To refuse to call him by his stupid nickname??

[PonyPals]

So we have a brand new staff member in my team who has a perfectly sensible name - Steven but has decided to use some ridiculously stupid nickname he made up - Sonty
And he is now constantly correcting all of us and insisting we use his nickname. I am his manager. I feel silly even uttering Sonty. Yet he corrects me every time I say Steven.
Aibi to want to take Sonty and shove it up his bum!
PS not his real name or moronic nickname but they are similar to what I said.

This thread is AMAZING!!!!! I suppose you could introduce him this way: "This is Darren, you can call him Dazza though!!!" (Whilst truing to keep a straight face!!

YANBU Daz is slightly better than dazza. You could call him Darren when introducing him & referring to him, but call him Daz when talking to him? I could not bring myself to say "Dazza".

How on earth is Daisy a common shortening of Margaret

Margaret = Marguerite (french). Which means Daisy. Which is why Daisy is/was a common nickname for Margarets.

How Peggy is short for Margaret is less clear!

Could you compromise on Dan?!

This was my favourite!

You are just going to have to go in tomorrow morning and tell him that MN have decided that Dazza as a nickname has to go, but if he wishes he can be called Jonty instead.

Is he new to the world of work?
Dazza is ridiculous.

Massively outing, but I worked with someone who declared one day his name was to be "Monster" (or similar).
He had a very normal name. Otherwise.

Whole team did this and he was known instead as Strap-on instead. (Surname was Stratton).

He's still known as Strap-On in his field*, and to anyone who knew him then.

*not academia by a long shot.

I was wondering if it was his first "proper" job, and will hopefully the worst that happens is that he will be very embarrassed as he gets on in his career!

Loads of old traditional abbreviations seem to make no sense now:

Sally short for Sarah
Sadie for Sarah
Peggy short for Margaret
Molly for Margaret
Daisy for Margaret
Polly for Mary
Jack for John
Bob for Robert
Bill for William
Ted for Edward
Harry for Henry
Sandy for Alexander
Libby for Elizabeth
Nan for Ann

Loads of these abbreviations seem odd now.

I'm not over keen on Dazza, but I'd still call him Daz as opposed to Darren. Compromise, doesn't sound quite so bad.

Most of them don't seem odd

YAB a little U.
I've shortened my name and get everybody to call me by the nickname.. it actually really throws me when I get full names now- feel like I'm in trouble or something.

I don't think its shortening of a name that is the problem itself, its the shortening of it to something that sounds like it should only be used by drunk men on a stag weekend.

If your name was Mary and you wanted to be called Mazza, that would be equally daft.

Sounds like a 70s/80s nickname. I was at school with a Dazza and a Cazza, and some other azzas

thank you Cork!

TheOnlyLivingBoyinNewCork - bless you, but I have one of those old abbreviations for my name and constantly get people telling me it's stupid and nonsensical.

Ah feck them, they are perfectly standard. Don't listen to them

Why not if it makes him happy? My partner likes to be known by his nickname .

don't mind me I'm just here for the Sooty pics
Although Dazza

I see some of the comments about class and I think to a degree they have a point.
However if he was called Ptolemy and announced he wanted to be called Ptolerz then I would be equally reluctant.

Dazza? Naah not in a professional client facing role! Just no

Equally Jez for Jeremy would not get through. Anything you can imagine being shouted while pissed is a no.

Pyongyang, I guess that Elizabeths could, now, be called Queenie but originally it was girls named Victoria who were sometimes called Queenie.

Dick was a common abbreviation of Richard in the UK, as for example Dick Whittington, but less used nowadays. However Randy seems to be surprisingly popular in the US.

OK here is the Aussie etiquette on the use of 'azza's':

Darren:
If he works in a professional office, he gets called Darren when he is client facing.

Work colleagues may use 'Daz' in the office when clients aren't present. "Daz, have you got that file?"
A tradesperson may use 'Dazza's Plumbing Service" as a business name, but would still generally introduce himself as "Darren, from Dazza's Plumbing Service".

Tradesperson work colleagues may call him Dazza, for example "Oi Dazza, the brickie is caught in a bingle on the Tulla and is waiting for the towies and it's chockers so get your arse over there and get working."
Dazza is perfectly acceptable for the footy club or a BBQ as in "Yo Dazza, get your arse to the bar and buy the next round you cunt" (in this case, cunt being a term of endearment).

Darren's mother will always call him Darren because that is what she named him. She is not, however, allowed to complain when his mates call him Daz or Dazza.

There are rools and rools must be followed!

"Professor Alexander this is our new employee Darren, but he likes to be called [cough] [significant pause] Dazza".