Paddy as a nn for Patrick?

[CleverOl10]

What do people think? I don't really like Pat as a nn but realise Patrick is bound to be shortened. It's still on the maybe list but does Paddy work outside of Ireland?

I'm not in the uK or Ireland and my little patrick is a paddy, I call him paddy, his sisters call him paddy and some of the kids at kindergarten call him paddy. Most other adults call him patrick

I love Paddy, it's a great name.

My ds has a name that has two very usual nn's, I love one and hate the other. Luckily he still (age 12) goes by the full version most of the time, his nn is out surname with a y on the end anyway, lol

Burren I love and adore the name Cornelius, I know two very elderly brothers called Cornelius and Thaddeus and think they were absolutely blessed in the name stakes. Gobnait on the other hand........no, no, a thousand times NO. If there's a worse name in existence I've yet to encounter it!

Who looks at their newborn and thinks 'you're so beautiful, I love you so much......I will call you Gobnait'.

I know both a Patsy and a Flor, both Irish men of a certain age.

I kind of like Cornelius, too - and in fact it did meet a lovely 10-year-old Cornelius a few years back, called after his granddad, and known as 'Con', but in my region, Cornelius used to usually be abbreviated to 'Nelius', pronounced 'Nailus', which kind of ruined the stately, classical air I associate with it.

I have a friend (aged 43) called Concepta, known as Connie, and was at school with a Eucharia (known as Judy) - when we see little Gobnaits and Immaculatas back in the playground, we will know Ireland has embraced the old man/old lady chic!

I quite like Patrick but not Paddy. I agree that it's a bit of an old man's name. It's not always shortened especially in younger ones.

Patrick is great but Pat, Patty, Patsy, Paddy are not imo!

Patrick is great. Paddy is better. (But not Pat or Patsy)

I think it depends on how it sounds with your surname too. Personally I don't like Paddy at all especially outside the UK but I love Patrick.
My DH [English] met someone called Padraig in a meeting with a supplier once. He genuinely thought that he was calling himself Porridge.....

Patrick is lovely just as it is. I'm not very fond of any of the diminutives.

Patrick is DS2's middle name. I didn't want to use it as his first name because I didn't particularly like Paddy, Pat or Pa, and absolutely detest Patsy, which to me is a girl's name.

I think it's true that Paddy is coming back into fashion. DS3 (16) has a friend called Paddy, and there is also a Bill, a Brian & a Stan in their school year.

I like Patch :)

Burren, I went to school with a Eukaria -- well for a few years up to the Leaving anyway, not the whole way through.. I also knew a Concepta (and a Dymphna). And a Gobnait who does not live in Ireland any more so maybe it's more exotic than a bewildering name choice.

I love both Paddy and Patrick. I know several little Jimmys, which I see in the same vein. I have an uncle and a cousin named Conn, short for Cornelius -- lovely names too.

Thanks for all the opinions. I'm not Irish, nor live in Ireland, although my mum is Irish. It's still on the list but I'll still keep thinking on it. A few months to go yet!

I know a Paddy! V. cool.

But it does occasionally get turned into "Paddy Pantsdown" (after the Sun headline when Paddy Ashdown was having an affair) so you have been warned.

There is Paddy Ashdown...

Patrick isn't really an Irish name. St Patrick was from Wales, possibly a Roman-Briton. I prefer names like Conor and Aidan:)

Paddy Ashdown's name isn't Paddy. Or Patrick.

It's Jeremy!

I like it - I know a Paddy who is totally fab.

Also knew a Patrick years ago whose nickname (given by his friends, I think, not by his parents) was Patch, which is incredibly cute.

I have a DS Patrick and the only thing that it occasionally gets shortened to is Patch. Mostly though everyone calls him his full name - it's only 2 syllables

Sarahquilt, Conor and Aidan aren't a byword for Irish stereotypes the way 'Paddy' has been, though they are authentic names, though. Nice names, both of them, though literally every male under seven in my extended family seems to be called Conor...

It may not matter to the OP anyway, as she isn't Irish.