Dp wants Nicholas I want Nico. Who's right?

Not massively keen on the name Nico for a child, but I think that might be because that was the name of the gorilla at Longleat.
Nicholas would give him more options when he is older.

Well you say that fox but when you are choosing a name for your child you don't pick it at random. My elder daughter has a name with no options but because it is not a diminutive no one sees that as a problem.

I always find the "longer name gibes more options" argument a bit odd, unless you genuinely like all the options.

It's not (or shouldn't be) about whether you like all the options - when a person is old enough to have a preference of their own, they should be allowed to go with it!

I have 3 kids who are all called diminutives of their full name. 2 girls and a boy. It's normal, never cases us problems.

Nicholas...every second baby I meet is called Nico!!

Well, your DH is right because his way is the only way you both get your way, iyswim.

However, depressingly none of it matters as he will be Nick by the time he is 20, regardless of his BC.

I would always use the long form. He can indicate the 'preferred name'; in school, and when he gets to know people later in life he can tell them what to call him if he wants to be known as Nico.

I have a different perspective from that of Beebee.
The name I have been known as all my life is the Irish version of my BC name. I like having both a formal and informal name and it has never been an inconvenience to me except that the Irish name has elicited the odd hilarious mispronunciation. I like having the theoretical option to use the formal and very pronounceable name if I ever feel like it.

I have a Nicholas, he likes being called Nico (pronounced neek-o) when he started nursery and then school we put it as his preferred name and that's what he gets called, is on all school books, reports etc and what he is known by

So just thought I would add my own experience here , this is by no means what you will feel.
We registered our daughter a ‘ long/formal name’ for her BC. That we never intended to use just felt pressured or thought it was the right thing as you mention in the title to do. However as soon as I registered her and starting taking her to the doctors, signing up for groups it annoyed me so much that the name like in your case nico was only preferred name whereas in my mind she was just ‘nico’. It began to really bother me to the fact I got very down. After 4 months we decided to officially change her name to the name she was always known as. I think it ok to consider a long name for BC but in my case and a little like yours the shortening we were using wasn’t the obvious shortening for the name.

The thing is, the OP isn't interested in other people's preference for Nicholas over Nico. She and her dh prefer Nico, in part because it works in other languages. The fact that some people dislike Nico if anything would reaffirm my preference for not having Nicholas as an alternative, if i wanted Nico to be the name he was known as.

Nico is cool, strong and interesting. see, I profoundly disagree with this. To me, it’s the opposite of cool and strong, and it’s not very interesting. Nicholas is the strong and interesting name.

For every person who wishes they had ghe longer name, there is another, like some family members, who cringe at their full name being exposed by a supply teacher or at their wedding though. Some long versions are akin to having an embarrassing middle name - not something you can ever imagine anyone choosing to use. It depends on the name.

Notmyrealname, In real life I have a very short name too and always wanted something that could be shortened. There's something friendly about that. When I was a child I used to pretend I was called Victoria or Rebecca (or Rachel - Ray), my mum used to do her nut :-). She was so mean she didn't even give me a second name!

I do like some single syllable names - Jane, Claire, Ann, Mark, Paul and John are classic. My name is not classic .

Definitely Nico if you love the name Nico - its the only way to guarantee that people will come him Nico! As soon as you put in a longer name that one parent uses in full then the opportunities for the shortened preference start to disappear.
Nico is cool, strong and interesting. Nicholas is weak, slightly sad and boring.
As for someone saying all ‘o’ names will be dated - only if you stay in a teeny bubble in a teeny part of england! Many cultures have names ending in ‘o’ and it isn’t that bit that dates them.

Nicholas. It's a more rounded name and gives more options when he's grown up.

I have a short name (usually a nickname). I hate it and everyone assumes it's short for the long version which has caused issues with admin.

As a result both DC have long names on the BC and shortened ones they go by. They use the short version in school, never any confusion, it's on the forms as known as.

I'd go Nicholas nickname Nico.

Nicholas, then if he doesn't like Nico, he has choices.

I always find the "longer name gibes more options" argument a bit odd, unless you genuinely like all the options. My dd1 has a short name that is never really shortened. So do i and dh. No one has ever suggested this is a downside to these days. Dd2 has a name that is short for one or two other names. In the end we went for one of these because we genuinely love it, but to have gone with the other, which to my mind is a totally different and way less nice name, to give "options" would have felt very strange. If dd2 had chosen one of these other options it would have felt as weird as if dd1 changed her name to something random we hadn't chosen. Something shes entitled to do, obviously, and i'd have to get used to, but something that would be a bit disappointing on some level.

It is slightly different if the short name is one that can only ever work for a child but lots of adults with proper jobs are only ever known by a short form. Tony Blair, Ed Milliband, Tom Bingham, lots of Bens, Tims etc

Nicholas girls shouldn't climb trees!

Your DH is right. Nicholas provides more options for him when he gets older.

Just realised that Nicholas is basically knickerless.

I would deffo assume female.

Think both names are pretty rough, tbh.

Nico for me. I hate the name Nicholas.

There’s a female Nico in Hollyoaks. Nowadays I might assume Nico was female.

Ah. Well they are the two names thst spring to mind when I hear it.