to be mildly irritated at childminder shortening my dc's name

[nicknameshame]

not the biggest crime in the world i know but annoying me!

And an Esme - her friends call her Es. DH calls her Ping-Pong.

I have the opposite problem - DS's name in the birth certificate is Charles but everyone calls him Charlie.
Pre-school staff however decided to teach him to write his name as Charles. Poor little mite was really confused as he had never been called that name!
I told them at parents evening that he knows his name is Charlie so please can they stop going on about Charles, and they gracefully obliged.

I think its a little strange to pick a name that can be shortened unless you DO like the short version(s), they are bound to crop up at some stage.

You also need to think about the playground adaptions. We were keen on the name Titus until we thought hard about that - tight arse.

Quite a few people have said they have chosen a particular name but really dislike the shortened version. Obviously when the child is small the parents can correct others but when the child gets older they may decide they like the shortened name and wish to use it. I cannot but wonder why chose a name that you cannot stand the shortened version?

People often try and shorten my name (Heather) and inevitably end up calling me H, which I hate, but I don't hate it enough to say please stop calling me that. My husband has a very commonly shortened name, but he just isn't that name, I can only imagine him as the long version. When people use the short version I get a bit catsbum about it. (Odd that I don't with mine, and he doesn't with his own either).

We gave our DS a name that shortens into quite a feminine name, but so far no one has shortened it. (That fact that no one can spell it is a whole other headache) Except me occasionally, and even then my husband looks at me like . I suppose it helps that we mostly refer to him at the monkey, or the monkey chops. My darling sister (you know who you are!) calls him fat pants. Cow bag.

i call all babies fat pants, well the fat ones anyway

my name is sarah and occasionally people shorten it to 'sez' which i dont answer to, i give everyone nicknames dont i toadface

I really hate the long version of my name, people only ever called me that when they were cross, so if strangers do it I feel quite put out!

DS1 has disowned his long version too, must be genetic!

People should call people the name they are introduced as - anything else is bad manners.

People often try to shorten my name to a name I can't stand and it drives me mad. I don't recognise myself as that short name - I've never, ever used it so why people seem to think they have the right to change my name infuriates me and I always correct them.

YANBU.

When I was at uni I spent a couple of afternoons a week looking after a little boy called Thomas. I asked his parents the first time I saw them if he was a Tom, they said they'd never really thought about it but they guessed they preferred Thomas. So Thomas he was.

I think your CM is being a bit unreasonable to shorten it without checking - I now teach 7/8 year olds and I have in my class a Maddy (Madeleine), one William and one Will, a Charlie, an Alexander etc etc. I always wait to ask them what they prefer to be known as. It makes for a hectic evening around the 4th/5th Sept as I manically write their names on everything in their preferred style though - my colleagues get it all done in advance using the kids' full names!

As a supply teacher I took the register and started by saying -I will call out the name on the register-if you are something different please tell me, and then I called them whatever was their preferred name.

I worked with a neurotic nutter woman a while ago who called dd2 Lucy May Rose and insisted everyone called her Lucy. May. Rose. All the time. She told me once a little girl called to see if Lucy was coming out to play and she said 'there's no Lucy here. Lucy May Rose lives here'

I'd love to know if she still enforces the rule! LMR will be about 16 now!

I would say that the chances are practically nil,VonHerr, it just doesn't work after 5 yrs of age.

I'm not sure it works before 5yrs!

My 3 dc's are all called by their full names generally, but have nn's in the house. They are similar to their real names, but not really shortened versions. eg my youngest is Lucy, but we call her Ludy as her older brother used to say her name like that when he was a toddler.

I don't like my name shortened, but there are a couple of mums at school who do it which drives me mad. A very good friend shortens everybodies name to one syllable, regardless of what it is, also twitch worthy!

Oh, that's the flip side pantaloons carefully inserts full MN name!! I hate that one syllable thing as well! My ds has a popular, two syllable name. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I hear a friend shout out just his first initial across the playground. Ugh.

Oh well, may have to just hope it doesn't stick!

Not got time to read whole thing so if it been mentioned then I Apologise but I personally don't think there's any harm in it and as cm can often have many children in their charge if they ever have a safety issue where the kids need to be called urgently then its far quicker to call Ben,alex, tom, maddi etc than it would to have to reel of a bunch of three/ four syllable names. Plus if they have
done drawing or writing then isn't it easier at a young age just to write a few letters rather than the whole thing ? :)

Am a nanny. You should hear some of the 'nicknames' I've come up with for babies I've cared for. My favourite baby boy I used to call ChumbaWumba because he was so gorgeously chubby. Still, he couldn't talk / understand. Wouldn't call him in front of his Mum tho :o

I think YABU

You do not "own" your child, they are their own person and will have their own relationship with other people in the world, quite independent of you. This includes school friends, teachers, relatives - and the nanny. A loved one has many names and no doubt it's a sign of affection. Your child will no doubt have many versions of their name used throughout their lives and it's something you will have to accept.

Unless CM's calling him "lil'bastard", I wouldn't sweat it too much!

That would make a good AIBU. AIBU to be a bit miffed that my cm calls my child "lil' bastard?"

It all seems control issues to me. Once someone has a DC they want to control everyone they come into contact with-their whole environment. It makes life simpler if you realise early on that you can only control yourself-others will do as they like.

My brother is Thomas (my mum likes Tom, and is only EVER Thomas when in trouble). Everyone calls him Tom but a sure fire way to make my mum go mental is to call him Tommy, she HATES it

My DS20 started to introduce himself as Andrew. I hate it! ... He was still my little "Andy"... Not big enough for Andrew yet! lol