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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

What could Jem be short for?

46 replies

MeerkatMerkin · 13/03/2013 17:42

Not keen on Jeremy (makes me think of Beadle and the thought of giving [re?]birth to Jeremy Beadle, beard and all, is frankly terrifying) but I like the nickname Jem for a boy and just wondered if there were any suggestions?

Jeremiah and Jeronimo are a bit out there. James is too 'in there'. Something in between would be nice!

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Original poster

MeerkatMerkin · 14/03/2013 17:47

My DH has a fairly feminine name - it's one of the Famous Five brothers, not Dick! He has never had any problems with people assuming he's a girl (his nickname sounds like Jewels) or teasing when he was younger. I also like Jude so I guess I have a bit of a penchant for slightly girls 'J' names.

DH hasn't vetoed it anyway so it's firmly on the list! Thanks for your comments. :)

OP posts:

poppydaisy · 14/03/2013 14:41

I know two Jems, one Jemima and one Gemma. Sounds girly to me. I do like Jeremy though.

SleepyCatOnTheMat · 14/03/2013 09:37

Yes, embryos has a sex from the moment they're conceived (if they have inherited an X chromosome from mum and an X chromosome from dad they can only be a girl; if they have inherited an X chromosome from mum and a Y chromosome from dad they can only be a boy). I like Jem very much and have only ever come across it as a nickname for James, but agree it could also be short for Jeremy/Jeremiah. What about Jamieson as a full name?

nectarini1983 · 13/03/2013 19:59

I agree with noraknickers...sounds like a a girls name!

Floggingmolly · 13/03/2013 19:34

It's James.

Bartlebee · 13/03/2013 19:32

I know 2 Jeremys. One is Jem and one Jerry.

MadBraLady · 13/03/2013 18:30

My dad is Jeremy. His parents wanted to call him Jem, but the vicar took a dim view (well it was the 1950s ) and christened him Jeremy.

His mum still calls him Jem but he doesn't like it, he is Jeremy/Jerem to everybody else. It's partly for that reason I would always use the full name of any nickname I fancied, just in case.

Original poster

MeerkatMerkin · 13/03/2013 18:22

neo, yes I suppose my fear is Jem not being a big enough name for a rocket scientist or brain surgeon or prime minister (which is of course so likely! - but then again I do think it goes incredibly well on its own with the middle name we have picked - Alexander. That's if it's a boy at all - do embryos even have a sex at 8 weeks?!

Glad there are so many advocates of 'just Jem' - I thought all MN babynamers preferred to give a longer full name 'just in case'.

OP posts:

WishSpringSummerWasHere · 13/03/2013 18:21

Cem pronounced Jem is a Turkish boys name meaning 'ruler'...

wigglesrock · 13/03/2013 18:10

I know a just Jem The inspiration was to Kill A Mockingbird. It really suits him, he's a very sunny child.

DonkeysDontRideBicycles · 13/03/2013 18:06

Jem I thought of as short for Jeremy or Jeremiah, don't see why you shouldn't just use Jem.

There's also Jed, or Judd, or Jesse

ThingummyBob · 13/03/2013 18:04

YY - bizarre but fantastic!

Am I being thick about Jem being a deriviative of James then

I've honestly never heard of it before but have known 3 or 4 Jeremy-Jems in my time!

OP - what about Jahmene?

scaevola · 13/03/2013 18:00

No, it's because we're a family of southpaws.

neolara · 13/03/2013 18:00

I have a Jem. He's just Jem. When he was born, I was a bit scared of calling him Jem, even though I loved the name. I had to give him a very unusual first name because of family tradition, and I gave him James as a second name as I thought if he hated both his unusual names when he was older, he could call himself James which at least had a loose link to Jem. Frankly, ridiculous. I can only blame the hormones. I should have just called him Jem as this is what everybody knows him as.

Incidentally, I thought Jem was going to be an incredibly rare name, but I know of two other little boy Jems.

IamthegreatProcrastinator · 13/03/2013 17:59

Why not just call him Jem? I like the name.

Original poster

MeerkatMerkin · 13/03/2013 17:58

Thing, I'm not sure about Jeronimo, I used to work at a college and one of the students was Jeronhimo - I always thought it was fantastic but bizarre!

OP posts:

noraknickers · 13/03/2013 17:58

Makes me think of Jemma or Jemima. Sorry, probably not what you want to hear...

Original poster

MeerkatMerkin · 13/03/2013 17:57

Yes I knew about it being traditional for James but my DS's middle name is James so we can't really go there!

skaevola, I went to school with a girl with that name. I'm assuming it's not your real name, but if it is, I wonder if you are her? :)

OP posts:

KatzenStein · 13/03/2013 17:51

Jeremiah. Germain.

Both lovely names, I know one of each, both nn Jem.

Could be a nn for James too.

ThingummyBob · 13/03/2013 17:47

If I heard Jem I'd assume it was short for Jeremy regardless of his actual name OP

Same as I assume Pete is Peter, Mick/Mike is Micheal & Steve is Steven/Stephen. Although I do not assumed anything of Jo/Joe or John/Johnny!

How about Jerome?

Is Jeronimo an 'actual' name btw? I think its funny in a funny-not-nasty kind of way

scaevola · 13/03/2013 17:45

Traditionally, it's short for James.

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