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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

Don't want to use 'proper' name on birth certificate/passport

85 replies

Newmummytobe79 · 12/04/2011 16:48

Hi all,

Could well be a non worry if we have a girl but seen as we don't know the sex it's an issue we need to consider. We?ve struggled so much with both girls and boys names and have finally picked two we like! We?re not telling anyone as I can?t face someone putting us off the names and having to start the search all over again! The only thing we can?t agree on now is, if we have a boy ? I don?t want the ?full? version of the name on the birth certificate whereas husband does.

A few examples of what I mean (but not ours!)

Archie ? Archibald
Alfie ? Alfred
Artie ? Arthur

I just couldn?t stand it if baby was introduced as Archibald/Alfred etc ? when I?d want baby to be known as Archie/Alfie. Therefore I want the shortened version on the birth certificate ? husband strongly disagrees.

If I?m honest I do think it?s better to put the full name on birth certificates/passport etc and would most definitely want the this with the girls name we?ve picked ? but I just don?t like the full version of the boys name!

Any thoughts?

Thanks

OP posts:

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defineme · 12/04/2011 19:27

My ds2 has an abbreviated form of a name as his full name- on his birth cert and passport-I love his name and don't like the full one. Nobody's business but yours-some kids have entirely made up names. Mind you, we're double barrelled which counteracts the casualness of the first name I suppose!

Hatterbox · 12/04/2011 19:31

I prefer full names, they are more formal, and I think more professional later in life.

To friends and family I'm Hattie, but I'm only ever Harriet for work purposes, it is much more professional.

takethatlady · 13/04/2011 10:47

Just to say that I have a different spelling on my driving license and passport than I do on my birth certificate. My name has an 'i' in it but before I was 1 my mum got fed up of people mispronouncing it so changed it to an 'e' and used it for school and all official documentation ever since. Nobody has ever batted an eyelid - once when I was 16 and got my first passport the office rang me to check that's how I wanted it spelt but they were perfectly happy to do it.

So if you want you can go with the full name on the bc and then the nn on everything else, including school records (all my GCSE/A level/degree certificates have the 'e' spelling) and so on.

notso · 13/04/2011 11:08

Don't bother with full name if you don't intend to use it.
It really doesn't matter, people will still vote for him if he want's to be Prime Minister.

peanutbutterkid · 13/04/2011 11:12

Hatterbox said it perfectly.
That said, I know a load of children with only NN versions of longer names on their birth certificates. It's very very common now.

I don't understand the "introduced by" bit. Who ever gets "introduced" according to what's on their birth certificate or passport?

frakyouveryverymuch · 13/04/2011 11:17

I would have the full name - as others have pointed out people will assume that Charlie is actually Charles, Alex is really Alexander etc. It's not a problem, you introduce yourself as you want to be called, especially if it's a common nickname and easily linked to the full version.

I might be biased as I have a friend who battles constantly against not having the full version of her name. She's Kate, not Catherine, and people never seem to want to accept that she's 'just' Kate.

On the other hand if the short version doesn't easily tally up to the long one/isn't an established nickname then you might just want to go with the shorter one if it's becoming an established name in it's on right.

It's difficult to say without knowing the name or the short really.

Cattleprod · 13/04/2011 11:24

Lots of full names are just dreadful and so pompous. And it would be used at some points - graduation, exam listings, marriage etc so would be a source of great embarrassment.

If you don't want to use the long name, then don't put it on the certificate. A shortened name is still a perectly good name.

throckenholt · 13/04/2011 11:54

If you think they are likely to want to use the full name as adults then put it on the birth certificate.

Be have short (or nick names) for two of ours - but that is because I actively dislike the associated longer name - so their names are the short names. For our other one he has the longer name on is certificate but is currently known by a shorter one - when he gets older he may decide he likes to use the other one.

For the same reason ours all have a second name that they may prefer to use at some later stage.

takethatlady · 13/04/2011 12:55

Oooh just remembered my brother is called Ben. Not Benjamin or Benedict. (Well, obviously I didn't just remember that's his name, but I did just remember that occasionally he gets asked what it's short for.) As the fact I forgot about this suggests, he really doesn't give a rat's arse that his name is 'just' Ben.

So now I've given two posts with contradictory answers in them. I say go with whatever feels right and don't worry about it. People get so het up about names, but everybody could think their name is too boring/too unusual/has an annoying spelling/is too long/is too short/ should have been abbreviated/shouldn't have been abbreviated/is too formal/is too cute etc etc. I have never understood why people worry about having a name that works professionally or not. Unless your name is out-and-out porn star I have never met anybody who would be held back it, or anybody I would or wouldn't employ on such a basis. That would be utterly random (and probably grounds for a big discrimination lawsuit!)

Woah, didn't realise I had such strong views ...

lotsofnicesweeties · 13/04/2011 13:12

I just don't get the MN obsession with having to always have a full name as well as a nickname. Seems ridiculous to me if you prefer the short version so go for the short version

Wafflenose · 13/04/2011 13:49

I was about to say the same as lotsofnicesweeties! Our daughter is called Kate. I had no intention of ever calling her Kaitlyn or Katherine, so went for the name I liked. My friend has a daughter called Hetty, not short for anything, and strongly agrees that you should just register the child with the name you are always going to use. In my opinion both of these are quite strong, standalone names anyway, but I just don't see the point of giving a different name when we like the short one! This seems to be a very unpopular view, but makes sense to me!

