Freddie?

These things are never quite as popular as one might think though, especially in schools where there are more than one class per year group. Also the popularity of names does vary by region too, so not all areas have the same most common names.

I teach in a three form entry school. Whilst we do have children named Frederick (shortened to Freddy), Alfred, Freddie, Fred and a Wilfred we actually don't have more than one of each 'known' name. One class has Alfred and Freddy, but they aren't called the same thing. The rest are across the three year groups and in different classes.

Our most popular names at the moment aren't usually the top 10 names 🤷‍♀️

I absolutely love being called my full name (3 syllables) for work and when meeting new people.

Equally I love my close family calling me a cute nickname at home.

I love the options.

But your name is what you choose it to be, definitely not what other people call you. If you preferred the longer version, that’s what you would tell people your name is. If you are named Frederick, you can choose to be Freddie. If you are called Freddie, you can’t choose to be Frederick.

When people say "give them a choice" it's not really a choice as your name is what people call you. I have a formal longer name that I have NEVER been called. I am always called the shorter nick name. It annoys me that all documentation is the longer name and in doctors surgeries / school / banks people will call out the longer name. To me it's not my name. I asked my parents and they said they wanted to give me a choice... but I wouldn't just randomly decide to start using the longer name that no one has ever called me. I think that's odd. Go with Freddie. It's a lovely name.

Sorry options

Why are parents so keen to give their children such infantile cutesy names?

It's like in our generation people naming their boys Markie or Stevie instead of Mark or Steven.

Your son may prefer the op to that go with Frederick.

No, you definitely don't have to choose a longer version of the name just for the sake of it.

Freddie is derived from a longer name but if you want to name your child Freddie then do it. I would.

I'd call him Fred nickname Freddie.

I prefer a fuller name, for more options as an adult but I had my turn when naming my dc all those years ago.
If you (and your dp) think 'Freddie' is enough, then put that on the birth certificate.

Do be aware there are a LOT of 'Freddies' around that are 4 and under at the moment - don't know if that affects your choice.

1. Freddie is massively overused. He will be one of the 5 Freddies in his class. If you don’t mind that , no problem

1. Freddie is not ok for a birth certificate, for a job interview, for a wedding ceremony. Please wrote him down as Wilfred or Alfred or even Fred, not Freddie! He won’t be baby forever

Yes to this

Call him Freddie. There are so many little Freddie's being born now (I know of 2 in the last 2 weeks!) So by the time he's older, it will be a 'proper' name!

I’d probably use Alfred

Fred isn’t much of a grown up option

Alfred Tate sounds good to me

Plus there are SO MANY Freddies it’s good for him to have a few options

I think Frederick, Wilfred, Alfred etc are better than Freddie. I would give him options in life. Freddie seems fine for a child, but I can imagine a grown man not being keen. He might be fine with it, he might not.

Frederick is an awful name. I know lots of people who have named their sons just Freddie and it's absolutely fine.

Fred or Ed sound like nicknames to me.

I would definitely give my son the full name to give him options. So Frederick or Edward for example

Fred seems as 'proper' to me as Frederick or Alfred or Wilfred.
I would just use Fred and call him Freddie

I love Freddie

I have at least 2 Freddies in every baby class I attend atm.

Love Freddie. I kind of agree with the others about offering a choice but I don’t like the full names personally.

Give your son the option of a full name.

Frederick is a beautiful name and he can shorten it to Fred or Freddie.

I would assume any Fred or Freddie is called Frederick

I think it’s not about your personal choice or preference because it isn’t going to be the name you carry for the next 80 odd years. It’s about giving your child options for their lifetime. You will have the opportunity to call your child Freddie with your family, he will have the opportunity to call himself Freddie or whatever version of Frederick he chooses.

(no one has ever socially called me by my long name, but I use it on all official documentation and prefer it that way)

I know you are not keen on Frederick, but he might be. Then he gets a choice as an adult if he doesn't want to be an adult Freddie. I'd give him a real name and then just introduce him as Freddie to be people. Freddie just doesn't sound like a name in its own right to me

Absolutely love Freddie, not with Tate though

Although it’s not at all to my taste, it’s fine to just call him Freddie. I know several people who have the ‘shortened’ version of a name on their BCs, and there have seemingly been no negative results.