Just Bill?

[HowToCameron]

Hello, DS2 will come in a fortnights time. His two sisters are Emily and Alice, brother is George. I would be ok with William on the birth certificate if it wasn’t for the awful nickname Will (will you come here, will you do that etc), as I only liking Bill/Billy. So do people think it’s fine to just put Bill on the birth certificate? Thanks

Really like Bill!

I wouldn't. Personally, I think Bill is infinitely worse than Will. Perhaps go back to the drawing board.

I much prefer a full name on a birth certificate, but Bill is a fantastic and v underused nickname for William.

I wouldn’t worry about people calling him Will or William. They’ll follow your lead if you pick a nickname. I have a William and did the same with Will, and we’ve had no issues with people trying to insist on using his Sunday Name or picking their own nickname.

He might prefer William or Will but you would be denying him that option and, to be honest, compared to the classic names of his siblings, I would think that Bill had drawn the short straw.

Agree with the others, I think you/he would regret not having a full name on the bc. People will probably follow your lead with Bill if you use it from the start, but it’s not a given, there was a child in one of my classes whose mum was insistent she be called Beth (her full name was Elizabeth) but everyone called her Lizzie no matter how many times I modelled Beth as her name. In fact at one point she asked me why I called her that as “only my mum uses that name”. So I if it were me and I hated other short forms, I think I would look for another name. With your others I might look at Edward or Thomas.

I'd put full name on birth certificate.

I have a James that we shorten to Jimmy. He is Jimmy to everyone but we wanted to give him a full name and the choice later.

I hate Jamie though so I never call him that. I hope as an adult he doesn't shorten James to Jamie.

The Old Bill isn't any better than Will he do this /Will he do that..

Please don’t call your child Bill. Ive read some real corkers on here in the past, but Baby Bill just made me laugh out loud.

We have a Billy! He's only 3 but no-one has ever called him Will. Sometimes William, which is on his birth cert. I don't like Will either but I do like Liam, another variant. Basically, I liked giving him the full name so that he has the choice to alter the name if he feels Billy doesn't suit him growing up.

Have your dc not for the book Smelly Bill??

I would just put Bill on the birth certificate if you want to!

I personally don't really like the name if I'm honest. I worked with a guy called Bill and he was an absolute prick and I just can't see past that.

I think Bill would be great on the bc
If not just put William on bc but let nursery/school know on the forms that he'll be "known As" Bill.
Easy!

Burglar Bill was dcs favourite book. Can't get past that Im afraid.

Two of my friends’ dads were called Bill when I was a kid so it seems such a ‘dad’ name to me. Billy is sweet though, and I really like William

Bill is pretty dreadful, I'm sorry.

Just name him William and then at least he's got the option later of a few different nicknames.

I think it's fine to put just Bill, but I think putting William is a good idea. People will take the lead from you that he is William called Bill. You can still announce him as 'Bill' when he's born - that will make it pretty clear to everyone. You can write Bill on everything after the birth certificate.

I love Bill, it's on our list too 🙂

Billiam?! (not really....)

You could always go for Guillaume (French equivalent - might be strange if you have no French family connections, though and can't invent a great great grandad who was born in Toulouse) and then Gill for short. Gill with a hard 'G', like a fish has, that is - not as in the girl's name that's short for Gillian. Then, as it is actually a version of William, it could easily be morphed into Bill.

Or Gilbert, indeed.

Maybe times are changing - I know 'old people' names are coming back in, but I think Bill is very much of its time. Like Jim, Mick or Bob, I think of it as the kind of name shortening that is only adopted once middle-aged. Maybe that's just me being weird, though.

I agree that Billy would sound cute/cool whilst he's young and then he could drop the 'y' as he gets older, if he wants.

I've never heard people associate the abbreviated name Will with the word will (as in 'will you do this') - possibly because it's a 'filler'/'helper' word that doesn't stand out for people to make the connection, and is actually frequently swallowed in everyday speech - 'w'you help me' or 'I wuh do'.

if you just have Bill you will be setting him up for the is that short for william question as people will just assume it is

William on the birth certificate, introduce him to everyone as Bill. I don’t understand why you would remove that option from the adult that he will become.

Billius?

if you just have Bill you will be setting him up for the is that short for william question as people will just assume it is

I don't think they'd even ask, just take it as a given - then he'd be puzzled and/or disappointed when he receives letters addressed to Mr W. Smith and think they must be for somebody else.

I don’t understand why you would remove that option from the adult that he will become.

I agree - nobody ever sees your birth certificate except for the very odd official occasion; and even then, I doubt the clerk dealing with it cares what the name is, as long as it matches. If it's there as an option, you can use it or your abbreviated name, but otherwise, you only have one choice for every purpose/stage of life.

Williams's ok but the problem is that the nicknames are awful. Willy? Will? (Will will you )

Bill or Billy are far nicer. Shame you can't call him Billiam!

associate the abbreviated name Will with the word will (as in 'will you do this') - possibly because it's a 'filler'/'helper'

Will, will you etc

Will's will

It's honestly not a great name imo.