Original poster

Newmummytobe79 · 13/04/2011 14:46

Thanks for the comments ladies - I don't have a problem putting the shortened name on the birth certificate but my husband does. So it's not really a question of which is right or wrong - as I don't think anyone can judge a parent either way ... I really want to know whether I should back down or not! :)

OP posts:

burntsienna · 13/04/2011 16:19

"Our daughter is called Kate. I had no intention of ever calling her Kaitlyn or Katherine, so went for the name I liked. ..... I just don't see the point of giving a different name when we like the short one!"

See, that could be my parents talking. But it was my name, and had I been given Katherine I would have had an array of options - instead of being stuck with just the one monosyllable. I posted to this effect earlier on.

The child is the one who should be considered, and should be given options in this sort of case.

peanutbutterkid · 13/04/2011 17:09

Go with full name on the BC.
I reckon people make names their own. So much so that you forget that the name was ever anything else to you but that person.
My aunt was adamant that her son would be Matthew -- nothing less. She turned her nose up at "Matt".
He is now (30+ years later) called Matt by all and sundry. And even aunt doesn't mind (though I'd faint if she ever called him "Matt").

Cattleprod · 13/04/2011 17:23

Even if he has 'Archie' or whatever the name is on his birth certificate, it doesn't stop him from deciding to call himself Archibald as an adult if he wants to sound like a pompous twat serious and professional.

stubbornhubby · 13/04/2011 17:28

it makes no difference what's on your birth certificate.
Pick a friend of yours - any friend - no, what's written on her birth certificate?

you have no idea.

eatyourveg · 13/04/2011 17:47

ds2 has full name on birth certificate and we had no intention of ever using it, only once in the hospital has it ever been used and then it was by mistake because the nurse hadn't bothered reading the short form in brackets afterwards.

He took his first external exam last year and the certificate has the short form on it so I don't think it need ever be an issue

We only put the long version on the birth certificate to give him the choice when he was older.

stubbornhubby · 14/04/2011 09:48

he doesn't need to have it written on his birth certificate to give him the choice ... he can call himself any name he likes, regardless.

freesias · 14/04/2011 10:00

if you prefer the short name and are never going to use the long form then i can't see why you need to put the longer version on the bc. peoples opinion seems to be if you put the longer version on his official documents he then has more options that is to use the short or long form but surely the reverse holds true if you use the truncated form , he surely can also elongate his name as an adult even if it is not on his birth cert .

fwiw using the short forms of their names doesn't seem to have done tony blair , bill clinton or nick clegg any harm

seeksnewnamewithgsoh · 14/04/2011 10:11

See, now, I'm a Katy. On my bc. I was talking to the vicar the other day about getting DD christened and he asked me what Katy was short for. He couldn't get his head round my 'real' name not being Catherine. Which is the first time I've come across that in around since I was about 11.

My parents were never going to refer to me as Catherine in any context and they preferred Katy to Catherine anyway. As it turns out, I'm the least likely
Catherine ever. I couldn't imagine being any other name. I'm not even a Kate, so they obviously got my name right.

You don't have to use the 'full' version of a name for it to be a 'real' name.

FWIW my nan is a Peggy not Margaret, and my cousin is a Chris not Christopher. I know plenty of Millies not Millicent or Amelia. And a Jim and Jamie not James. So it's not that uncommon either.

defineme · 14/04/2011 12:54

I don't think it's a mumsnet obsession with using the full name because it's a lot bigger than mumsnet. It's the peculiarly British fear of being perceived as 'common' and not doing things the 'right' way.
My Mum still wishes ,36 years later, that she'd had the nerve to call me 'Molly' but she hated Margeret and didn't think you were 'allowed' to use the short form.
We're allowed to do whatever we like ,within reason (shithead was queried-seriously), and the world/society won't collapse. Have you been in a primary school recently? Names are changing!

ChoccoVersial · 14/04/2011 12:58

This is PRECISELY why we chose names for our 3DCs that couldn't be easily shortened.

One name, full stop.

I am known as a shortened version of my full name and it's a total PITA. I'm always worrying what to put when booking flights etc - one day I'm bound to get it wrong.

Sarsaparilllla · 14/04/2011 14:21

I think you should use the full name on the birth certificate and then the child has the option of using it when he's older - a nn version might seem cute now but what about when he's grown man

dexifehatz · 14/04/2011 14:34

DD1 is Hattie on her BC and everyone assumes her 'full name ' is Harriet.DD2 is Felicity,but always known as Fliss/Filly.Perfectly acceptable to put shortened names on BC I would've thought.

ivykaty44 · 14/04/2011 14:40

If you are always going to call

Tony, Tony - then why put Anthony

same with nellie, why put Helen on birth certificate

Or kitty, why put Catherine or kathyrn - why not just put Kitty

A bit like my MIL her name is jeannie - but her birth certificate states Rosalind, her mother liked the name Jeannie but they used Rosalind on her birth certificate - really odd to my mind but there you go. Just put on their birth certificate what you are going to call them seems the smile thing to do.

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