"Nicknames" as first names

[Confusion101]

I often see on the baby name threads that people don't like a name because they classify it as a "nickname" or shortened version of a longer name. I was just wondering why people don't like this? Most of the names on my list are shortened versions because I don't know why we would write one name on the birth cert when we know we would call the child by another name. Just wondering so I don't regret my decision

I have a short name that is not a shortened version of longer name so don't really understand the choice thing. Like I have no choice because that's just my name.

With some of the shortened versions of names I like, I really don't like the longer versions.

I find names so interesting. A PP made a point about names that were once a shortened version and are now considered names in their own right. I suppose if you go back far enough a lot of names are probably like this.

Interesting to hear from people who have longer names. All food for thought. Thankfully I have a bit of time before I've to fully decide 😅

I have a long traditional name on my BC and was always been known by the nickname version of it. However I changed my name on marriage and the full name just sounds so much better with my new surname so I've started using this in a professional context. I like the fact that I've had this option.

I tend to not like ones that sound overly cutesy. Some are also less established than others. For example, I would assume unless corrected that Joe, Penny and Kate were short for Joseph, Penelope and Katherine. However, I would NOT assume that a baby Daisy or Jack were short for anything. Maybe it's also impacted by the fact that Margaret and John are not common for babies today. I might assume an elderly person with those names was called the full form.

I thinks it's just that some short forms of names sound very informal and/or childish, my own included. A lot of my close friends and my family call me a short form of my name but none of my work colleagues do and I always introduce myself by my full first name to new people (think something along then lines of Ali as short for Alicia).

I think names like Dave, Bob, Mike etc are informal and others like Alfie, Archie quite childlike, so I think it's good for people to have the option of using a more formal first name if they want when they are older/in formal situations.

But I think many shortenings are well established as names in their own right - Kate/Katie, Tom, Ben etc etc. These don't sound informal or childish to me.

I’m not really keen on diminutives as official names, but each to their own.

We called ds William despite knowing that he was going to be called Will day-to-day. I wanted to give him the option to go by William, Liam, Bill or Billy etc if he preferred. And Will might suit him as a toddler, but he might want something more formal as he matures.

My first name is a diminutive of a longer name. Never in my life have I wished for an “option” to call myself something different simply because the longer name just isn’t my name so it never occurred to me to want to use it. Having said that, if I had wanted to use the longer name what’s to stop me.

2 of my children have names which probably can’t be shortened and one goes by the diminutive but she was given the longer name as I liked the longer name wanted to call her that. The short version came as she got older

My DC have 'proper' names on their BC, although we have always called them by the diminutive forms. However, they all use their full names when they feel like it, in different contexts and for different reasons. My youngest used to love being called her full name by her friends' dads, who always did it as a joke. One of them has now died, and DD still smiles about the way he used to use her full name. I'm glad I gave them choices.

If you are named Elizabeth, you can call yourself 10 different nicknames. If you are named Betty, you wouldn't start calling yourself Elizabeth. I think giving children traditional forms of names gives them more choice, and I know plenty of people who decided to call themselves a new form of their name at some point.
Also, a name is quite a serious decision, and to me it feels more respectful to the child to give them the most dignified form of whatever you want to call them.

My son is James officially but we mostly call him Jimmy.

Jimmy is a little boy's name really. I suspect he will want to be either James or Jim when he grows up.

Calling him James also means he could use Jaime when older if he likes (though I hope not as I hate it)

I used to know a lawyer called Tammy. She HATED it and asked her mum why on earth she didn't give her the full name Tamsin. She felt she couldn't be taken seriously in work because she was called Tammy.

Ds has a shortened version as name. I didn’t really like the long version and it’s spelt different in this country if full version used.

Its short and easy. But a name in its own right rather than cutesy version.
Similar to Ben v Benjamin or Tim v Timothy.

