Really stupid question about using a shortened version of a longer name.

[Acunningruse]

DC2 is due in 4 weeks and we have narrowed names down to a few options one of which is Katherine. We would most likely call her Katie but want her to have the option of Katherine in later life.

My question is, if your Dc use a short version of a longer name eg Tom/Beth, when and how do you tell them that their name is actually Thomas/Elizabeth ? Does it not confuse them and they think they have 2 names?
I think because DH, DC1 and I all have names that can't be shortened I can't get my head round it
Thanks

My dd is Indigo and she almost always gets called Indi. We just chuck in the odd Indigo every now and again (usually when she's misbehaving!) and at almost two and a half she will answer to both.

I work with students, we have hundreds of Katies of all ages who are not called Katherine, Kathryn, Catherine or any other version. If you like it, go for it. It is a name in its own right nowadays.

As for the longer version of the name (DS has quite a long one), I explained he had a name and an official name that was in his passport, very much like America and the United States of America. Never had a problem with it.

My DD is Anya although she has been Annie from the moment she was born (hence my NN). Right before she started kindergarten (Canada, hence the maple leaf), we started practicing her writing so she could at least write her name. She was a pretty confused to discover that her name was actually Anya and not Annie as she thought but she understood when we explained formal name vs. nickname.

My 3 DSes all have short names for longer names. The only confusion was with ds2 whose full name is a little more unusual and he was 6 before he realised what it was. Not a problem though. They hear they're full names being called in doctors surgeries, on passports etc.

The main problem was getting school etc to use their short versions so under name I'd put e.g Christopher James known as Kit and underline Kit.

Growing up my parents always used my full name but when I went to school friends shortened it. I've always felt like I have two separate names, one for family and work and one that my friends use.
If you always intend to use Katie though, I would just call her that, as it is a name now in its own right, I wouldn't even really associate it with Katerine if I heard Katie.
Kate I would more so.

If you do call her Katerine but shorten to Katie, just use a mixture of both so she knows her official name.

You call them the long version when they are naughty

My DSis has always been called by her nickname. She discovered it wasn't her real name when she started nursery at 3 and they'd written her 'real' name next to her cloakroom peg. She asked who 'real name' was

Definitely call her Katherine and use Katie, she always has the option of longer name then.

did not confuse me my name is cordelia josephine yet my parents called me josephine/phina

i use cordelia for smart stuff like job interviews or documentation yet i am refereed to as Josephine

Like Itchy we just threw in the full version now and then. Ds2 did question it at around 2 or 3 although answered to both. Just explained about nicknames he was fine with it.

DS has his full name on his bedroom wall, only because it was a gift but I'm sure it will help. Also I sometimes throw the long version in there just I like to say it in a certain voice

Apparently Kit Harrington didn't find out he was called Christopher until he was basically an adult or something.

There is a thread currently running debating putting full or shortened versions of names on birth certificates, most people agree there's no prob putting the full version on and calling the child something else :)

I have a name exactly like this and can't remember not knowing that I had a 'long' name. This is quite possibly because it was shouted at me every time I was naughty which was a lot

We also have a DS with a common long name often shortened. He is 5 and knows both names, we've use the shortening most often but call him by the longer name every now and then so he's used to it. We don't do it solely when he's in trouble because that's twatty and I hated my DM doing it!

For what it's worth, I know use a different shortening - think Kath rather than Katie - for close friends etc and the full Katherine for work/professional use. I really like and appreciate having that option as an adult and don't see the issue some seem to have with it. DH has a totally non-shortenable name and I think it's very boring.

I think it's fine too have two names, it when they get older please call them by whichever one they call themselves. My husband has a name like Stephen but calls himself Steve- had done since primary school and so does everyone else on the planet... Apart from his parents who very pointedly call him Stephen and complain that Steve is an ugly abbreviation. He says he doesn't even think of himself as Stephen so it's weird.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is Margalit (Jewish form of Margaret) on her birth certificate, but didn't find out until adulthood. Her parents claim they didn't even realize they'd registered her as Margalit, hence why they never told her about/called her by her 'real' first name, although I find it bizarre any parent would forget the name they put on the BC!

Anyway I digress, I think a lot of parents do the 'use the formal name when naughty' thing, so that's probably the best way!

My son is zac but I (and only I) call him zacky as a pet name, and his full name is zachary. I don't remember when we told him his full name was Zachary - he is known as Zac but knows his full name is Zachary. Probably it came out in conversation when he was about 4. It isn't a big deal.

We've just had conversations with our 4 yo where we tell him he has a name he uses and a 'long name' he's known 'both' his names for a long time and would recognise the long as his name if someone called him it

I taught a Ben this year. He didn't actually know if he was a Benjamin or not.

I have a long name with multiple possible shortenings. As a child I was called a short version by family and at pre-school. I knew my full name though. When I started school I decided I was too grown up to be known by the short version ending in ie and asked everyone to call me by my full name or a shortening not ending ie. As a teenager I used a different short name but stopped when it appeared in a popular soap.

Now all but my immediate family and a few old friends use my full name. It feels odd for people other than my family to shorten my name. I notice it especially when I meet people via my siblings as they tend to shorten my name like my siblings do.

I am glad to have the option of various names even if I rarely use them!

My ds (2)has a nn used much more than his actual name but he answers to both. Dc hear us answer to 'name' and 'mam' /'mum'etc. So technically we have 2 names!

Thanks so much, seems like using both names when they are little is the way forward