Alfred..

[Fredisbest]

Would not shorten to Alfie..

Possibly Alf or Fred ?

Nice name. I wouldn’t use if you really dislike Alfie though, because others may use it when he’s older.

I like Alfred shortened to Alf.

I can't bear Alfie or Fred. I'm not sure you'll be able to avoid Alfie, though. Diminutives are often outside your control.

Alfred is lovely. But you may not be able to avoid Alfie completely as it's such a popular/trendy name at the moment in it's own right - although I suppose if you call him Fred from day one it might work (I think the Alf nn is horrible though - very old man/puppet, sorry!).

Alf Garnet ! So no, not really.

Instantly thought of Batman's butler.

Alfred nn Fred/Freddie would totally have been our choice had we had a boy (just found out DD4 on the way). I think this is totally normal - he's known by Fred/Freddie but the longer name is Alfred. I also know a couple of Bert/Berties whose longer names are Albert.

Lovely name @Fredisbest

I know a couple. All get shortened to Alfie, even though one parent is very clear it is not to be shortened, all the kids still do it.

Do not use a name if you don't like the most common shortening.

I doubt you will be able to stop everyone else calling him Alfie, sorry.

Just call him Fred, introduce him to everybody as Fred, and pop Alfred on the birth certificate. Easy!

Love that you are using the full name, I dislike Alfie/ nn as the legal name -just my preference but I do like full names with the option to be called whatever they please.
For context two of my
Children have long names which have been kept long - we just like the long name not the NN. Both are referred to by their full names. One is not naturally shortened but the other is (Alexander to Alex) but all it takes is you leading by example and then everyone else uses the full name too. Everyone calls him this. If we do shorten it then we use Xander -which is still longish. What happens when he is older is out of my
Control, he can do what he wishes then!

I really love Alfred nn Alf, just stopping everyone else calling him Alfie could be a problem! I do like Alfie though, just so overdone now