Charles or Charlie on birth certificate ?

[BoichallH]

One of the names we really like is Charlie but my husband is insisting he should be Charles on the birth certificate. I love Charlie but don't like Charles really. What are your thoughts, should I have the full name on the birth certificate or choose another name entirely ?

Put charlie. I do not understand the formality - for want of a better word, of putting a name on a certificate that you have no intention of using. I don't think it serves a purpose. Btw I love charlie but really dislike Charles.

My Charlie is Charles on his BC - don't like Charles, never intended calling him Charles and nowhere except the hospital has ever called him Charles. We put Charles on the BC simply so that he had the choice when he was old enough.

I can't see the point of naming your precious ds a name you actively dislike and will never use. I know I am in a minority on this one but I can't see the logic of it. Lots of names don't have an obvious nickname but aren't criticised for not affording a choice.

If it bothers you though OP would the spelling Charley help make it feel like a more established name (as in Bonnie Prince)?

Ok, so they're not all going to be High Court Judges, but if there's even a tiny possibility that one prospective employer might form an opinion based on someone's name, why would you saddle them with a cutesy nickname until they're old and grey?

Because you don't want to saddle them with Charles? It is not a neutral name either. It comes loaded with quite a lot of class and political undertones that from the sound of it isn't what the OP likes.

I get that people have different criteria when choosing baby names but I don't get the superior attitude that comes out when this issue is raised. A preference for Charles over Charlie is just another preference. It isn't an inherently superior choice.

Just as many people will curse their parents for giving them an embarrassing name like Archibald or Millicent as will thank them for giving them "choice".

Well OP will obviously do as she chooses, but I spent a lot of time working in recruitment and I know snap decisions are made when faced with a whole heap of applications. The image conjured up by a name, does make a difference.

But kids these days are given all sorts of weird and wild names that might give recruiters pause for thought but people generally shrug and think "each to their own" and if they don't like it they tend to say so without laying down the law about it.Dd is going to be Beth or Bethan. Both of these are diminutives of Elizabeth but there is no way that is going on the birth certificate. It is a totally different name. Dd may hate being Beth but then dd1 is equally stuck with Anna and that name is quite liked on here.

If I knew someone had called their newborn Charles I would thing they were a huge twat.

*think.

I am a huge twat

I went with Charles as I don't like shortened names on bcs, although always intended to call him Charlie day to day. Everyone now calls him Chaz which I hate

What a bizarre comment to make Foxy. No doubt parents calling their newborns Charles would think you are a huge twat for the names you've chosen for your children.

Why is it bizarre? Op asked for opinions on which name to put on the bc and I gave her mine.

She didn't ask for name calling. No one else is calling anyone a twat, only you.

If you don't like Charles then don't call them Charlie/Charles surely?

Just because something is on your birth certificate it doesn't mean you have to go by that at school, work or anywhere else. My sister has a middle name she hates. I've only ever heard it in reference to her when she got married. It's really not that big a deal except to give your child another option when it comes to their name. They may use it in day to day life or not, up to them.

But the OP loves Charlie. Why does she need to choose something else just because she doesn't like the name that MN thinks she should prefer?

Go for the name you love. I have a Meg. Not a Megan or a Margaret because I like neither of those.

If my DD is capable enough to become a High Court Judge then she is capable enough to shit on anyones ideas that her name makes her less capable.

But her DH wants Charles and unfortunately his opinion matters.

Could I have said Capable any more times?!

Charles.

You could have Charlton as the full name instead of Charles? I do prefer Charles nn Charlie though.

I had always said I prefer using a 'proper' name on the BC and giving them the nickname I liked to give them a choice. But with Charles/Charlie, they seem like two completely different names. I hate Charles, seems stuffy but Charlie is a great name.

Put Charlie on the BC if that's what he'll be called. No worse these days than Harry instead or Henry or Jack instead of John. When your DS is an adult, there will be high court judges called Charlie, and maybe even Poppy!

I don't associate the name Charlie with "Charles" really.

The two little Charlies I know are both Charlie on their BCs.

The adult Charlie I know (early 30s) is Charles, but he is known as Charles by his parents.

Charlie was 5th most popular baby name in 2014, Charles was 61 so I think Charlie has now become a name in it's own right. If you don't like Charles then no need to use it.

Charles.

I have a name with lots of diminutives, one or two of which I truly loathe. I am eternally grateful that my parents put the full name on my birth certificate, which made it very easy to ditch the diminutive I was saddled with as a child, and use a different one. Had the hideous diminutive been on the BC, in new situations - job interviews etc - it would always have been 'Hello Hideous Diminutive' rather than 'Hello Gobfull Full Name - what do you prefer to be called?'

I think most people do consider Charlie a nickname of Charles, I do. Why not give your son the option by giving him the full name?