Name dilemma - should I change 20 month old DS's name?

[CeilingCat]

This has been preying on my mind for a while now, so I thought I'd run it past the MN jury.

DS as a very unusual (but not 'unique') name. I really love it, BUT no one else does. We always call him by an abbreviation of his name (the abbreviation is quite commonplace) and I now dread people asking me what it's short for. I'm not a 'wacky' person, and I hate confrontation, and I find it hard to deal with the negative reactions.

So, DH and I have been talking about changing his name, either to his abbreviated name, or to another name which could (at a bit of a stretch) be abbreviated to the same nick name.

Hmmm this is sounding complicated isn't it? I don;t want to give the actual names cos it would out me to any RL mates, but here's an approximate equivalent:

DS birth name 'Albus'
Nick name 'Albie'
Possible name change 'Archibald'

THESE ARE NOT THE ACTUAL NAMES, BUT THEY ARE THE BEST EQUIVALENTS I CAN THINK OF.

DH thinks we should just change his name to his nick name, but I'm just not sure. I don't like the idea of him being 'Albie' as an official name IYSWIM.

DH thinks it would be weird to change his name to 'Archibald' as the abbreviation to 'Albie' is too contrived.

We never actually call him 'Albus' and we would probably rarely call him 'Archibald', but I think 'Archibald' is going to serve him better in the future than either 'Albus' or 'Albie'.

Still with me? Whaddya think??

My cousins real name Murdo Malcolm but has always been known as Malcolm,even teachers at school. At the ripe old age of 30 he decided to officially change his name as it was very complicated for banks etc so on that score I would say change it but my dad is called by his middle name and never had any problems so hey ho!
Not much help sorry!

I think it takes time to grow into a name, its hard when your name is unusual and you are shy, but at least he is a boy and will not end up with an unusual first name and then marries and ends up with an even more unusual surname. I have always had an unusal first and second name and very normal last name, and then I married!! Oh Boy, believe me there will never be another with my name.
CC I have catted you.

It's fabulous! Don't change it whatever you do. I'm jealous I didn't think of it for mine!

i think Geronimo is a fantastic name.
don't change it just because other people don't like it

I'm a "formerly known as"

My first and middle names were changed two days befor my first birthday

My birth certificate has (have invented these names by the way)

Lucinda Kay Jones
blah blah (date/place of birth
parents names)
At the bottom of the certificate is a box that contains these words

Formerly known as
Natasha Leigh Jones
(date the name was changed)

It's a flipping nuisance. It's on my marriage certificate too.

sussies - did you cat me? (Can't see another CC on the thread ). If so, I haven't received it yet.

Hallo.

I am having a boy and for his middle name my DH want to call him geronimo too!!!!

I had my reservations at first but now I think it's a fab name.

My DD has rather an unusual name too (old fashioned not way out there tho') and middle name and she loves it.

I think you should stick with it. And then when he is naughty you can bellow it across the playground!!!

I think you should stick with it. Its a lovely, lovely name.

Haven't read the thread in depth so I may be repeating someone, BUT I know plenty of RL people who use either their middle name or a completely different name. It used to be traditional in some families anyway. My father's family tree is full of people called (e.g.) "Hortensia Mildred Jones, always known as Bianca". My mum's legal names are her two grandmother's first names, and she has always, since a baby, been known by friends and colleagues by a completely different name - she passed exams, got married, etc. and no-one raised an eyebrow. I wouldn't worry.
PS Some peole cannot help being rude about others' choice of baby names - ignore 'em.

CeilingCat, both you and dh love the name - thats the most important thing - dont change it. Why should others bother you? No-one ever likes every name they hear.

CC I'd stick with it as you love it - no guarantee people wouldn't be rude about other choices so i wouldn't do it to please anyone else! My dh and a couple of his friends have very unusual names and have all found it a positive experience. Also his abbreviated name is usually a girl's name in this country - also no prob and i wouldn't say he was super confident; it's nice to be unique (speaking as one of 4 the same name in class at school!). I don't like my full name & always use nickname without problem.

Keep the name - but perhaps move to where people are less rude and more imaginative. What a miserable lot you've encountered.

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I feel you have to think about your son and any explaining he may have to do / flack he may have to take at school. Think how you feel having to explain to people, how will he feel when he's having the mickey taken out of him at school for his name? It's not a bad name but kids can be very cruel. It could strengthen his character and give him backbone or it could make him miserable for 15 years at achool and an easy target. Change his name to Ronnie / his middle name. You have an obligation as a parent to ease his passage into this world and I would be afraid calling him Geronimo may not do that and he may grow to dislike you for it.

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The 2 syllable name I'm called is a very reasonable abbreviation of my 3 syllable full name! I only use the longer one for legal documents ie banks, wedding certificate etc, i've used the shorter one for ever for everything else, incl job interviews.
An NCT Mum friends dd is named Sophia but they call her Sophie. You do wonder, with such a tiny difference, they didn't just call her Sophie in the first place! (she says, having chosen a really silly spelling for her own dd name )

Going thru a similar situation with our dd's first name right now. Dh recently announced he thinks we should change it as he thinks she will get too much stick at school and have a hard time spelling it out all the time. She is 14 months and her first name is non-english and long. We abbreviate it but that still needs spelling. Dh thinks we should start calling her by her middle name which is a very regular, spellable english name. He also thinks we should change them around legally to avoid red tape confusion.

Does anyone have experience of calling a baby/toddler by a totally different name than the one they have become used to?

Sorry to hijack Dh and I both think Geronimo is an excellent name btw...

What on earth were you thinking?

Forget what other people here are saying. Noone has the guts to tell you the truth.

Geronimo is a DREADFUL name. Seriously. Awful. Call social services bad.

It IS what people say when they bungee jump. I have, I did.

It's totally irrelevant that it's an ancient name. Noone knows or cares, they will just laugh. It sounds like you have deliberately taken the p* out of your child. He's a person, not a plaything. Get a doll. Call it Gerinojemima or anything you like but don't lumber a Real Person with something so dreadful.

Try it. Go visit some club or place you've not been to and announce your name as "Geronimo". See how people react. That's what you've lumbered the poor little cocker with.

You won't do it, will you. You just know that if you try it people will laugh at you. Who would actually dare tell people that they had been named "Geronimo"???

You have missed something fundamental. This is NOT about you or what you like. This is about the child and the person they will become. It's them who is lumbered with it and if you think it's offensive having people laugh at it now, imagine how it will be to be the person laughed at. For the rest of his life. Not to mention that he can't leave the South without being considered a complete ponce. And even for a Southern name (and you lot seem to really go in for the daft ones) it's really, seriously bad.

I'm being cruel to be kind, here. Cruel to you to be kind to the poor laddie.

Change it, before he divorces you as a parent (quite right too).

TheOriginalYorkshireLass - there is a big difference between arguing your point and being fucking rude. I think you just crossed the line spectacularly.

"Call the social services bad"

"Change it before he divorces you as a parent (quite right too)."

I think you need to get a bit of perspective, sweetheart.

Unless you are a Native American (and even then I would suppose that they would probably use a more linguistically correct and respectful version of the name) Geronimo is just about the daftest name I have ever come across.

It is what American Airborne troops shout out when they jump out of a plane.

It is a name equivalent of sending you child to school with a big sign on their back saying 'Please tease me'.

It really is. And you may well say that people shouldn't bully, and I'd agree with you , but we live in the real world.

It is unusual to the point of cruelty