Registering baby with one name but using another

It's quite common for those whose families originated in the Caribbean to be called a different name from what is on their birth certificate, known as a call name.
Many in my husband's family have a call name, him included.

My uncle was registered Leonard Owen but always called Peter! I think a neighbour said, 'he's the spitting image of my Peter!' and it stuck. My dad was named after his own dad, so was called by his middle name, and his sister was called Margaret but always called Marnie. My generation and our kids have normal names, all called by our first names or a diminutive of our first names.

In my family back in the day I believe the mums came under pressure from their MILs to name their oldest son after paternal relatives, so they would name their children Grandadname NameIactuallywant, and the kids would be called NameIactuallywant (apart from by MIL probably). So not so much middle name to differentiate them from the others with the same name, but middle name because the mum had been pressurised into giving a first name she didn't really like. Or so I am told!

My gran was one of 10 or so, not sure!
Every one of them was known by their middle name, no idea why!

With my dad it was because my gran liked a name but it wasn't a biblical name so could be christened with it as his first name so it was his middle name and his first name was a biblical name which was acceptable with the church. Day to day he's know by his middle name

@allthemiddlechildrenoftheworld I think there's an (unofficial) rule that no kings will be called King Albert because Queen Victoria was so annoyed that her beloved Albert could only be Prince not King.
I'm sure I read somewhere that if Charles had become King much earlier in his life he wanted to be King George VII rather than Charles III.
Queen Victoria's first name wasn't even Victoria.

There were shortenings that people don't recognise as shortenings any more. Daisy for Margaret for example. Polly for Mary.

And it was also much more common for people to be named after living relatives- so a second name for "everyday". Also some Christians have baptismal names or confirmation names. And Catholics were often called Mary-Something with the Something as the name used.

@Chowtime I remember being confused when i heard the queen mother called her husband albie!! he was prince albert but was crowned King George!! why, just why, was he not called king albert?????

I'm 61 and have always been know by my middle name.
I have 3.
It's actually quite a pain sometimes but very handy for cold calls as nobody calls me by my first name if they know me.
It came from my father as he would call by the first 2 names together when first born then just used the 2nd. And it stuck.

He then did the same thing to my sister when she was born but my mother refused as she loved the first name but he often called her by her 2nd.

Both my parents are passed away now and I never thought to ask why!

My brother was always known by his first name though.

My mum goes by a different name as people couldn't pronounce her real name.
My OH goes by a different name. His birth certificate name was after an uncle but his everyday name was after a family friend!

I think it was more common back then for children to use a different name if there were multiple people with the same name at their school. My grandmother was one of several with her first name at her school and was encouraged to start using her middle name. She doesn’t like her middle name so refused. I imagine these days it wouldn’t be acceptable to tell a child to use a different name because there is another one in the class.

My aunt has a long first name but was known as Ann from birth because it was "too fancy".

It's not just old people - DH and I both use middle names. I'm mid-30s - all through labour with my two DCs, the staff called me by the wrong name. Before we get really old, we plan to change them by deed poll so our NHS records get updated and we don't have to remember all of the different people that we are in different places.

Oh that made me cry. I could never convince the otherwise lovely care home staff to stop using my father’s long form name, that he’d never been known by. He had dementia, and probably had no idea who they were talking to when they used his full name.

How sad. And how unnecessary. It's surprising that care homes and hospitals aren't more sensitive to the issue. Another thing that can happen is that a person may have chosen to use a different name later in life and then forget this and need an earlier one using.

Lots of people I know have been named for grandparents but then use their middle name as the one they are known by. Including John who surprised us all at his wedding when we discovered his 1st name was Herbert. And Jayne whose 1st name was Sarah. And Elizabeth who was actually Jane. My dad had a very unusual 1st name but was always called Sam. No, his name wasn't Sam at all.

My aunt was called Sybil but hated it and called herself Pat.

Thank you!

Old English also had meregrot which translated as sea pebble.

My mother and her sisters were all called Mary and all went by their middle names. It's was a god bothering thing.

My father also went by his middle name.

All of my Aunties and Uncles went/go by their middle names.

I am so sorry to make you cry, my mum has advanced dementia too. Much sympathy and I am sorry about your dad.

Oh that made me cry. I could never convince the otherwise lovely care home staff to stop using my father’s long form name, that he’d never been known by. He had dementia, and probably had no idea who they were talking to when they used his full name.

My sibling and I were born in the 60s and both have always been known by our middle names. Our parents have always been unable to explain why

My Dad used the diminutive of his middle name - something like Robert Edward known as Ted. His first name was the same as his Dad's and they didn't want a Robert Senior and Junior. (I have no idea why he wasn't just called Edward Robert though!)
He had the experience referred to in the poem up thread when he was I hospital though - the staff all started calling him Bob, a name that he had never used in all his 80 odd years. In fact his Dad was never known as Bob either, always Robert. It was really infuriating and repeatedly telling them to call him Ted had no effect on most of the staff. It made me pretty angry actually. I know they're hard pressed, but calling someone by their correct name once you've been told it is just common courtesy. There was a whiteboard next to his bed that was supposed to have that kind of info on but I was never used.

On my mils birthday certificate she's Anne Lucy

Her mum decided when mil was a few weeks old,that she hated the name Anne so didn't change her birth certificate,just started to call her lucy

It's a pain in the arse-i know her as Lucy,some of her friends call her Anne,cashing cheques/getting married/buying a house/getting credit/passports etc have been made more complicated than it should be

Dp says he was very confused growing up if anyone rang and asked for Anne as to him,his mum was called Lucy

They are not even similar names! (Mils siblings are all called by their first names)

This was the case with mil her mum told her bk then the babies where registered within hours of birth meaning some mothers weren't thinking clearly or had no chance to change there mind. My mil was registered within the first 2 hours and her mum says some1 came round to her bed and she just blurted out the first name that came into her head.

The name Margaret comes from margarites- which is Greek for Pearl.

wordfoolery.wordpress.com/2022/09/05/margaret-pearls-and-margarine-how-they-got-their-names/

Yep, same as Ieuan in Welsh.