To be perplexed when people give their children nicknames as proper names

[ElphabaTheGreen]

For example, there are a lot of little Charlies about at the moment - none are called Charles. Similarly, lots of Harries (none are Henry), Alfies (no Alfreds thank God) and a friend has given both of hers what I would consider to be nicknames (Evie and Libby, not Eve and Elizabeth).

Discuss.

What about people who only use their middle name? What's that about?

Sash - I have lots of those in my family tree. Makes tracing people so much harder.

Have to say re nn as real name. It's definitely not a modern trend. Just look at past birth records. Lots in the past too.

You sound snooty and mean, OP. And why slag off other people's choices? I know a lovely little Alfred.

Snooty and mean? Nah, not me. One has to be a little incendiary in AIBU, don't they? I'm sure it's in the MN Guidelines somewhere. (And I did downgrade my 'perplexed' to 'curious' further upthread...)

I have a friend called Toby, though, who's livid his parents didn't call him Tobias (or something else entirely). He reckons he's stuck with a three year old's name for the rest of his life and he's going to get laughed at when he's in a nursing home.

I couldn't call my dd by her full name, its not a baby name iyswim. We wanted to give her the full name though A) because it is a stunning name and B) because she then has the choice when she is older of using the 'real' name or nickname.

My first name is a shortened name. It hasn't affected me in any way and I do detest the long name but I would have preferred a name that is very close too it and is a 'real' name.

I was never going to call my baby Maximillian or anything like it so couldn't see why I'd want to put something long and hard to spell on his birth certificate when we intended to call him Max and now he will have a nice head start on learning to write his own name :)

I know a TJ. Not short for Tom Junior or anything. Just TJ.

Mum had a friend who gave his kids a middle initial each. Not a name, just a middle initial, of L, M, and N respectively.

Both my DDs are known by their nicknames rather than the names on their birth certificates.

DD1s is completely different to her proper name which I don't really like.

DD2 is known by her nickname as that's what she can say. I use her proper name much more though.

I use a shortened version of my name Catherine, but I love having options.

Erm its personal choice. Nothing wrong with it, names evolve over time.
My dd is Chrissy. We named her after MIL (who sadly died years before dp and I got together). We toyed with Christina, but no one called MIL that, hence the shortened version
However, ds is Edward, after dp. But we do shorten it to Eddie.

I like longer names too. Sam always seems like a diminutive to me, same as Liz etc

kitchen - but jon and john sound the same - so surely if you are working on the same premise you would have to give your child the name athan to give option later in life in case they want to shorten or do something else with the name - only giving the Jon bit would prevent this, same with Marcus and Mark or Jane and Janet

I prefer long names for formal purposes such as birth certificates. It also gives them more options in later life. Alfie is cute for a little boy but not great for a grown up who wants to be taken seriously.

My actual name is one syllable so as a child my nickname was actually longer than my real name, oddly enough. I reverted to my proper name when I was seven as I preferred it - if the nickname (a shortened, affectionate form of another, similar name to my actual name) had been on the certificate I wouldn't have had that option.

I don't mind the names like Will or Alfie, I have cat bum face when I hear names like Jayden .. BUT I know its entirely my problem (and so will just call MY kids "proper" names )

Well Alfie can be known as alf when he's older, I worked in nursing homes and loads of Alfreds were Alf. Funnily loads of Milicents were known as Millie, which I think sounds more like a child's name than an old ladys and it didn't seem to bother them.

Ds3 is tommy, he can always call himself Tom if he thinks Tommy is too childish.

There's nothing stopping Toby Introducing himself as Tobias if he wishes.

if names can be shortened surely they can also be elongated and if your name is Tom you can choose to be called Thomas - there isn't an unwritten rule that you can't tell someone you want to be called whatever you like.

I have several friends that don't even use there first name

Helen became Vicki at some point, as did Michael become Tony, Bill (William) became Reg and Frederick was known as Tim. None of their birth certificate names were anything like there day to day names. Which is a little confusing when you visit one in hospital and can't find out which ward they are on as the names don't match what you know...

YABU. To me shortened forms are fine eg.. Ben, Sam, Zac, Jake. NN to me are Bazza, Shaz, Edhead, Big Baz etc. I am not keen on cutesy names like Alfie, Archie etc but each to their own. Much better than Archibald also. Strong short names like Ben etc are great. Why add 'jamin' on the end if you are going to always call him Ben? I also dislike NN with a different letter. Eg is Elizabeth Smith known as Lizzie L Smith or E Smith?

I have a very long name with several shortenings. It is annoying when teachers etc call me full version as it seems to formal. Yet if strangers use the very short version it seems to close. Would be easier to be a Jane or other name which can't be changed! Only downside to a short name is you may get at first, 'is it short for....' but no big deal.

Speaking of old people's homes, my wonderful Great-Aunt Hilda always disliked her name, and took the opportunity of moving into a home to change it - to Penny! Still surprising us even at 93. The order of service for her funeral had 'Hilda - known as Penny - surname'.

All names are made up.