Abbreviation of names

[HeidiHoNeighbour]

Let me start by saying this conversation was between a twenty something, a thirty something and myself 50s).

Apparently, I’m very wrong.

I think you should put the proper name on the birth certificate so the child can have a choice when they are older.
Lottie might suit your five year old but might not fit Charlotte when they are thirty.

I’m told that’s what they put on the birth certificate is their name and that’s what it’ll always be.
If they don’t like it they can just change names.

Our son has shortened version on his birth certificate. We don’t really like the longer version and use the shortened daily anyway with occasional longer version as nickname

Ie
Name Ben
Sometimes Benji boo, Benjaminarno

I don’t like Benjamin as main day to day name, so Ben it is ( example)

I think some names are names in their own right like Max and Theo and Lily, and don’t need longer version. Others like Lottie, Mattie, Freddie are more nickname or ‘cutesy’ sounding and I would use Charlotte, Matthew and Fred/ Frederick

I'm in my 30s and would feel the same as you OP. But, looking at the ages (and maybe reading too much into this!), was this idle chit chat over coffee in the office or were you criticising name choices for an imminent grandchild? Because if it's the latter I think that's a smile and nod scenario.

For my DD we've got one name on the birth certificate but have always called her by a nickname. Turns out she now prefers the birth certificate name, so her friends at school use that one.

DS's name is technically a shorter version of a different name, but we really dislike that name, so his birth certificate just has the derivative. It's less "cute" than DD's derivative, so shouldn't hold him back. At worst he can be known by his middle name if he really wanted.

Tallulah is a traditional Native American name so it’s quite ignorant to claim otherwise.

That aside, my Mum gave me a shortened name on my birth certificate so I changed it to the longer version as soon as I could.

@CheerfulBunny

It's so personal but I always think could Billee Bimbo Bear or Milleee Mai Muppet grow up to be a High Court Judge or professor of Classics at Oxford or a highly respected surgeon or scientist? I'd want to give my children every chance in life to be whatever they wanted to be when they grow up and not be influenced by their name. Maybe people are hoping their kids will grow up to be 'creatives' or media stars but you can't know that's how they'll turn out. What if they're serious academics?

I dislike this attitude. I'm well aware that some recruiters - wrongly - make assumptions about people based on their name, but if the person is best qualified for the job they should get the job, regardless of whether they're Dr Milleee Mai Muppet Smith, Professor of Classics or Jane Smith, Head of Marketing at MadCreativesRUs. Plus increasingly, those recruiters are going to be the Billee Bimbo Bears themselves so those wacky names aren't going to be quite so wacky to future generations (and many organisations anonymise application forms now, precisely to avoid this sort of bias). Having an unusual name didn't hold back the likes of Condoleeza Rice.

As a Charlotte, (on my birth certificate) but a Lottie generally - I totally agree. I love both my names but enjoy the formality afforded by the option of my ‘proper’ name, I offer Lottie to those I know and like... happy to use the ‘cutesy’ to my advantage.

Think it depends on the name but on the whole op yanbu

Like Molly is short for Margaret but Molly is a lovely stand alone name

However Bobbie instead of Robert is a bit too nicknamey

There is also a grey area for names like Kate or Katie where they would traditionally be called Katherine but Kate / Katie are lovely stand alone names