What is with the obsession with nicknames here?

[Crunchymum]

I see it on almost every other thread.

Baby will be Jonty NN Jethro my example is not real

Surely nicknames evolve? You don't get to pick 2 names for your kids??? If you prefer Amelia then call your child Amelia... not Amelia but NN Millie.

Gives me the rage!

For what it is worth my second DC has a name that crops up here every now and then and is almost always followed by the NN commonly associated with it. The name is never mentioned without the NN? We have never, ever used this shortened version for our DC!

(and breath)

It's like the obsession with middle names. Nobody uses their middle name!

Oddly I am not so enraged by middle names.

I do know someone who has 4 kids, and they all go by their middle names. So think Barry Thomas goes by the name Thomas (Barry is a family name?)

I feel the same, maybe because I come from a non-nickname family.
My siblings and i all have short names which were rarely shortened

To m, there is a difference between a shortening of a name eg Isabelle, called Izzy, and a nickname eg Isabelle- nickname Booboo. Surely the latter is something that just develops rather than being chosen in advance

Haha, I haven't noticed this. But, for me, nicknames matter because I simply don't like some of the obvious nicknames for names. For example, my husband and I would've settled on Madeleine long ago if we were certain that we could stand Maddie... but neither of us love Maddie.

But otherwise, nicknames mean very little to me. Most names have "obvious" nicknames and you might as well accept that your child will probably end up being called that/them by someone at some point. If you don't like the obvious nicknames, probably best not to use the full name.

People can decide what nicknames they will use but what always makes me laugh is people saying they don't like X nickname that often goes with their preferred name, so won't use that one. As if they get to decide what nicknames other people will use! Do they not remember being teenagers?!

Yes, I've always thought it's really weird. Don't think I've ever heard someone in RL say 'his name is Steven but please call him Stewy-Stewpot'.

The whole point of a nickname is that it evolves, surely?

I LOVE having middle names! I always feel sorry for people who don't have any middle names :)

When naming DD I gave her a name that I was happy for people to actually use. I think it is pretty silly when for example the name is Christopher but you insist he must be called Kit. Just call him Kit.

I've always thought it was one of the oddest facets of Mn baby names (well, along with the tendency to shriek either 'try hard!' or 'chav!' at names...)

It's less the micromanaging of what an unborn baby's teenage friends may end up calling him or her in thirteen years' time, which is just funny, than the 'What full name could Kit/Polly/Mitsy/Foufou whatever be a nickname for?' thing.

A lot of posh people have nicknames I always think the nn people live in chelsea or country houses with their NN children nobody has a real name

I find it odd when people pick a name and then have a whole host of nicknames

She will be Beatrix (NN Trixie / Bea / Trixibelle / Dave)

Specifying a NN is advance is just weird? Yes Isabelle will most likely be an Izzy but to declare from birth she needs to be called Izzy is strange. She may be a Belle? Or something completely different!

Well, our dd has a name with an obvious shortening, which we use, so we did need to think "xxx, will be known as xxie"

I have a friend who wanted a classic name for her dd that has 2 nicknames traditionally, she doesn't like the most common one so did do the "yyyy known as yy" or even just introduce her dd as "yy" to avoid anyone picking the other nickname, but she didn't want to put just the preferred nickname on the birth certificate as its a bit girlie and thought depending on what career her dd goes for in later life, a "grown up" name might serve her better.

I think it's a lot weirder to say 'We don't like, say, Isabelle as a long form of Izzy - what else could Izzy be a nickname for?'

If you actually want to call your child Izzy, call her Izzy. But if you want a more formal name, but, crucially, don't like the name of which Izzy is a shortened form, it's a bit senseless to wander around the internet dolelfully asking strangers whether it's OK to use Izzy as a nickname for Annabella-Mary or Shaznay!

Oh op in your example- I know a family who've done just that with Isabelle/ izzy. Basically, they want a dd called Izzy, but felt it's not really a good name for many professional careers, and v traditional grandparents wouldn't tolerate anything other than a "proper" name. So she's introduced as Izzy, with a grown up name in waiting for when she's a barrister / prime minister / CEO of a FTSE 100 company etc.

Their is nothing wrong with NN or shortened versions of names but some mumsnetters seem to get worked up about their tillys and izzys.

We have specifically called ours by their nn pretty much since birth. We would not have chosen a name that couldn't be shortened. it's just personal preference isn't it? In the case of one of our boys I really liked one nn, probably more than his full name and I wasn't so keen on the other shortened version. He is Kit.

DinosaurRoar, we rarely use our DC's full names but it's nice to have them.

Isn't it more a case of working out possible NNs before settling on a name?

For example - my mum always loved the name James but wouldn't use it for DB as she hated "Jim" or "Jimmy", which were the usual NNs at the time he was born.

When people list their NNs, I always assume it's because they've put thought into what they might end up being.

IME NNs are usually chosen by friends at some point anyway - no-one can ever truly dictate. I've got a name my DPs thought couldn't be shortened - my friends still manage it .

We considered what names could be shortened to when we were picking names for our baby due in August. I'm a teacher so know names get shortened amongst kids and so I wanted them to have one that I didn't mind the sound of.

Mine gets shortened and my other half goes by a shortened version of his name. It happens to lots of names, though I do always ask before I shorten if it's ok. Just polite to I think.

Both my DDs have nicknames which are absolutely nothing to do with their names. They have evolved over time, derived from habits they had when they were little and actually, nobody outside the immediate family uses them or would even associate them with either of the girls.

It winds me up too!

Our daughter has a name that can't really be shortened. But dh family is Welsh and everyone goes by a shortening (not really a nickname as such as it is usually just the first syllable - eg gethin would be geth, Cerys - cer) so can't wait to see what she ends up with!
Our do goes the other way - she has a name that is a random noun (to others) but shortened it would make a normal human name - however we have never used that - her nickname is Mrs p (our surname doesn't start with p!)

Do = dog

There are some names that just get shortened - let's use the example of Timothy to Timmy. If you don't like Timmy, it's probably not a good idea to call your child Timothy, assuming you'll be able to call him Moth. Because everyone will call him Timmy.

I chose a name with a standard abbreviation that I didn't like for DC4. The name also had a common, but slightly less standard abbreviation, that I did like. I was clear. They would not be called by the standard abbreviation. You will be unsurprised to find out she has been called just that from the time she left the hospital.

What a strange thing to be wound up by! Surely people call their children what they want to call them. It seems bizarre to get would up by parents registering their daughter as Elizabeth and calling her Lizzie from the start. All it does it give her choice and it's really so innocuous that it baffles me as to why this would annoy people.