to make my son stop using his nickname?

[Seriouslybeary]

Namechanger here, if anyone recognises me irl they'll be laughing I'm sure.
When I was pregnant with my 3rd my older kids went through a phase of changing the first letter of their name to B. William Billiam, that sort of thing. Hilarious. Dc3 was born and we named him Carey. So he was immediately called Carey Barey. The B phase has long passed, but somehow Carey Barey stuck and he is now almost everywhere known as Bearey or Bear.
Fine, Bear is a perfectly valid name if you are Cheryl or Jamie Oliver. But it's not the name we chose. And Bearey is just ridiculous.
He gets quite ratty when I write his proper name, and has done since he started recognising letters. At nursery he insisted his name began with B. They asked me what they should do and I told them to just let him use B if he wanted to, assuming he would grow out of it. But no, almost at the end of yr3 and he still introduces himself as Bearey. People I don't really know often say politely "Oh you're Bearey's mum, what an unusual choice of name".
But what can I do now? I've left it too late.

WIBU to insist he uses his proper name now? I would be, wouldn't I?

His teacher for next year is new to the school and y4 up is in a different building so this would be a good time.

Or do I just leave it? Tell me when he gets to secondary school he's not going to still be introducing himself as Bearey? God I hate it so much. How did I let this happen? Me and my dad are the only people who insist on calling him by his proper name. Everyone else thinks Bearey is really cute and full of 'personality'.

Leave him be! Stop calling him by his proper name if he doesn't like/identify with it. What does it matter?

I'm so sorry but this is too funny.

I have no idea what advice to give but your boy sounds adorable haha

I love bearey as a nickname!! Let him keep it

I think it's cute.

Reminds me of Care Bears. Tenderheart was my favourite.

It's no more odd than Carey, as that's quite an unusual name, plus it's his choice what he calls himself. He'll probably use Bear as he gets older if you feel any better about that.

I'm sorry, but this has really made me laugh

Oh you're Bearey's mum, what an unusual choice of name".

I think I'd leave it. Must be frustrating for you, but there again your son is now old enough to understand that some people might laugh at his name. He must be quite a character to be able to carry it off.
Perhaps by the time he gets to secondary he might change his mind. He sounds confident and pretty cool tbh!

Leave it. My nickname is Bear and I am 45

YABVU as I think you know. It is his choice and he feels strongly about it. Clearly the nickname has become part of his identity for him. Trying to stamp it out would be treating him as an extension of yourself rather than an individual. But on the upside, it sounds as though you are raising a fantastic son :-)

I think you need to leave it. Let him be named what he wants to be

His proper name will be in the register and on all his forms. You could ask the teacher to call him by his given name.

Ywbu I think.

I don't think it's unusual for kids to find a nickname and their parents hate it but if he's old enough to express a preference then he's old enough to make that a valid choice.

You can still call him his 'proper'name if he allows you - I know loads of adults where their parents are the only ones to use their proper names - Mandy/Amanda Steve/Steven nick/Nicholas etc.

I think it's a lovely nn.

I think I'd start calling him Bear and pray it would catch on.

I did this with all my nephews and nieces, they were just my own personal names for them, usually ones that made no sense. When I heard my nephew Dara been called Dardie doodie in secondary school I felt very guilty. Our neighbours daughter who was always round ours carried it on even though I'd stopped it years before.

Leave it. I was at school with a girl called Phaedra whose nickname was Kibby. Everyone called her Kibby!

Most of the staff in school call him Bearey, partly because his older siblings talked about their brother "Bearey" for a year before he even got to nursery. The staff asked me if I had spelled his name wrong on the enrollment form.

And he doesn't really respond when someone in a group uses his actual name. He will in a 1:1 situation but in a group he doesn't always twig that they are talking to him.

I have to man up and be Bearey's parent for the foreseeable future, don't I? I'll just have to say his dad chose his name.

But I can't tell you how much it annoys me.

Carey is an old family surname in our family, I love it. I don't think my Carey actually dislikes it, he's just been trained by his brothers to think it's not his name. And that his name is instead Bearey ffs.

My friend has the nn bear, her real name is Sarah. Sare bear to give her her full title! She is 30's and introduces herself as bear.

This is why baby name threads when people try to predict nicknames don't work! Nicknames just evolve!

It's not even that it's a nickname, I could deal with that. It's more that he thinks it's his actual name, and most of the people we come across think it's his actual name too.

Oh well, I'm raising an individual, right?

I have a 32 year old that has gone by the same nickname since he was two and his friend couldn't pronounce his name properly. He has a very respectable job in the NHS and they call him by his nickname, as they did when he was a bank manager. Really, don't worry about it.

Well, yes, YABU. He is old enough to decide which name/nickname he prefers. With a babe in arms, parents can still try to control what others call him/her. But once children are old enough to express a preference, it's really up to them.

When he gets older and tells his name story to whoever he wants to romantically I press, they will love it!

Yeah, so my names Bear. Well, it's actually Carey but when I was little I was nicknamed Carey Beary and the Bear bit just stuck.

I think it's really cute!

That's the point of nicknames though, that they evolve and stick. This contrived name, nn thing that the Baby Name thread has going on is such a load of twattery.

I press? Impress!

That is very funny, and you've no idea how relieved I am that DS' nickname Poliver has stayed at home. Especially as his older siblings call him Polly for short.

Bear on the other hand is quite cool.

My sister, in her 40s, did this to herself when she was 3 or 4 and has been known as Bowie (Zoe with a B) ever since. Actually, there was a period of Towey, but she sort of steered it towards Bowie when she was old enough to realise it was much cooler. But the proper Z version has not been used in everyday life for decades.