Mumsnet Talk

DS2 is due in 2 days and we are struggling to agree on a name. Trying for the holy grail of a classic name which is not overused. DS1 is Maximilian.

I like Tristan, but DP is not sure as it has no obvious short form other than Stan, which hadn't even occured to me. He is also worried it might be a bit poncy - what do people think?

Also, I was favouring Dexter as a middle name, but DP thinks it is too much of a "statement name" to go in the middle and the poor boy should have something more conventional to fall back on, which I kind of agree with. Any ideas of what would go well with Tristan?

Just to complicate things further, DS1 has 2 middle names, so ideally looking for 2 middle names for DS2 as well.

does it really need a short form?

i don't think anyone will get stan from tristan tbh, it's more likely to be shortened to Tris or something

i know a Tristan James who gets called TJ for short.

Tristan is a great name (I knew one who was Tris for short).

Tristan is too close to triste (sad) for me.

How about Quentin which has a similar feel and you could shorten to Quen or Quin?

I agree about Tristan being shortened to Tris as that is where the emphasis is on. Stan would not be an obvious nickname imo.

I too think of sad when I hear Tristan. A nice name otherwise though. Why would you need to shorten?

Thanks for comments. I don't particulary want to shorten it, but know that it will get shortened and was just checking whether anyone else automatically thought of Stan, or if it was just my DP!

Like others have said the short form is usually Tris ( I went to school with one) nice name btw

Used to be labeled as pure Chav by many a MNetter.

I am sure there's an MNer with a Tristan called Stan for short.
Our T. gets nn'd Tricky & Trickadoo. I've been trying out Trist just lately, too. But that's easily confused with Chris (nice name, just not what we meant!).

He's often called (not by us) Christian, Dustin, Justin, Tristram (etc.). And the irony is that our T. had a speech problem so couldn't say his own name clearly until about 6yo.

Quentin is nice, too, and I think fits better with your DS1; Tristan simply isn't grand enough to compete.

My brother is Trystan (Welsh spelling). Those not using his full name call him Tryst or Trys. Never heard of Stan as a nn.

I like Tristan, and would shorten it to Tris. Tris sounds quite teenage-cool, iyswim.

Tristan was on my teenage internal baby name list, in homage to Tristan in the James Herriot books, who came across as extremely sexy on the page (though not so much in the TV version). Sorry, random response - never come across Stan as a shortening either.

I like it, but my sister is called Isolde so I'm biased!

what about Tristram? very similar but def no chance of Stan!

Nice to hear the positive responses, now just need to convince DP. He has said he will go along with whatever I pick (within reason!), but obviously I want him to like it too.

I would never have thought of Tristan as a chav name, if anything I was worried it was too posh/wet.

I'm not that keen on Quentin, it's a nice enough name but I don't feel like "Quentin's mum" for some reason. DS1 rarely gets called by his full name, so is not really that grand - it is a hard name to follow though.

My immediate thought was Tristan and Isolde, so glad others make that connection as well. Young Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall also springs to mind, which is no bad thing! I will bear in mind the possible confusion with Christian/Dustin/Justin, imagine that can get annoying.

My friend Tristan is nn Trig. Don't think that helps you any, though

Nice name.
Tris is the only NN I have come across.
On the negative side it is considered a bit of a weak name (in my experience) and a killer for lisps involving the letters r and s!

How about Sebastian or Alexander? They go well with Maximilian as both are classical names.