To name our son Leonard when we are planning to call him Leo

[EdemaRuh2025]

Our baby boy is due early September. We have settled on Leonard as his first name but we intend to call him Leo. In our home country, the name is pronounced differently (like Leonardo but without the ‘o’ at the end) so to us it makes sense to shorten it to Leo, but a couple native Brits told us that they’d shorten Leonard as Len or Lenny because of how it is pronounced in English.

We know Leo is a standalone name in the UK but we are keen to write down Leonard on his passport. It just sounds more complete to our ears, and works much better with his (non-English) middle name and surname. But last thing we want is to doom him to a lifetime of having to correct people who abbreviate his name as Lenny or push back when he wants to be called Leo.

I am also mindful of how popular Leo is nowadays and chances are there will be other Leos in class. Will his teachers and/or classmates force Leonard or Lenny on him in this case? I was subjected to this in school - my name is quite popular in my home country so teachers and classmates insisted on calling me by my first and middle name together (as if they are hyphenated even though they aren’t) despite how much I hated it, in fact they all doubled down when they saw it annoyed me! So yeah, don’t want that to happen to him, but of course if he himself chooses to go by Leonard or Lenny (or even his middle name!) that’s absolutely fine by me as long as it is not forced on him.

Anyway so how valid are my concerns above? Are we making a mistake in the UK social context?

It’s fine I think, particularly if you won’t actually use Leonard beyond paperwork

I think it sounds like a lovely plan. Well thought out.

You are giving him options in life with his name. I only know one Leo but he is a lovely person

It's a nice name.

Schools, NHS, in the UK will defeat to Leonard, kids Lenny, Len.

But you're not in the UK so can't advise

But last thing we want is to doom him to a lifetime of having to correct people who abbreviate his name as Lenny or push back when he wants to be called Leo.

I think it's fine and if he introduces himself as Leo that's what people will call him. However, he might decide himself tht he'd like to be called Lenny, so you'll have to be okay with that.

Schools etc usually call a child by whatever name you tell them too.
There's usually a section on the information form that says "known as".
So for you it would be
Name - Leonard
Known As - Leo
So anything with his name on (like his coat peg) will say Leo.

I like your idea. Put Leonard on his official documents, and introduce him to everyone as Leo so that's what he's known by. At school there's usually a section on the registration form to put the name the child is known by, as well as their official name, so school should call him Leo without any problem. It's a lovely name, by the way.

No they won’t

We are in the UK, we’re just not originally from here. That’s why I am asking.

For example, I go by my middle name, it is a much more common practice where I am from, in fact on first day of school if a kid has two names teachers will ask which one they prefer rather than assuming it’s the first one. But I understand first name is the default in the UK, so I just specify that I go by my middle name where relevant (e.g. first day at a new job), and in other contexts (like hospitals etc. where I’ll never see that person again) I just answer to my first name. This is a non-issue for me because I came here as an adult and at my age people respect my preferences. But kids are different. Will the kids (or even teachers) in school call him Leonard or Lenny against his wishes because “there are too many Leos in class”? That’s what they did to me, even though I made it clear I wanted to be called ‘Middlename’ they were like “nope, too many Middlenames in this class. From now on you are Firstname Middlename”.

@EdemaRuh2025 the school will call him what you tell them he is known as.
If there's more than one Leo then he will end up Leo A (or whatever letter your surname is) and the other Leo's will be Leo B, Leo C etc.

I know of a Leonardo shortened as Leo. Parents are foreign. Nothing wrong with your plans at all.

Schools here have a known as option. DC1 is known by her nickname at school.
(Think Immy type of name, not a real short name). DC2 has her full name down. The school will go with whatever you put down.

I think it’s fine, I’ve also known Oliver to go by Leo as a nickname. But really you’re not going to be able to control what others call him. He may go to secondary school and not introduce himself as Leo at all.

My dd is called “Elizabeth” - “Libby” for short.

On everything for school etc we write her name as

Elizabeth (Libby) Smith.

School calls her Libby. Everything we get from school has Libby on it. (Note to self to check her GCSE certs next year will be Elizabeth.) No one has ever called her Liz. Occasionally I have called her Elizabeth in front of her friends and they are generally surprised that that is her name. They thought that she was just Libby. These days schools are very good about “known as” names - you just have to always give the name as Leonard (Leo) and they will go from there.

One thing though - will you be pronouncing his name as Leo-nard”? Because anyone British who sees it written down will say “Lenn-ard”. Will that annoy you? It would annoy me. “Leo-nard” sounds so much cooler than “Lenn-ard”!

NB my DD’s name isn’t actually Libby but it is along those lines. We shorten it to a completely reasonable but not the most obvious shortening.

His official name is Leonardo, but you’ll call him Leo, and that’s what he’ll be known as. My name is similar, in that it can be shortened to a few different names. My parents picked one. That was that.

I am fine with him going by whatever name or abbreviation he wants, as long as it is his choice and not imposed on him by others.

The “known as” practice sounds good. So if we put down Leo in that field no one will even know his full name is Leonard I suppose?

I’ll be honest, I prefer the way it is pronounced in our language then the English pronunciation but I understand people here will say it like that and that’s fine by me. I really don’t like Lenny though! All this being said, if he turns around one day and decides to go by Leonard (pronounced like Lenard) or Lenny I will fully respect and support his decision. I made the choice to go by my middle name at the age of 9, despite everyone around me saying my first name is ‘better’, so it is important for me that he has agency over his name. What I don’t want is other people deciding it for him because of their own convenience or preferences.

I don’t think this is true. If he always introduces himself as Leo, why would anyone call him Lenny? They may as well call him Josh or Dave.

I have never really seen the point in calling your your child one thing and having something g else on official documents.

You've never met a Tom, Jim, Liz, Sam, Joe, Becky, Alex......
It's very normal to shorten some names but good to have a "birth certificate" name.

From a UK perspective why not call him Leonardo or Leon, both of which are name people know how to pronounce as Leo - nard - O (Leo)/ Or Ley-on which can be contracted to Leo.

In the UK Leonard is Len - nard which leads to Len or Lenny -not helped by Lenny (Henry) being popular and Leonard is definitely an old man style name.

Why don't you just call him Leo, if that's the name you prefer?

OP I have a teen - nearly 17 , full name on birth certificate and passport but never called it by anyone ever .It isn’t him , he suits the shortened version . I so wish that was on his official documents . He is going to have to explain it away every time he moves school starts a new job etc etc

Of course I have met them. I said I don’t see the point in it, not that I don’t believe it happens. Many years ago people got nicknames over time by their actual name being shortened. Nowadays people deliberately choose the short version to call their child and another name in the BC. There is zero point in this. If he is going to be called Leo, by everyone, all of the time, why not just put that on the BC?

To be honest I've never really thought of Leo as a name that's a shortening of a longer name.
Except for actor Leonardo DiCaprio I have always assumed anyone named Leo is just called Leo.