Don't want to use 'proper' name on birth certificate/passport

I just don't get the MN obsession with having to always have a full name as well as a nickname. Seems ridiculous to me if you prefer the short version so go for the short version

Oooh just remembered my brother is called Ben. Not Benjamin or Benedict. (Well, obviously I didn't just remember that's his name, but I did just remember that occasionally he gets asked what it's short for.) As the fact I forgot about this suggests, he really doesn't give a rat's arse that his name is 'just' Ben.

So now I've given two posts with contradictory answers in them. I say go with whatever feels right and don't worry about it. People get so het up about names, but everybody could think their name is too boring/too unusual/has an annoying spelling/is too long/is too short/ should have been abbreviated/shouldn't have been abbreviated/is too formal/is too cute etc etc. I have never understood why people worry about having a name that works professionally or not. Unless your name is out-and-out porn star I have never met anybody who would be held back it, or anybody I would or wouldn't employ on such a basis. That would be utterly random (and probably grounds for a big discrimination lawsuit!)

Woah, didn't realise I had such strong views ...

If you think they are likely to want to use the full name as adults then put it on the birth certificate.

Be have short (or nick names) for two of ours - but that is because I actively dislike the associated longer name - so their names are the short names. For our other one he has the longer name on is certificate but is currently known by a shorter one - when he gets older he may decide he likes to use the other one.

For the same reason ours all have a second name that they may prefer to use at some later stage.

Lots of full names are just dreadful and so pompous. And it would be used at some points - graduation, exam listings, marriage etc so would be a source of great embarrassment.

If you don't want to use the long name, then don't put it on the certificate. A shortened name is still a perectly good name.

I would have the full name - as others have pointed out people will assume that Charlie is actually Charles, Alex is really Alexander etc. It's not a problem, you introduce yourself as you want to be called, especially if it's a common nickname and easily linked to the full version.

I might be biased as I have a friend who battles constantly against not having the full version of her name. She's Kate, not Catherine, and people never seem to want to accept that she's 'just' Kate.

On the other hand if the short version doesn't easily tally up to the long one/isn't an established nickname then you might just want to go with the shorter one if it's becoming an established name in it's on right.

It's difficult to say without knowing the name or the short really.

Hatterbox said it perfectly.
That said, I know a load of children with only NN versions of longer names on their birth certificates. It's very very common now.

I don't understand the "introduced by" bit. Who ever gets "introduced" according to what's on their birth certificate or passport?

Don't bother with full name if you don't intend to use it.
It really doesn't matter, people will still vote for him if he want's to be Prime Minister.

Just to say that I have a different spelling on my driving license and passport than I do on my birth certificate. My name has an 'i' in it but before I was 1 my mum got fed up of people mispronouncing it so changed it to an 'e' and used it for school and all official documentation ever since. Nobody has ever batted an eyelid - once when I was 16 and got my first passport the office rang me to check that's how I wanted it spelt but they were perfectly happy to do it.

So if you want you can go with the full name on the bc and then the nn on everything else, including school records (all my GCSE/A level/degree certificates have the 'e' spelling) and so on.

I prefer full names, they are more formal, and I think more professional later in life.

To friends and family I'm Hattie, but I'm only ever Harriet for work purposes, it is much more professional.

My ds2 has an abbreviated form of a name as his full name- on his birth cert and passport-I love his name and don't like the full one. Nobody's business but yours-some kids have entirely made up names. Mind you, we're double barrelled which counteracts the casualness of the first name I suppose!

Where have you been?
"Nicknames" on birth certificates are now far more common than the "full" names!
Archies are rarely Archibalds

I'm very curious as to what the name is. Please tell us, OP!

Definately the full name. Gives them the option later. People will assume the full name anyway. I have a friend called charlie. People assume he is charles although he isnt.

I have a long name on my birth cert but have been known by a short form all my life. Caused no end of problems with plane tickets being booked in short name and passport in official name, birthday cheques made out to one initial whereas bank account has "official" initials.

My husband also is known by the short form of his name but it's less of a change (and same initial) so has had fewer problems.

I would only go for a nn that has the same initial as the long name or dispense with the long one altogether.

DS has 2 full names, plus a double surname. Not only do we not use his first name, but we usually drop his first surname too. The school and sports clubs etc only use his common name;

ie full official name on BC; Rasheed Oliver Kahn Johnson
common name; Olly Johnson

Oh, with your sister's issue Mrs CB, you are just as likely to get the opposite scenario where the child hates the given NN and would prefer the long version (Or would prefer to be Beth rather than Lizzie or Elizabeth). You can't win when naming a child, you can only do your best :)

"Even if everyone calls them by the 'nn', they will still have issues at the doctors, dentists, getting a passport, each time they start a new job, whenever having to provide official ID etc"

That's simply not true though. I'm known by my middle name and it has never been a problem, only a minor pain if someone else books, for example, a holiday.

If it was me, I would put the full name on the birth certificate. Names are easily shortened afterwards.

Oh, I'm only good at compromise when it doesn't involve me

My sister has always been referred to as her 'nn'. But has a longer version on her BC. She hates it. With a passion! And it is something that continually bothers her.

I am currently pregnant, and she has begged me not to inflict the same fate on my child. So to put her oar in, I would strongly recommend only using the proper name on the birth certificate if you are happy with the proper name too. Even if everyone calls them by the 'nn', they will still have issues at the doctors, dentists, getting a passport, each time they start a new job, whenever having to provide official ID etc.

Hello - we've just done this very thing today.

I'd say just be extremely careful how you announce him or her - only say the name you want him or her to be called day-to-day, else you will have people using the long name.

It matters so, so little what's on the birth certificate: that's between you, the registrar and later, your child - no-one else need know, really.

We've chosen long name + middle name on birth certificate and short name for everything else. It's not the most common diminutive, but, shouldn't cause too many problems, and she'll have a choice in later life. (It's Katherine to Kitty.)

We have done this with one of ours. The long name is on the BC but we use the short name - as does everyone who knows us.

I'd go for full name on the BC.

I think you should put the full name ,as I have, on the birth certicate

then because you call them the shortened version always it just happens that they are alwasy called that
I registered dd2 as her full name when she went to school but even the head teaher calls her by what everyine has always called

I think full name and give them the option.