I agree op I don’t understand it either.
For example if you want to name your daughter Betty because you like that name and want her to be called that, then name her that.
You may think that the name Elizabeth is ok but it’s not the name you wanted and it doesn’t really sound like Betty.
also, if you have have the name Elizabeth, it means people may shorten it to something else. So they could end up being called Lizzy.. Which was never the name you intended and sounds nothing at all like Betty.
I believe people should pick the name they like, and what suits their baby. I think it would only be wise to use the original, and then shorten it, if they are happy with all of the other potential options your child could have as they grow. And if you feel ok about the fact that they may end up called a name which sounds nothing like the one you originally wanted for them.
I think implying that a diminutive name is lesser and in some way undignified, is a snobby and superior attitude.

I have a granddaughter whose full, proper name is a shortened version of what could be called a classical timeless name.She was named after a character in a soap opera who was always called by the short version. Must admit to not liking it very much, but have got used to it now she is grown up.

@nildesparandum I wonder if my DD has the same name!!

Also an 80s US singer

I gave my son the longer name on his birth certificate but much prefer the shortened version. I wouldn't have used the short version as it looks a bit informal and he has the choice which he uses,

I also go by my very shortened version but wouldn't want that as my legal name.

Just to add another dimension, three of my four family members have their used name as a middle name. Apparently it flowed better. Possibly more of a thing in my parents' generation as it's a right pain in everyday admin.

Two of me and my husband's kids have the diminutive name as their proper name. They are not cute or young - perfectly fine for an adult as a child.
An old boyfriend was 'Jimmy' but felt that didn't sound grown up enough when he became a lawyer so went back to James. But I don't think people would name their child 'Jimmy' (or Billy, Willy or Chuck etc) on the birth certificate. But some names are fine in their more shortened version as their proper name.

My DS has a long name which has 2 diminutives. He has been known by both at different times. He is now 25.
He can tell how long he has known someone by which name they use.

He uses the full version himself, for work now.

*I have a long name which has several common diminutives.
I really like the fact that I am called different things, depending on my relationship with people, and that I can be more formal or less formal as I want to.
Over different decades, I've leaned more towards different diminutives and as I've got older I am much more likely to use my full name.

Based on my own preferences for my own name, I'd want to give any dc the same options.*
This. My name is one of the queen names, used to hate it as a child and was always known as a shortened version but I've grown to like it. Also my close friends call me a very shortened version, my dad called me a derivitive that no one else ever has, I love that I can be so many different versions of my name.

I gave my DD a “long” name - and I’m glad I did! I went off the diminutive we had chosen….and she really likes being able to use different formats in different situations (eg she’s Elizabeth at school but Beth to her friends and Bethy at home).

My childs full name has gained some popularity. There are two popular nicknames that I guess are, in more recent years names in there own right, from this full name.

I put the full name on the BC because the full name sounded better with a second name rather than the nickname we actually call them since birth.

My child will have a choice what to call themselves as they may not want to have the the nickname as their sole choice when they are older.

@Moonflower12 which name does he introduce himself as if he meets new people 🤔

I know somebody who has a similar concept, for example birth cert said Jonathan, shortened to Johnny for his childhood and teens, and anyone he met later knows him as John (not the actual names). So now when people are talking about "John Ferguson" people who have known him since childhood / teens don't know who they are talking about because John is a name in its own right 😂 confusing.

I have a short name and people still adapt it - or when I was a school, come up with something completely different. One advantage of using the long form is that Katherine can choose to be Kathy or Kat if there is already a Katie in her class - or she has a preference or fancies a change!

I know a Debbie (born in the 1970s) who wishes she had been Deborah on her birth cert.

I am called a nickname and always hated it and wished I had the option of the longer Version. Also everyone I meet or speak to assumes I am called the longer version

You can shorten my name down however I won't answer to it. I hate being called my nickname version.

Mum always calls me now and back growing up the proper name. I just don't answer to it as it's not me.

The only place it’s a big deal is on mumsnet, which is riddled with misplaced middle class neuroses. There is an urban myth on here that unless you call your daughter Charlotte or Emily, she could never be a high court judge (although as far as I’m aware, none of the Charlottes or Emily’s born to Mumsnetters have ever been high court judges).

call your child what you like as long as it isn’t Fish’n’Chips or Eureka-Starz it will be fine