To tell nursery to call daughter by nickname

If you call her Hattie at home, then she should be called Hattie by the nursery workers.

Her records should have her full BC name though.

I have two children who have full names and nicknames.
Nursery, school, activities always call them by their full names. Family and friends always by their nicknames.
There were never any issues when the started nursery with not knowing their name.
I have always interchange between nicknames and full names with both children so they were used to that from me. Even in the same conversation I can go from starting with full name and ending with nickname

DS8 is old enough to tell everyone what he prefers to be called and DD4 just goes with full name at nursery and nickname at home. I'm sure she will have an opinion when she starts school.

Our nursery also asks for preferred name.

We also ask when the children start writing ,what name you want them to learn to write.

We have had a few Charley's and Lottie's who are actually Charlotte's some parents have wanted to learn their shortened name and some have wanted their formal name.

OP, of course let them know both, but make clear she’s normally known as Hattie. My DGS always goes by a diminutive of his name (think Bill for William) and that’s what he’s called at nursery.

If you would prefer her known by Hattie let them know , otherwise saying Hi Hattie bye Hattie missed you Hattie etc may let them know you are ok with that nickname. Personally I would do the form I have an Imogen and I twitch when they call her Imo… so wish I had done known as Immy….

Of course tell them she's Harriet known as Hattie - why wouldn't you ?

I love Harriet nn Hattie, but agree you wouldn't want Hattie in the bc, it's too nicknamey

Both my kids are known by shortened names at nursery. My son was known for a while by a silly name that my daughter used for him and nursery loved using that for him. He grew out of that and then they automatically shortened his name which we don’t do at home. He’s 3 now and has always known all of those names apply to him and has never been confused by any of them.

I would tell them to use Hattie.

DD was called by her nickname at nursery but was sometimes called by her full name (she shared a name with both the nursery manager and a room leader) which I was happy for them to do as she does need to be familiar with both. When she was learning to write her name in the pre-school room, she learned her full
name. She’s now a teen, still goes by her nn other than at the doctors and sometimes at school when staff are going off the proper register (eg going into the exam hall).
You won’t realise this - I didn’t - but in some ways this is a pfb question. There was never any doubt as to what DC2 would be called at nursery as DC1 called him by his nn so all of her friends and the staff knew him as that. And the question of what name he should learn to write didn’t arise as he was struggling with pencil grip and even recognising the first letter of his nn/name (they’re the same)!

I work in a nursery and have a polish child with his ‘proper’ name but his parents made it easy for everyone and call him by a shortened name. No problem for anyone

Our dcs nursery actually told us they preferred the full name to be used so they see it written on their coat hook, bag, wall charts etc and learn to spell it ready for school.

But I am sure that was a suggestion rather than a requirement and if I'd wanted to push back I could have.

Nursery will need to know her legal name but you can also tell them she is known as Hattie and that's what you would like her to learn and be called. It's a common situation and won't be a problem

Of course. Why wouldn’t you?

Or that I should ask them, rather than tell them. Just make sure all her stuff is labelled with the name you want them to call her by.

We did this, and put his name as his “known as” name, and on his things; and we solely refer to him as his dhorter name… and nursery call him his long name. He doesn’t listen to anyone else when they say it but he’s used to his nursery teachers and friends calling him it!

I’ve given up on them listening to us. He’s happy and I’m sure he’ll correct then if that changes!

I'm sure nurseries usually ask if there is a preferred name/diminutive. My youngest's definitely did and we put down the nickname she'd had from a few days old, imagine something like Bunny. I know it sounds silly but we literally never called her by her actual name.

We assumed she knew what it was but after her first day at school she came home cross having realised that her actual name was the "real" one.

My DD regularly tells me her name is not her full name, it's her nickname. She was called it all through nursery, and now in school too. I think it's just easier to go with what they are comfortable being called.

Although I don't call her either of her names (unless she's in trouble). To me she is Chicky, Angel, Cherub, etc. Kids are surprisingly good at responding to a number of names really.😁

Whatever you want her to be called in life, tell nursery to use that. If it’s Hattie, tell them to use Hattie. My DD has a nickname which we all call her at home, but when she went to nursery they called her by her “given” name. That continued at school and now age nearly 7 she says it’s “embarrassing” if we use her nickname in front of her friends (the nickname is also a proper name, not a diminutive)

i also have a Harriet, who goes by Hattie, when she started nursery we just told them that everyone called her Hattie, then the same when she started school

This year they had a new teacher start at the school (small village school so all the teachers know all the kids from young) who started calling her Harriet, it lasted 2 weeks before she asked me what she should do and I say just tell your teacher you like to be called Hattie

some of my work colleagues actually only recently found out that Harriet was her real name as although I have worked with them since she was born they just assumed she was Hattie

My son goes by a nickname 100% of the time and when he first started school, I just let them know. They may have even asked because it's a popular nickname for his name.

They did have all of his name labels, name peg etc at school with say ''Alexander'' instead of ''Alex''. He was taught how to write Alex first and then Alexander.

Yeah they will be fine. DS has a proper name but we use his nick name and nursery did as well. After getting to know him various key workers had their own cute nick names for him, which was nice.

I would ask for Harriet on all names labels, so she learns to recognise it and understand that is her full name (and eventually learns to spell it at school). I'd ask them to call her Hattie day to day though, as this is what she is use to and responds to.

Nursery/school will be well use to dealing with such requests and won't bat an eyelid:

"He's Thomas but we tend to just call him Tom."
"She's Edith but prefers to be called Edie."
"He is Finley but you can call him Finn if you want too, he will respond to both."

Etc etc

I expect nursery will ask for given name and any nickname.

Just tell them, they’ll be happy to, it saves confusing her