WIBU to have DS's known as name at school as 'Bear'?

[JacobLuke]

DS is called Jacob. He always got called Bear Cub (ending of Jacob is a bit like cub) and now just Bear really. He goes by Bear at swimming

WIBU?

Isn't Teddy a nick name for Edward or Theodore? I think nicknames as names are fine for tiny tots but when you get older a bit of formality is a good thing. People who give their children nick names as names deprive them of the choice. Names with "ie or "y" at the end can sound babyish once they're adolescent. Many Katies like to have the option of Katherine and Dannys Daniel.
If I met a bloke and he introduced himself as Bear I'd think he was either a bit full of himself or a bit simple.

We call my DS 'Stinky' at home because he was a very stinky baby. He got less stinky as he grew up, but he is now a teenager and is again very stinky 😁. I wouldn't expect anyone other than very close family to use this name.

However, Bear is quite a cute name, and brings to mind Bear Grylls who is also very fucking gorgeous cute. I'd let your DS decide on how he would like to be known.

It's up to him. It's fine if that's what he wants.

If you all prefer it to his real name then why not just change it by deed poll?

Bear in mind (see what I did there?) that people might think you're copying Chezza and trying to be 'trendy' seeing as how it isn't even a diminutive of his real name.

Maybe I'm biased by the fact I think Bear is a wanky name though.

I'd probably just tell them Jacob and if he wants to be Bear, he'll let people know that. At school he could end up with a completely different nickname anyway, DS1 is Lucas but he has a completely unrelated nickname from his school friends, he got it in Year 1 or 2 and it's stuck all the way through, he's in year 10 now!

I know a guy who has been called half-pint for 50 years. Everyone called him that, friends, siblings, parents and teachers. I never knew anyone else called by their nickname so comprehensively.

His real name is Jim and I just had to email his brother to ask and he had to think about it.

Don't call him Bear at school it's cute now and it might stick which will be okay if he is a rugby playing athlete not if he is tall, thin and a geek.

At some point someone will call him Pooh.

I'd think he was either a bit full of himself or a bit simple
Couldn't have put it better myself.

I had a friend at school his name was Steven and he was known as bear he wouldn't let anyone call him Steven even the teachers called him bear.

You know, the name 'Bear' just always makes me think of what 'bear' means in gay slang. I've clearly spent too much time in the company of gay men

I think it's fine. I went to school with a boy known to everyone as Badger. I can't remember what his real name was but it wasn't even slightly related to Badger. It was just nickname that stuck (iirc he had a sleepsuit with badgers on that he wore a lot as a baby and the nickname came from that). I can't remember anyone ever teasing him for it. It was just his name.

My daughter's use the shortened names for most things, their official stuff (like certificates etc) have their full name on. My youngest gets referred to as Moo, but I wouldn't ask her teachers to call her it, but they do at times because she responds to it 🤣🤣

You're very wise not to insist on it, angel...

Oh god no. Please. You'll sound like a twat.

Plus you will sound like you're copying off naff celebs.

Our school wouldn't record a child's nickname as their "known name " because it isn't their known name - it's their nickname.

I would make sure they have his real name on registers etc.
Not sure how babyish Bear is - thinking about Bear Grylls -whose real first name is Edward ....so that obviously started as a teddy bear kind of thing...
However I have a quite uncommon but not weird first name. But I go by a shortened form which is also an acceptable (if also not that common) name. However at secondary school I used to use a different - made up - spelling of the short version. This isn't it but say I was called Catherine - called Cathy - my version was Kathi. Somewhere along the line that became the name I had on the register etc and I was entered into my O levels as Kathi, middle name, surname. It was all kind of hassle to get my certificates in my 'real' name - and my spelling was even more cringey than Kathi...not something I would have wanted to have to show as an adult applying for a job...
But then for silly names and life chances - think Barack Obama - 'Barack' is a pretty out there name in the West (but I know is a real African name....) - I always think of barrack - why would you call your child after army lodgings?

Keep Bear as a special family name - my daughter's middle name is Louise and for a while we called her Jessica-Lou (Jessica isn't her name but works for the example).... when I was at home with her all day she was Jessica-Lou, then Jessie-Lou, then LouLou....

I still call her LouLou.... she still answers to LouLou... I'm the only person in the world that calls her LouLou and it's very special to us, and reminds us of s very special bond we have and a very special time.... but to everyone else she is Jessica..!!

No you will embarrass yourself- and him.

Well, said somebody who hates her first name and is never known by it I would say go for it if that's what he wants. I find it really annoying that a lot of my official documentation is in a name that I never use - i have the name I am known by on other stuff. I wish I'd changed it by deed poll years ago.

My nephew also has a name that he has been known as - by everyone. Since he was about 3 he has refused to answer to anything else and as soon as he was 18 he did change it by deed poll. It's more unusual than Bear

*as somebody

Ludvig

We had a Bear at school - actual birth certificate name, small rural school. Nobody batted an eyelid.

My Catherine is Kitty at school.

Sadly, kids will always find something to name-call over anyway.

If I met a bloke and he introduced himself as Bear I'd think he was either a bit full of himself or a bit simple.

You Brits are so fucking weird when it comes to names
A bunch of languages happily use it, like Dov, Bjorn, Ursula
And I think Bear is a million times better than any of the 'Hope' , 'Joy' , 'Grace' kind of names but then I'm forrin so what do I know

Oh, yes, to actually stay on topic: I'm also in the 'ask him what he'd prefer' camp. Don't make life more complicated than is has to be.

*it

Why is it always Bear?
You never hear of parents demanding their child be called Sheep, Duck or Flamingo?