To find it irritating when people refer to their child as “letter” only?

[Ccoffee217]

Am I the only one that finds this irritating?

So if my child was called Henry I’d refer to him in messages as “H”. I don’t see the point in shortening.. my whole NCT group does it, I find it bizarre when the name won’t take long to write!? Just me?

I think it's just "safer" to always do it this way, rather than assessing the situation each time and deciding whether you're comfortable using the full name (like, obviously everyone in the yr2 WhatsApp group knows my child is called Xavier, but if I were tagging my husband in a comment on a public fb post I would always say "do you think X would like this?") So it's easier to just always use X and not think about it.

My child’s name has 7 letters. My husband’s has five. It’s definitely quicker to type “A is working but I will meet you with B after his nap” then to type “Andie is working but I will meet you with Bertram after his nap” (NB possibly not their real names )

Oh got the wrong idea. I do use initials but we have to for work so it sometimes crosses over!

Me & my friends do that with our husbands! Never use their name just the initial! We all know who we're talking about it just saves time!

I've just realised that I do this.
Despise anyone with a daughter with a name beginning with B that calls their DD B though ( or Bea/Bee). Pretentious pricks,

I do it all the time. "J & D are at school until 3, but T and I will be there!" type thing. It's faster, everyone still knows who I'm talking about.

Yes annoys me! My ds name will autocomplete when I type the first letter on my phone and if you're on a computer how long do those extra letters take . . . .

Plus what if you have multiple dc with the same initials. Are you excluded from this weird club? Should you use middle initials?

I make an exception for anyone with a child with an extremely long name e.g. Keren-Happuch.

My question wasn’t referring to acronyms such as NCT, NHS etc, totally get why they’re shortened.. just people using a letter for their child’s name. Interesting to see all the votes!

@Cookiecrumblepie Especially when someone refers to their husbands name as a letter and then I’m just lost 😂

I'm amazed that anyone can get worked up about this even slightly haven't been on MN long enough. Often with young kids/work/whatever you have a hundred things on and it's easier to use A/B/C or whatever. (Also saves the hassle of trying to remember odd spellings of other people's kids' names.)

@HelloViroids

My child’s name has 7 letters. My husband’s has five. It’s definitely quicker to type “A is working but I will meet you with B after his nap” then to type “Andie is working but I will meet you with Bertram after his nap” (NB possibly not their real names )

But still rather impressive you thought of alternatives the right length for your initial statement!

It would cause utter confusion in my family. Both me and my sibling have the same first initial 🤣🤣🤣 bit of a weird thing to do though. You should suggest the mumsnet way, dc1, 2 and 3 😁

My family used to do this (parents and brother) they still do.

I wouldn't have imagine it would annoy anybody, but one school friend told me she thought it was really impersonal. But my parents wouldn't have done it to randomers. So it didn't feel impersonal.

I'm amazed that anyone can get worked up about this even slightly

Me too. Who has the time to get worked up about stuff of this level?

I do it through habit as I'm a nursery nurse. Obviously at work we use both initials.

It's just a lazy way of doing things.. and people are always copying what others do. It was never a thing years ago. Lots of people are always talking about baby names, and what they should chose etc, So you may as well save yourself time thinking about them, and call all the babies by an alphabet letter.

Oh god I do this all the time with good friends and family - and not just my own, I call my brother and SIL, for example, ‘M&R’ and will ask eg ‘Does R want to join too?’ If I’m just messaging my brother about something. I see it as a familiarity of affection tbh as only do it with people I’m pretty close to and fully know that we all know each other’s full names! I really hope my friends don’t mind when I ask ‘How’s H?’

Disclaimer: I wouldn’t do it if their initials were S&M (or M&S) obvs

Bank holiday evening laying on the sofa, I have the time 😁

YABU and I can't see why anyone would expend energy worrying about something so trivial tbh. You must be very easily irritated.

I'd be interested to hear why National Health Service is shortened to NHS, if, as you say, you totally get it.

I never do this. Dont know why

But friends do.

I once worked with a guy who referred to his DC as “number 1 son” and “number 2 son”. I’m not even sure I know their actual names as he never used them and it became a thing for him to not tell us their names. Weird. He was a very “droll” character.

How is it different to using a nickname? I often refer to DD as an initial rather than a name in messages to her dad or other family. I think I think of her as F rather than Fenella

I've never done it and don't know anyone that does tbh

It's just quicker to type.

I find initials a little to specific. I refer to mine as #1, #2 #3 #4.