To think this name is a bit too unusual...

[jarhead123]

I was being nosy on FB earlier and saw someone I went to school with.

She's had a baby boy and called him 'Chip' - it's definitely not short for anything, I saw the birth announcement. That's his proper name.

I'm all for variety, different names etc but thats too far isn't it?! Or am I boring?

It's not common, but to me it is recognisably a name and not a random word someone's using as a name.

Things that were once considered diminutives and nicknames often become used as 'proper' names by later generations. Jack used to be considered a diminutive of John.

There is a (poor sod of a) child named Hank where I live (middle of England). All i can think of is wanky hanky or Mr Hanky the Christmas Poo from South Park. Thanks for the Biff Chip and Kipper enlightenment Forceslover and Peppersteak.

I've had several American colleagues called Chip (full name Charles in each case).

I do know someone with a child called GRIFF......... It's a perfectly valid name, but it makes me go a bit

I love it and would have had it but it was a big fat NO WAY from husband.

Isn’t it just a shortening of Charles isn’t it? I always thought if you were going for that sort of name you should go the whole hog and call the child Tripp, but it does require your son to have the same name as his father and grandfather. (As it means the 3rd).

Is Chip's surname O'Lata?

Has anyone heard the name Spike before? A friend just called her baby son Spike. I've heard of Spike Milligan of course but wondered if there was another famous Spike? And it's not short for anything!

I once met an American called Boomer, said it really was his name, pretty out there I thought.

At the end of the day who cares really.

Call the child a fried potato if you want. Some people get over invested in other people's choices. None of our business really is it? Apart from a bitch and a superior moan here.

Bet the same would not be said about Ahmed or Mohammed or whatever other foreign name. No, not allowed, that would be racist or something, but Chip is fine.

That's actually a pretty common name, no?

I reckon she'll call her next boy Dale.

blackchina because it ought to be Gruff?

Yeah, I doubt the mother will think it's uncommon when her son and the other 29 children in the class are reading about a boy with that name.

And anyone who has more than one child who has therefore read about Chip, Buff and Kipper more than once (three times in my case!) will hate the name with a passion.

As for Spike, I think if the dirty layabout character in Notting Hill. Not the best connection to have to a child's name!

Chip may be a short form of Charles in USA but in UK it's Chas, surely? I'd consider it a nickname not a 'proper' name.

Spike Milligan was born Terence Alan Milligan, btw

I want to uni with an American guy called Chip. It was short for Charles.

Spike is a great name! Chip not so much but common in the US.

Is Spike a Vampire in some series of books or Buffy ?

Prince Chip. Our next monarch.

Has anyone heard the name Spike before?

Yes, I know of a young man called Spike who's the son of a tattoo artist, in fact I think he might be a tattoo artist himself now. I thought it might be a nickname but my friend's son was good friends with him for a while and she thinks it was his birth name. Some of his siblings had quite unusual names too.

It probably is a nickname.

Just because she didn't say "Christopher known as Chip" in the announcement, doesn't mean his name isn't Christopher.

Loads of people only announce their child's name as what they wish for them to be called.

A few years ago a lady I know called her newborn 'Job'
Not short for anything , I've never heard another child called it.

Job is a very old biblocal name. He's a biblocal prophet. It's pronounced "jobe"

There's a well known phrase Job's comforter: someone who seems to offer advice and support but actually makes you sadder

Biblical ffs!