Oliver always Ollie/Olly/Oli

[Idontthinklikethat]

Anyone managed to avoid the obvious nn for Oliver? DH hates the nn …likes the full name. Was the same with Alexander.

We avoided oliver as it was so popular 8 years ago and opted for Alexander. Known only as Al.

There’s an 11 year old Oliver in dds class. She always refers to him as Oliver.

I have an Oliver who is known as Ollie.

Or Bobbins short for Ollie Bobbins

When they start school they ask for their preferred name, so he is officially Oliver but is known as Ollie on everything!

@inheritancetrack oh that’s interesting is that through choice re Al? Anyone call him Alex?

If it helps op, Oliver is the number 1 boy’s name in the country atm so there will probably be at least one other in his class! So he can be the Oliver as opposed to Ollie if you like.

I currently know an Oliver who is always Oliver, but he is only 3.

Yes I never thought I would go for a popular name! Good point though / what do people think about the name?

My son was at primary school with 2 Oliver's. One was called Oliver and the other Ollie. People still called them Oliver A and Ollie B even though the kids knew which boy had each name

[quote Idontthinklikethat]@inheritancetrack oh that’s interesting is that through choice re Al? Anyone call him Alex?[/quote]
School call him Alex At a push we call him Alex but we are lazy. The other one is called El or Elli. Another reason not to go with Oliver was the olly and Elli combo 😂. So we have El and Al 😂

Re; Alexander. My cousins name and he goes by 'Eck

We have an Oliver and he goes by both Oli and Oliver, but to be fair anyone that now calls him Oli asked if we used the nickname before assuming. I think if we'd wanted to stick to Oliver - which is what we call him mostly at home - we easily could have done

Unfortunately most people tend to shorten names to one or two syllables whether you want them to or not

You as a parent can have a go at calling them whatever name you like, but you need to allow for the real possibility that they'll be Oli/Alex/whatever down the line.

Also having this issue. Love the name Oliver (probably because I adore Oliver Twist) but really not keen on Ollie..

Don’t give him the name if it’s going to bother your DH. It’s not inevitable.. but it’s very very likely. You could try Liv, but it is usually the girls’ shortening.

There are so many Olivers that shortenings are sometimes necessary just to distinguish them. In my (secondary) school we have two Oliver CommonSurnames in one year group. They have been through the same schools throughout their education and on Day One of Reception it was decided that one would be known as Ollie and the other as Oliver. I don't think either child or family had any input and they have stuck ever since.

When I was teaching I would always ask a child what they liked to be called and if their parents shortened their name. I wouldn’t dream of shortening it unless I knew it was okay. Have to admit though I have an aversion to hyphenated forenames so I was always happy to hear, for example, Emily-Jane’s mum actually referred to her as Emily.

I know a Victor who was always Victor because he wouldn’t allow any shortened forms of his name.

I think its avoidable as a child but later on its up to them. My teenage neighbour is an Oliver, was been called Ollie as he has a sister named Holly - however, since he went to uni his new friends all him Ollie and think its hilarious his sister is named Holly. (I've no idea how the parents didn't think this through!)

I knew an Oliver who went by Ver!

I know a few people with long names that are usually shortened who always go by the full name. I think it’s chance a lot of the time.

I used to work in a class with 3 Olivers.

One wanted to be called Ollie and was always called Ollie.

One wanted to be called Oliver and was always called Oliver.

One wanted to be called Ollie, and some of his friends called him Ollie, but the teacher always called him Oliver. I think that must have been what his parents put down as his "preferred name" when he first started school.

Our neighbours' child is officially Oliver but they mostly call him by a nickname that has nothing to do with his real name, and sounds as if it ought to be short for a completely different name - let's say Sammy.

Most schools have the "preferred name" system nowadays - use it! And don't be afraid to mention it if people are using the short form you don't like. However, I think there comes a point when the owner of the name should be allowed a say. If one of you really can't bear Ollie, then please think carefully about how you would feel if you named your baby Oliver and then he himself decided he'd prefer Ollie one day.

I have a name like Catherine. My parents and family always called me the full name. No friends ever nicknamed me. I think as I also always introduced myself as full name. I agree with you I hate nicknames for a perfectly nice name. While friends can nickname him if they want you can both always call him Oliver!

DH wanted a name that couldn’t be shortened… DS has been Oli since the day he was born 😂. He suits Oli much more than Oliver and sometimes he forgets that’s his proper name!

My Oliver is 23 and has never been called Ollie. He has always just told people that he prefers Oliver if they try. Nobody has ever really tried though, as he's always introduced as Oliver.

He has a family nickname which is based on how he pronounced Oliver when he was very little but we don't use that in public.