Registering baby with one name but using another

I know a few Margarets who go by Peggy. Didn't realise pearl and daisy were other nicknames too. Assuming it's regional

My granny’s sister was named Mary but since their mother was also Mary the baby was known as Molly.

My grandads sister was named Mary Jane but she didn’t like it. So because she was born in the month of May she told everyone to call her May.

My neighbour is Anne but her actual given name is Margaret.

No - it is sad but it's a lovely poem. Just because something is sad doesn't mean it can't be shared

@Pixiedust1234 I have always wondered how Daisy came from Margaret.
Very curious about Pearl now.

My grandmother always went by her middle name - no idea why. My grandfather by an army nickname. Two cousins in the same generation just decided they preferred a different name so just started using a new one, one when in her 20s the other in her 70s.

In my parents generation and my generation there are several people who go by childhood nicknames that stuck.

And in my generation a lot of people go by different names in different groups depending on which online community they met through. One of my sisters and her husband are heavily involved in Scouts, where nicknames seem to be rife. At their wedding half the table plan was made up of names like Womble and Knotty that I strongly suspect weren't on their birth certificates.

My mother had been a teacher and was very firm about people calling her Mrs . Fortunately when she had to have an OP, the hospital did ask for preferred names, they were written clearly above each patient's bed and presumably on their notes. Getting this right isn't rocket science!

How? Why? I get Daisy because of it being a French translation (as a pp mentioned) but Pearl?

Is there a website or something listing these "proper " names with their diminutives as I think it will be a fascinating read.

My sisters were both born in the 70s and both have always been known by their middle names not their legal birth certificate first name. I'm the only one who is known by my legal first name.
They find it a bit annoying but not enough to change the name they are known by.

Pearl is a diminutive of Margaret.

I used to work with a guy whose first and middle names were Kenneth Charles, but everyone called him Danny. Nobody ever explained why 🤔
Also, having delved into my family tree I discovered the Victorians did sometimes christen their children with a diminutive - for instance I have a distant cousin "Lizzie" - I assumed she was Elizabeth but no, she was christened "Lizzie".

My grandma was known as Irene. That was her middle name. She hated her given name of Gladys. I had to correct the nurse who was talking to her by her given name (would have been on the NHS system) when she was unconscious and passing away from pneumonia. I hadn't thought about it until then really, but at the time it was jarring and I wanted to make sure she could hear her chosen name if she could.

I don't know why she didn't legally change it in all those years. She'd of heard the disliked name any time she had an appointment etc.

My DH mum is Irish. Always called Eileen but her real name is Helen

My dad was named after his dad but called by his 3rd middle name. In hospital everyone would call him by his first name. He always said he wished he was really called his proper name!
My brother is called it too. My nephew has it for a middle name and so does my great nephew!
There is another male family name that is scattered through the family- my son has it, my nephew, my brother etc

It always puzzles me on name threads when people get upset because someone has used their child's name. Seems normal to me!

my husband, who is in his early 40s, has this - he’s called let’s say Albert John, his grandfather was also called Albert John and his other grandfather was called John. His parents always wanted to actually call him John, but wanted to honour the other grandfather and thought Albert John flowed better than John Albert… DH finds it a right pain!

Ian is the Scottish form of john

My gran was registered Margaret Ann but always called Pearl. I had no idea her official name was Margaret until I took her to a doctors appointment when I was 17.
Apparently her grandparents told her parents that Pearl wasn't a proper name so they registered her as something completely different then called her Pearl.

My dad and uncle go by their middle names as my grandad wanted them to have more 'protestant' sounding names for applying for jobs etc. We live in northern Ireland and they were born in a time when they would have been discriminated against when going for jobs for having an Irish/catholic sounding name. I know quite a few people their generation it was the same reason. Others were because tradition to have the family name but too many called the same so they go by middle names

My great uncle is like this! We call him Peter but his actual name is Henry .. didn't actually find out until I was about 20 😁 he's never really said why! Just that they called him that from when he was very young

It's bizarre - the health system seems very aware of 'respecting pronouns' so why is calling older people by their familiar name evidently so hard? Because older people don’t know what’s best for them.

No, don’t. It is sad, and brought tears to my eyes. But it’s a reminder to make sure “preferred name” is in the paperwork

DH was named after an uncle who was later killed in the war, so no-one could bear to use his name and called him by his middle name. I don’t like my name, so am known by a nickname. But on one job change, I decided I needed more gravitas, so didn’t introduce the nickname. Instead people started calling me by a diminutive. And in my next job, same thing, but a different diminutive. So 4 different names depending on who I’m speaking to!

My mother, very unusually for the time (1920s) was registered as a diminutive, and got very cross in later life because medical staff, thinking to be polite, kept calling her by the “proper” equivalent.

Plus a lot of people were named for relatives who sometimes ended up dying in the wars, or even as children ( sometimes another child in the family was then given the deceased child’s name ) so there’s not always positive connections with a name and someone may choose to go by their middle name because of that.

And many of the older generation (certainly for most of my working career, I know we’ve become less formal since) would NEVER expect to be called by their name either, that would be rude unless someone told you otherwise , it would always be Mrs or Mr.

I know two people like this.

One was always known by his middle name - his parents always planned to call him that but they made it the middle name became otherwise his initials spelled a rude word (his other names were family tradition names and non negotiable).

The other one just liked their middle name better.

In the past families tended to name children after relatives. In some social groups there was a set pattern: first boy took paternal grandfather's name, first girl,maternal grandmother and so on. Can be a very useful tool for family historians. (I 'found' that my GG 's still born child through looking for the name 'missing' from the standard pattern.)

This tradition of naming after family members was not always as ridgid as in this case but can lead to multiple relatives sharing the same name. So people used diminutives, second names and nicknames to distinguish one from another. Some of the diminutives may not be obvious and may now stand as names in their own right. Eg Daisy for Margaret (Margarite is French for Daisy). There are many other examples. My mother is like one. Not going to use her actual names, as risk of outing but like most people she has 2 Christian names: let's call her Amelia Jane. There are at least 2 others with the same name in the family, all living in the same village, attending the same schools etc. The Matriach of the family is still alive and is Amelia, therefore the 'proper' name is not yet available, because of this we get a Millie, a Jane, a Janey, and a Mel. All registered as Amelia Jane.

Finally people may simply just choose to use another name. I do. I reverted to my second name in 1980s, when my first name became a stereotype for a 'Chav'. Still is among my own age group and still results in unwanted 'jokes' from people who should known better.