Nathaniel

[Ilovekittyelise]

oh dear. another two months to go back and forth! i was really keen on robert but now im thinking its a bit safe. what about nathaniel robert (brother of sam/samuel)? be honest, im on the fence. husband loves it but hes american and whats liked there versus here can differ a lot (apologies if that sounds ignorant!)

Nonsense. Nate, if anything, belongs more to Nathaniel than to Nathan. See Six Feet Under and Nate Silver.

i wasnt aware that there were rules on use of nicknames, i dont actually like the name nathan.

There aren't any rules, but there are traditions. That's why I said tradition. Nat King Cole was Nathaniel.

I was making a suggestion based on the confusion that I know people make between the full names - if they wanted to use Nate anyway, they'll avoid this if they start with Nathan.

Call your baby what you like mate!
Seriously, it's your baby and they'll be beautiful, snuggly and amazing whatever you name them.

It's a lovely name and I have one, he is the only one with that name in his nursery and pre school.which I love but othe other kids struggle with saying the name though. He gets called mainly Nathaniel by me but sometimes Nath, or nat, or Nathan but his daddy, so they are lots of good nicknames to shorten to. x

Massive eye roll at drspouse
Not really gonna take it that I've named my child incorrectly mate. My name is a one syllable, three letter name that gets shortened to a sound basically. My brothers gets shortened to a vowel sound.
Again, message to all, you can name
Your child whatever you like!

Um, Nat King Cole being Nathaniel only proves that Nat is a nickname for Nathaniel, not that Nate isn't. It's a bit like saying that Bill Clinton proves that Will isn't a traditional nickname for William. If anything, I'd say it's more typical for Nathan to stay Nathan, while Nathaniel can be Nat, Nate or even Thaniel. Nowt wrong with calling your Nathan Nate of course.

i definitely like nate. i know samuel and nathaniel sounds a bit ridick together but we arent the kind of folkthat yell "henrietta, beatrice, come here darlings" across the playground. in every day our children would always be sam and nate and they just have the option of a formal name if they choose to use it.

The Nat and Nate comment is ridiculous.

Nat and Nate are BOTH short forms of Nathaniel (and Nathan).

Nat King Cole was 'Nat' as he chose to be, not because it's the only "proper" nickname for Nathaniel. How laughable!

My husband is Nate by the way, he'd give you death glares if you called him Nate!

NB: And not that it matters, but in Gossip Girl, Nate is a Nathaniel.

My point was that, since Nate is traditionally a nickname for Nathan (as everyone seems to agree) and this family seem to like the idea of having Sam and Nate as everyday names, and also the idea of giving them both longer names they can use when adult if they wish, why not use Nathan as the full name instead of the easily-confused Nathaniel?

If they both end up wanting to use the longer form they might not be too happy that their two longer names sound very similar.

I also know that a lot of people do use what is traditionally a nickname, but without the longer name. But it sounds like this family have already thought of that and decided against it.

i appreciate everyones suggestions and advice; thankyou.