect the innocent.

We called DD3 Georgina, but only with the intention of calling her Georgie. Georgina is for being in trouble, getting married etc. However, as we announced her as Georgina a lot of people insisted on calling her that for ages (especially my MIL, but I think that was just to wind me up).

The flip side of that though it that as we only ever call her Georgie or even George, a lot of people think she is called GeorgiA and call her that, which is very awkward to correct when you don't actually ever use the child's full name in the first place.

We can't ever actually win can we

Oh and DD1 is called Kate, but we often call her Katie, which also sends everyone's heads spinning...

Depends if you are only planning to call her 'Floss' and not Florence - otherwise it will annoy you if people refer to her as Florence!

We announced ds's name as his nickname as he never gets his full name - was only for purposes of birth cert (although it has taken school 3 yrs to stop calling him by his full name grrr!).

As someone with a long full name which has been shortened to a nn from birth, I PLEAD with you to include her nn in the announcement. I am now 24 and in my last year of university and am STILL correcting people.