Is Ginny really that bad as a pet name for Imogen?

[pramspotter]

My grandma's name is Ginny and I really want to call a little girl after her because she means a lot to me. My great-grandma and a cousin were also called Ginny and they are the sweetest people ever.

Can't stand the name Virginia but love Imogen. We could call her Ginny for short..

Mumsnet Jury??

Ginny short for Imogen is nice. I like Paloma too. Does somebody have a Paloma?

How Gorgeous.

No No No to Regina.

I teach one, and no-one could pronounce it when they first saw it on the register and said it to rhyme with vagina, which was what all the boys called her for months. She then had to work very hard with the staff to be known as Gina or Reggie.

She is fab and very confident, but suffered for a while.

Sorry, Love Imogen though, and shorten it to whatever the hell you want to.

Dh is refusing Imogen as too posh. Apparently all the names I like are too posh. He is suggesting Shirley after the girl in the Bily Bragg song.

Ginny Weasley in H Potter is a Ginevra I think, and she's a cool chick.

I know a Ginny whose name is Genista.

regina makes me think of queen#s vagina!

pathetic i know

nn can be whatever you want them to be - Ginny isn't too far removed from Imogen. If you like those names then go for it!

Silverfrog - a beatrice has just started at ds nursery - she is known as Bertie.

My middle name is just Jinny. Funny, as my sister is Imogen, her name doesn't really get shortened, maybe 'Immy' if anything.

Of course people can, and should, shorten names to anything they want. Examples like Meg and Kate are traditional names that have been around for ages, though, whatever their derivation; I just don't see why you need to give an unrelated name in order to get a shortening you like. But that's OK. It's not my child and I wouldn't bat an eyelid if someone told me their child was called Ginny short for Imogen.