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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Teresa

53 replies

FloydOnThePull · 20/05/2018 13:20

DH and I have settled on calling our baby girl Tess. I worry that it might be too cutesy for an adult woman and therefore would like to give her the option of a more formal name that she could use when she's older if she wanted to. We've considered other options for a longer name but it has come down to a straight decision between Teresa (known as Tess) or just Tess.

As an example, DH and I both work in the sort of professions where there aren't that many women at the top anyway and those that can chose to go with a shortening for the office and a more formal version to the outside world e.g. Liz in the office but Elizabeth when corresponding with new clients or giving a speech (obviously, I'd love to think that by the time our daughter is starting her career there will be much better workplace equality and people wouldn't judge based on a name but sadly that's not the world we currently live in).

We would only refer to her as Tess. We both like the name Teresa but DH has reservations on the basis that our current Prime Minister is Theresa May (note we are proposing the different spelling). Politics wise we're both floating voters but would probably vote Lib Dem more often than not. My point is that, nobody but close family would know she even has the longer version as we'd be calling her Tess and by the time she's old enough to consider using the option, Theresa May will be a distant memory.

Anyway, long ramble to get to the point but, would you be put off calling a baby Teresa simply because people might assume that you had named her after Theresa May?

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fearfultrill · 21/05/2018 11:28

I would go with Tessa as a full name. Neither Tess nor Tessa is cutsie at all!

Mannix · 21/05/2018 11:30

I love Teresa and Tess. I don't think people will associate it with the PM, in the same way that if I met a Tony born 15 years ago I would never think he was named after Tony Blair.

FloydOnThePull · 21/05/2018 12:31

Thanks everyone. I think we're going with Tess on the basis of having looked at the most popular names for the last few years and I would consider a lot of them much cutsier than Tess and they would be her peer group.

We did consider Tessa (and Esther, which i love but i think is too far removed from Tess and were definately sure we want her to be known as Tess) but it sounds very 80s to me and I dislike my own name on the basis that it's so 80s I might as well be called spandex!

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