James or Jamie

James. It gives him the option of using it for professional reasons, if he so desired.

James is much nicer IMO but Jamie popular here in Scotland.

DSS is James and we'd never call him Jamie as a NN, he sometimes gets Jimmy or Jimbo in a jokey way but he is very much James.

my partners a jamie and it was my preferred baby name before we met I think its quite a cool name but for job purposes because of how snobby people can get I'd put james on the birth certificate

I prefer James nn Jamie. There is a strong trend in UK for putting Jamie (and Frankie, Billy etc) on birth certificate, so it's certainly within current trends to do so. I think Harry is different as it has been an established separate name from Henry for centuries.
I'm in Australia and I would have to ask if a Jamie was a girl or boy.

@SquirtleSquad

Good point! I am usually good at spotting zombie threads but this one escaped my notice.

Why had this thread suddenly come back
To life? Has OP had baby Jamie?

I know a Jamie, he's late thirties and he shortens it to Jay.

I’m Scottish and Jamie is definitely a name in its own right as well as a nickname for James, so you could do either. If you’re only ever going to call him Jamie I would just put that on the cert, but if you want the flexibility go for James.

@PrivateParty

You say that like nicknames aren't an established thing! I am known by nicknames in day-to-day lift but like having a longer name for formal things!

OP

You can always nickname a James Jamie but it is harder to nickname a Jamie James. So I would go James.

Having said that it is less like Nick and Nicolas or Matt and Matthew as Jamie is more stablished as a standalone name.

James will ALWAYS get shortened to Jim!!!!

Our second choice was James!
TBH if I wanted Jamie I'd call him exactly that, not James. My nephew is John on his birth certificate but always been called Jack, and it's caused him a lot of problems with paperwork in the pass, especially official documents like passports and he's got two dual nationality so it keeps coming up!

I have a Jamie and he gets called Jimmy all the time 😂

James with Jamie as a nickname. Will give him the choice which one to use when he’s older too. Both lovely.

Jamie, I know it's a nn for James but I have an uncle in his 40s and his name is just Jamie so I've grown up with the idea of it being it's own name and I think it's a nicer name that James

Whatever you're planning on calling him, put that on his birth cert.
Or I imagine a lifetime of "name?" "Jamie. Oh wait. Is this for an official form? Oh it's James then" confusion.

My name is one of those names. I definitely don’t consider the other to be a nickname of my name , to me they are very different names

James. Jamie is a diminutive. Its a nickname, not a real name.

100% James -Jamie is so girly

If you only intend to call him Jamie, then put Jamie on BC - it is definitely a name in its own right.

If you want him to be called James at school, doctors, work, etc and Jamie as a nn, then go for James.

I have an 18 year old Jamie who is James on his BC. He has always been Jamie and finds it a right old pita that his "proper" name is James. If I could do it again, I would put Jamie on his BC - that is his name and, as far as he is concerned, that will always be his name, just like anyone else. We thought it would be better in case he didn't want to be a 40 year old Jamie but he sees James as a different name!

Jamie

if you officially call him Jamie then he'll be limited just to Jamie!

I know a Jamie who goes by Jay.

I like James best but I don't think Jamie as a full name is absurd nowadays. One of my DC has a similar sort of "used to be a pet form of another name" name, and as somebody said upthread, it's silly to object to some of those but not others.

@Erictheavocado, but there usually is an insistence.
Archer (pulls face) is usually suggested for Archie etc.

I think of Jim or Jamie as short forms of James. For some reasons I don't see Jay as being one.

Harrison often gets suggested as a long form of Harry, so I'm a bit surprised that noone has suggested Jameson.

Put whatever you call the child on the BC, but bear in mind that people will assume that the real name is the full name, or the most usual full name - Frederick not Alfred for Freddie. Not a big issue but can be a pain if the initial is different.

If you really like the full name and the so called nn, put both.

I know a couple who put just Tom on the bc, and another who just put Alex. Alex's parents slightly regretted it as they thought he might have liked the option of being Xander.

(also I would do the same for Charlie, Freddie etc, I would register with the full name)