Edward

We've got a three year old Edward so I'm biased - I thunk it's a lovely classic name.

He usually goes by the full name, Edward, and otherwise gets called by a family nickname which has nothing to do with Edward at all.

Agree with previous posters that when they're toddlers/preschoolers they will be known by whichever version of the name the family chooses - I imagine he might get called Ed or Eddie when he goes to school though. I know one other his age, whose parents call him Eddie, and most of the adult ones I know are called Ed.

I experimented with Teddy when he was a baby but it really didn't suit him - and Teddy seems more around here than Edward anyway.

In terms of popularity, it's quite high up in the charts (top 30 I think?), but not at "one or more in every class" levels.

Edward is a lovely name...if we have another boy I’d go for Edward with nn of Ted or Teddy.

Ned is from 'mine Ed', as Nan is from 'mine Ann' and Nelly is from 'Mine Ellie'.

I think that the Ted / Ned nicknames came about because they rhyme with Ed.

Like how Bob is a nickname for Robert. Rhymes with Rob.

My dgs is Edward and is usually Ed or Ted. When he was very small (he is 9 now) we called him Teddy Edward.
I don’t like Ned it means idiot in the North and also can be a bit donkeyish.
I love Edward though.

I've got an Edward and he's Eddie or Ed. Or interestingly sometimes Eduardo!

I don't like Edward but for me the obvious nickname is Ed. I have a Teddy and that's his real name. I call him both Teddy and Ted and err Teduardo and he always calls himself Teddy

Lots of traditional names / nicknames don't really make sense

Jack for John
Harry for Henry
Peggy for Margaret
Betty for Elizabeth
Kate for Catherine

Presumably they came about because there were lots of, say, Johns in the family and once "big John", "small John" type names had been exhausted people had to think of other monikers in order to tell people apart

Just to add that my eldest is called Matthew and when I was expecting him I hated the diminutive, Mattie, with a passion. When he was born he was Mattie straight away and is still mainly called that 21 years later. There were lots of Matthew's the year he was born and it also meant he didn't have to be known as Matthew (last initial) all through school.

My youngest DS aged 2 is Edward. He gets called Ed, Eddie, Bear and Egg. I didn't want Ted or Teddie as there seem to be a lot around at the moment.

How do you get Ned and Ted from Edward? Not really intuitive . I would think Ed or Eddie are more natural shortenings

Lovely name, classy, timeless and cool as well.

I like Edward. If I was going to shorten it I'd go for Ned.

The only Edward I know is known as Edward, no shortening.

Edward is one of the few classic boy’s names that I really like.

I have an Edward. He was Bear when he was teenytiny and DH and I still refer to him as that when talking about him. To family and friends he's Edward or Ed. He's never been Eddie, although a friend of his whose full name is Edward is only ever known as Eddie.

As for how popular it is....he's been one of three in the class but is now the only one in his entire school!

We have an Edward. We mainly call him by his full name, but his sibs call him Ted.

We don’t know any other Edwards where we are, but we do know a Teddy of the same age, whose full name is Theodore.

Ted/Teddy seems like the most fashionable diminutive at the moment - I know a couple who are Edwards, not Theodores. While he's little you'll have more power but you couldn't prevent him becoming Eddie at school.

Edward and Edmund are lovely names.

But it's Edward, not Tedward

Gorgeous. Popular but classic. All the Edwards near me are known as Teddy.

All Edwards I know are Edward or Ed/Eddie. It's the natural shortening imo

We have chosen it for our baby. I don’t know how common it is but I’ve never personally met one and know there are none in my DC’s school years so that is good enough for me.

I like the NN Bear when he is a baby as well as Ted/Teddy/Eddie. When he’s older he can choose I guess but I’d probably just stick with his full name. We currently call him Eddie Bear.

I think people tend to go with the nn's you come up with yourself. Maybe school friends, but if you NN him Ted/Teddy then I'm sure he'll probably use that himself , so friends would know him by that name anyway !

It's funny, I like Eddie a lot better than Ed, and our hypothetical DS3 was going to be an Edward known as Eddie. Ed always used to sound like a sort of jokey American to me. I've known one very nice guy who uses Ed though, and I might have softened towards it a bit.

I think you can use Edward without Eddie being inevitable. All little boy Edwards seem to go by Edward anyway. You might get some attempts to shorten it in the teenage years, but by then I think he should be allowed to decide for himself which (if any) short form he likes. He might also get called by a completely unexpected nickname unrelated to his actual name, you can never tell.

Edward is a nice classic name. I also like Edwin. Ted is OK but I dislike Teddy.

I have an Edward which is only ever shortened to Ted.