To think that the Mumsnet obsession with nicknames is weird?

[521Jeanie]

So often you'll read a post saying something like
"What do you think of the name Atticus (nickname would be Kit)"
or
"I'm going to call my daughter Marigold with the nickname of Mary"

If you want to call your child Kit or Mary, why don't you just call them Kit or Mary?

These are two examples from the last couple of days but you see it very often. Quite often the nickname has nothing to do with the "real" name.

People have given children a longer formal birth cert name and a shorter nickname or pet name for literally centuries. It gives you flexibility between familiarity and ease of use, and allowing the Chile to redefine or shift their presentation as they get older.

*child.

It is weird. A nickname is something that evolves. As a child mine came about as my younger brother couldn’t say my full name. So what he called me became a nickname.
I wouldn’t choose a name because of how it could be shortened.

I like it. I like the option of having a proper name when older as well as a cutesy toddler name. Ie Teddy.

I personally hate the trend for calling a child an abbreviation - ie Charlie or Alfie.

Luckily we are all different right

I think it’s strange but it’s not especially MN-related in my experience.
I worked with someone who was known by her middle name. No idea what the back story was. But she had 3 kids and made the decision to call all of them by their middle name too, before they were born. Very strange.

It's not an 'obsession', it's just a thing a subset of posters on that board do.
And it's really not weird either.

YABU.

Traditional name shortenings have always been odd. Jack for John and Peggy for Margaret.

It's just the oddity of MN, they use nickname when they mean diminutive.

Makes more sense to say "he'll be called Henry, but known as Harry"

But hey ho.

I agree op. I find it pretentious.

It IS weird. Unfortunately I got sucked into the MN names board and did exactly this for DS. Although his name is a recognised nickname and not totally unrelated. It’s done nothing but cause hassle and it’s honestly my greatest mistake as a parent. I should have just called him the nickname I wanted to use without thinking he needed a formal name too.

It's weird that they give their kids names with the intention of calling them the nickname. I thought you gave your child a name and then a nick name would just sort of form over time. Not on here.

Yes!!! Recently neighbours of ours had a baby, named her Penelope, to be known as Poppy. What’s the point. Pure snobbery.

It's not pretentious or weird. I knew when I named DD Mathilda that when I shortened it, I'd shorten it to Tilda and not Tilly as I prefer it. She's still Mathilda and I call her that regularly but I also call her Tilda. She also has naturally evolved nicknames.

It's normal isn't it? To consider how a name shortens and which shortening suits? It doesn't mean you're not going to use the full name, you're just acknowledging the inevitable and considering how it might work.

@Bagamoyo1

I think it’s strange but it’s not especially MN-related in my experience. I worked with someone who was known by her middle name. No idea what the back story was. But she had 3 kids and made the decision to call all of them by their middle name too, before they were born. Very strange.

This is an old thing. My later C19 and early C20 relatives in my Nan’s family were all known by the name which appeared closest to their surname (they each had three given names).

It's just the oddity of MN, they use nickname when they mean diminutive.

This. You decide the diminutive. The world decides your nickname.

And having a more formal long name and a shorter everyday name is very very common.

My DM purposely gave us names that couldn't be shortened. I find it quite pretentious but then normally it's a pretentious nickname eg Teddy......

I also have lots of relatives in my family tree who were known by their middle names. Usually due to the use of family names as tradition and the parents choosing a middle name as a free choice. It was probably to avoid them all being referred to as John, given that half of them were given that first name.

It's a bit like forced endearment

Nickname ≠ preferred shortening

I'm of the opposite mindset.

I was happy to give my DC a name which I like, however having a "formal" name from which the name derives means he has other options when he gets older, if he doesn't like it for any reason.

Not given us a single problem.

People have done that for centuries. Nothing new!

It’s like that with show dogs too. Champion of whatever breed “Foxtails Magical Moment” is actually called Bob for short

Names have been changed above to protect the innocent 😇

I love diminutives, I adore the old traditions of "home names", of children being named for their parents and being known by diminutives. Like Meg's children in Little Women being called Demi and Daisy (John and Margaret). Russians are brilliant at diminutives, there are loads for their names and it gets very confusing at times but when people use them it denotes affection. Of course it is normal to consider nicknames etc with a name, you can't always control which ones others will use but evolving names is part of the beauty of language.

My dd is Margaret. I have pretty much never called her it, she was Daisy as a baby (Margaret is such a big name for a little person) and for family it stuck. But she calls herself Margaret at school, a mix at extracurricular things and her school friends have started calling her Peggy.

@00100001

It's just the oddity of MN, they use nickname when they mean diminutive.

Makes more sense to say "he'll be called Henry, but known as Harry"

But hey ho.

^This^

It drives me nuts!

Yes I think people are mixing up a 'nickname' with a 'known as' name. Nicknames are usually the daft ones you get in High School that stick and can have no bearing on your actual name.

But then this the site where people feel compelled to run baby names past strangers on the internet, and ask if they 'go' with their other child's name...

My DM purposely gave us names that couldn't be shortened.
Mine too - and the only person to shorten it? DM

My sisters v. short name DM always prefixed with "my" - most friends/neighbours thought her name was "Myxxx" - even in cards, etc.