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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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SoupDragon · 15/04/2011 17:19

Actually, I think a number would suffice for tax purposes. which would solve everyone's baby naming dilemmas - just allocate everyone a number and there you go.

choux · 15/04/2011 23:43

I gave my new employer my full name as I had to have background checks done due to the type of work I do and the first question was 'Full name'.

HR then passed that onto the team I would be working with and my new manager thought that was the name I used.

So depending on what your kids' end up doing for work that birth certificate name might have to be quoted at some point.

I have to point out that my parents intended to use my full name - I insisted on the nn so all school records, qualifications etc are in the full name. Perhaps if the nn is used for everything apart from the BC then no one would ever even know the nn was not on the BC.

Can you get a passport in a nn or does it have to be the name on the BC?

jellybeans · 16/04/2011 15:51

I have a long form on my bc and rarely use it. It annoys me actually as there are loads of forms but they are either formal or very friendly types with nothing in between. The doctors etc all call me the formal and it is used all the time on exams etc and at school. So the bc name IS used alot. I sometimes wish I had a name like Jane where it is more simple!!

I have 5 DC and one has a shortened version such as mentioned on this thread. I did like the long form but nobody else did in the family and we intended to call him the short form all the time so he has that on the bc. With his name it is actually more popular in the short form in the statistics. Only one person so far has assumed it is short for the long form and 2 people have asked, 'is it short for ............'.

I know loads of Archies/ Alfies and none have the long form. Also know loads of Bens and Alexes. My advice is to put on the bc what you will use all the time unless you like both long and short equally.

psiloveyou · 16/04/2011 18:20

I think use the full name on the BC so he (if you have a ds) has a choice. My BC uses my full name (Amanda) as a child I hated it and was always insisted I was called Mandy. I got to 27 and decided I hated Mandy and have been Amanda for the last 23 years. Although my family compromise with Manda.

numptysmummy · 16/04/2011 18:25

Wish i had put the full version of dd2s name, would have been nice to give her the option. Was the one and only time i didn't ignore dh and do what i wanted anyway

Wafflenose · 16/04/2011 19:39

ALittleLemonTwist, there is a girl in my daughter's class called just Maggie and it really suits her. Somehow it's girly and tomboyish at the same time - just like her.

I'm with sleepywombat on this. The four of us in our family have no obvious short or long versions of our names - they are just our (non-shortenable)names and that's that. I don't really understand the big deal about nicknames - if the girls hate their names as adults, they can use their middle names or change them to something totally different, but at the moment they love them!

twinmom2010 · 18/04/2011 10:08

My son is Charlie, BC Carlos (I am Hispanic and is a family name) I have been having the same worries when he goes to school but we were always keen on using the full name as is a family name and it gives him an option. As a baby he was such a perfect Charlie, it was irresistible not to call him that.
So would go full name.

mopsyflopsy · 18/04/2011 12:34

Carlos is lovely and much nicer than Charlie imo .

twinmom2010 · 18/04/2011 14:52

I know, I know, we are trying to use both now that he is older.... thank you...

urbandaisy · 18/04/2011 22:45

I've got a longer version of a name (4 syllables) and am called by the shortened version of it (two syllables). I've never been introduced by the full name except in job interviews and the like, but I'm immensely grateful to my parents for giving me the full version, because it gives you more options (and frankly the option for a bit of gravitas/credibility) as an adult.

Ultimately it's up to you and I wouldn't give a full name I absolutely hated -- but there are good points to having the longer name.

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