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Baby names

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Original poster

Antonia - is Toni inevitable?

31 replies

Rolf · 18/05/2008 21:58

I love the name Antonia but don't like Toni. Is that a deal breaker? Is it inevitable that people will call her Toni? Or that she'd end up calling herself Toni?

I'm sure Antonia Fraser doesn't have this problem but we don't really mix in the same circles .

I'm 37 weeks with my 4th and DH and I are nowhere near finding a name that we like. I've suggested lots but he hates them all and doesn't have any alternatives. So I'm not thinking very rationally about it!

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nappyaddict · 20/05/2008 00:30

if you prefer annie or tonia could you encourage that nickname so when she goes to school people use that instead of assuming it is toni?

tegan · 19/05/2008 18:44

I am a Toni but not an Antonia. Would it be so bad for it to be shortened??

It definately will be shortened because that is what kids do and adults are no different.

hoxtonchick · 19/05/2008 18:32

ds used to tell people off when they shortened dd's name . i am (slowly) coming round to flo, but she can decide herself when she's older.

hatrick · 19/05/2008 16:33

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Original poster
Rolf · 19/05/2008 16:28

That's my worry. My DS is called Thomas and he's hardly ever called Tom. If people refer to him as Tom I tell them (nicely!) that he's not Tom but Thomas.

Florence, Alice and Amy don't lend themselves quite so obviously to uninvited abbreviations, do they? And yes, HC, I've liked the name Florence for ages

OP posts:
bikerunski · 19/05/2008 15:52

Every Antonia I have knowm (well that's 3) has got called Toni whether they liked it or not. Seems to be the default abbreviation. I have never asked anyone to call me Al or Ali (short for Alice) but they all do. I don't mind, quite like it, but I am just trying to make the point that obvious or established abbreviations tend to crop up anyway.

serenity · 19/05/2008 14:36

I know 2 Antonias and an Antoinette and 2 are called Toni, and I know 4 Anthony's, the 2 adults get called Tony, the 2 children are still called by the whole name.

chipmonkey · 19/05/2008 14:30

LOL, custardo, there was a 2 year old Alexandra with her Mum in the waiting room for my obstretician and I thought the same thing!

I went to school with a Jennifer who had to keep reminding us not to call her Jenny as her Mum didn't like it, so you could end up in that situation, Rolf!

marymungoandmidge · 19/05/2008 14:08

Rolf and hoxtonchick- great minds (!) - our DD is 9 months old and she's Florence ...we both loved the name because we thought it elegant and feminine, but I also love it shortened to Flo...
Also love Alice...

isaidno · 19/05/2008 08:13

My DS2 is called Anthony and he is never called Tony. I think Antonia is a lovely name.

hoxtonchick · 19/05/2008 07:53

go for florence rolf .

DiscoDizzy · 19/05/2008 07:28

I think whether you call your DD Antonia or not, if she wants it shortened when she hits her teenage years then it will be, if she doesn't then it won't. I wanted my name shortened and so it became, now I get a mixture of both.

FairyMum · 19/05/2008 06:52

I know two Antonia's and I didn't even know you culd shorten it to Toni.

Original poster
Rolf · 19/05/2008 04:21

marymungoandmidge - I love Augusta too. My top names are Clara and Thea/Theodora/Dorothea. But DH doesn't like them and they don't go very well with our surname.

I like Agatha but that may because I enjoyed Doctor Who the other night . In our baby name book it's the names from the 1870s which we both particularly like, eg Florence, Alice, Amy.

Custardo - it's the air of inevitability in your post that haunts me

OP posts:
Tortington · 19/05/2008 01:47

will be Toni,

i heard a mum today say " oh alexander look at that" and thought to msisel' she has a proper hard on about that name and i bet she doesn't like the name alex

nappyaddict · 19/05/2008 01:33

sorry no they shouldn't

first should be who is
second should be and is

it's late.

nappyaddict · 19/05/2008 01:32

sorry the ors should be ands

nappyaddict · 19/05/2008 01:30

i know an antonia who is an antonia and an antonia or is an antonia or an annie.

suedonim · 18/05/2008 23:42

There's a cousin somewhere in the depths of my family called Antonia and I've never heard her called anything else. What about Tonya as a shortened version, as in Dr Zhivago?

lilolilmanchester · 18/05/2008 22:34

to be honest, I wouldn't mind being called Toni, I like it. But possibly because there was a lovely Australian girl in my class for a year or so called Toni.

AitchTwoCiao · 18/05/2008 22:30

i know an antonio called tonio. tonia?

llareggub · 18/05/2008 22:27

My friend's daughter is called Antonia and it is never shortened. She is 8 and has been to a few schools and it has never been shortened by her schoolfriends, either.

southeastastra · 18/05/2008 22:24

it's lovely

marymungoandmidge · 18/05/2008 22:23

Ooh Rolf I also love Augusta x

marymungoandmidge · 18/05/2008 22:23

Mmm...yes Toni it will be..My hubbie is Anthony and some people call him Tony or worse Tone! I call him Ant as its nicer I think (for a man)

My absolutley fave names for girls and shortened versions(apart from my DDs) which I couldn't use as they didn';t go with surname or friends have it are:Annabel(Bel); Beatrice (Bea) and Leonie