Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Baby names

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

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Deborah nn Dora?

40 replies

darldoll · 31/12/2011 13:19

What do you think? I know Deb/Debby is the most common nn for Deborah but surely that's a thing of the past and dying out?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

AnnieLobeseder · 31/12/2011 14:56

PS - OP, may I suggest Derah as a lovely alternative to Dora .

Clawdy · 31/12/2011 14:56

What is the point of naming her Deborah,family name or not,if she will always be known as Dora?

IndianOcean · 31/12/2011 15:01

Deborah is not '80s like Tracey and Karen', it is a biblical name. Popular in the 70s and 80s, agreed, but a Hannah is a more accurate analogy.

Clawdy · 31/12/2011 15:06

I know it's a biblical name, Indian but to most people it links with names like Karen and Tracey because so many girls were called Debbie or Debs,which the OP dislikes.Hannah has retained its charm.

exoticfruits · 31/12/2011 15:13

If you want her to be known as Dora it makes sense to call her that in the first place.
People do call James, Jamie and William, Billy without it being their nickname. I took my DS into meet my old class when he was a few weeks old-within minutes he was being called a shortened version (that I never use) by the DCs. We thought we would be clever with DS2 and gave him a short name-he is known by his surname by all his friends! (he likes it).
You can't win-so no point in trying-go for what you like.

mathanxiety · 31/12/2011 17:56

I have a niece Katherine whose mother was absolutely adamant that her nn would be Kate, but from the first day of school all the other children called her Kathy, the most 70s-ish nn you could imagine, and the one my exSIL most wanted to avoid and thought the 90s children would be least likely to use.

Deborah is biblical but it was very popular in the 60s, 70s and 80s (Deborah Kerr, Debbie Reynolds, Debbie Harry..)

I also wonder why you would put one name on the BC and call the child another name entirely. A limited version of this happened to me (named standard English version of a name, known by Irish version) and I still don't see the reason for it. In your case you are thinking of using an entirely different name -- if Deborah is a family name that you want to use then use it as a second name imo.

Or would you like to use
Devorah
Devora
Devra (Hebrew)
Binah (Yiddish)
?

AnnieLobeseder · 31/12/2011 19:38

Um, maths, Hebrew is D'vorah. I knows this coz I lived in Israel 6 years and that's what they all called me.

Good point about using Deborah as a second name if you don't want unwanted nicknames creeping out of the woodwork.

AnnieLobeseder · 31/12/2011 19:40

It means bee in Hebrew. Not even queen bee, like the baby names books tell you so you think you're important. Nope, no siree. Just a plain old bee, as DH was so pleased to point out to me. Not bitter about this disillusion at all, no indeed.

dontletthebellsend · 31/12/2011 19:41

I love Deborah but I also love Sharon so feel free to ignore. If you want her to be called Dora then you need to name her Dora really.

mathanxiety · 31/12/2011 19:57

Meant to type Devri, which is the nn a friend of DD1's used.

nooka · 31/12/2011 21:37

It is possible to try and control a name, and you can indeed use 'known as' on forms where that is possible. However you can't control what your child chooses to call themselves, or the inclination people have to shorten names given half the chance. I'm not sure why you think that Deb/Debbie/Debs is dying out? Deborah was very popular in the 70s/80s and so it is not a popular name now. When it swings back into popularity I am sure that so will Debbie etc, as these are the obvious nns.

It is perfectly possible that your potential dd might always and only be known as Dora. Or that they might opt for Deborah instead, or that they might choose to be called Debbie/Debs etc, or that some people might all them that. The only way to totally avoid the possibility is to choose another name.

FellatioNelson · 31/12/2011 21:57

I agree that if you call her Dora from Day 1 then no-one will call her Deborah, Debbie or Deb. But that is because she is only EVER called Dora, and as far as everybidy is concerned that is her name. In which case, I'm not really sure why you felt the need to ask the question. To be honest, if you always call her Dora, introduce her as Dora, refer to her as Dora, it does not matter a hoot whether her actual name is Deborah or Gertrude or Mary.

But you were kind of implying that she would be called Deborah as a formal name, known at school by teachers etc as Deborah, with the option to use the nn Dora as an informal name - and that won't work, IMHO.

MrsvWoolf · 31/12/2011 22:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Haziedoll · 31/12/2011 22:34

Your name is Deborah - it never suited ya.

oikopolis · 01/01/2012 02:42

Call her Dora if you like Dora.

If you call her Deborah, you'll need to swallow hard when she becomes known as Deb, Debs, Dee-dee, or whatever when she starts school. Dora isn't intuitive, so prepare yourself to respond calmly if it doesn't "take".

If you want to use Deborah to honour family, you will presumably be telling your family her b/cert name. Once they know, they may very well continue calling her that, and ignore your nn. Again, if you use the name, just prep yourself for disappointment...

Flip

1 2