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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

Do you go by your nn or proper name?

46 replies

Bluesunday · 13/05/2010 10:09

Just curious... both names we've picked out for this baby (don't know the sex yet) are thought of as nicknames. DP is adamant though that we put the full name on the birth certificate incase they want to be bank managers or cabinet ministers when they grow up (God forbid)... anything to shut him up but I personally can't imagine calling the child by either of the proper names. I am very working class, London accent, so it wouldn't sound right for me to call "posh name, come in for your chips!" DP is very middle class, Cheshire accent, so not a problem for him to shout "posh name, do come in for one's roast swan supper, whatwhatwhat". I was just wondering if anyone here was ever given a proper name in addition to their nn but ended up never using the proper name... hope that makes sense..? Isn't it confusing to have two names, with regards to school, bank accounts, qualification certificates etc etc?

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MrsvWoolf · 13/05/2010 12:35

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SE13Mummy · 13/05/2010 13:38

I'm known by both my full name and my nickname and haven't experienced any problems with it. If your DC will end up being called Betty/Ted by both parents then it seems a bit pointless putting a different name on the BC. My daughters both have full names that are used on a day-to-day basis but so too are their nicknames. I imagine that as they get older they will choose the name they wish to be known by and having a full name to start off with they each have more options e.g. Harriet can be Hattie, Hat or Harrie/y but if we'd named her Hattie from the outset she's unlikely to end up being called Harrie/y.

Ineedsomesleep · 13/05/2010 16:56

I'm in Cheshire too and its not very posh in my street!

Although my name isn't that posh, I quite like using my full name for business, and sort of saviing my shortened name for the people who know me and like me, if that makes sense.

There is an Edward in the same class as my DS who is always known as Ted. I've never known it to be a problem and I also think that Edward as pretty classless.

I love your choice of names but I also love your DH's.

Would it be too much of a compromise to give your LO DH's choice but use your choice day-to-day?

jellybeans · 13/05/2010 23:19

I prefer just the short form unless I love the long name. I myself have a long name on birth cert but never use it, it seems too formal. Bit pointless really. So I gave all my DC names that they would be called which for some of them is the short form. I don't see them as 'nicknames' but short versions. Nickname to me is more Daz, Shaz etc.

Binkster · 14/05/2010 00:53

I am a Victoria, known as Vicki, it doesn't really bother me too much. Some of the family still call me Victoria, but I'm mainly known as Vicki. My work e-mail is Victoria, but I think of myself, and intrododuce myself as Vicki. I sort of think of them both as my name, and it doesn't bother me either way. I have bank cards with both names on. (Just don't call me 'Tor', or I will get very annoyed! )

nooka · 14/05/2010 06:06

As the nns you would like to use are fairly standard shortenings of the longer names I can't see why this would ever be a problem. I always use my formal name, except with my family and very old friends who use a nick name. There is also another more standard nickname I could use if I wanted to blend in (my name is very unusual, has to be spelled out, explained etc). My brother always always uses is shortening, again it is obvious what his longer name is, so not an issue.

I think that giving your children a name with lots of choice is a great thing, because you can't tell what will suit them best over the course of their life.

My two are currently mostly using their shortenings, and so does school, the doctors etc etc. It's really not a problem.

Elisabeth and Edward are very classic English names, I don't think there are any particular class associations.

GirlWithTheMouseyHair · 14/05/2010 08:51

I'm Frances but it was never shortened (I hate Fran!) until I went to Uni and Effie stuck (initials are FE).

I use my full name professionally and all my friends pre-uni call me Frances, but because I'm Effie on facebook, that seems to get used more often.

MamaLazarou · 14/05/2010 09:12

I always use my full name. My mum chose my name because she liked the nickname - she never intended to call me by the full version. Things changed when I got old enough to voice an opinion and I have been known by my full name ever since! I think the nickname is childish and silly.

VicToryA · 14/05/2010 09:17

Bluesunday, we have a similar name thing to your Betty/Elizabeth. DD is universally known by her shortened name, but her full name is on school reg. forms (etc). However, you just put the nn in brackets after the full name and underline it, which indicates how you want her to be known. Her birth announcement in the newspaper also had her full name with her nn in brackets afterwards. We've never introduced her as anything other than nn, though we do occasionally get asked if it's an abbreviation. We haven't had any problems, and neither has DD.

VicToryA · 14/05/2010 09:19

I think you do give the child more choices if you put the long version on the bc!

Jojay · 14/05/2010 09:26

Please go for Elizabeth or Edward!

They're both great, classic, classless names while IMVHO, Betty and Teddy are a bit 'of the moment' and may date.

Both Elizabeth and Edward have a number of nicknames that your LO may prefer to use when he/she is older, or they may feel that teh full name carries more gravitas in certain situations - let them have the choice.

I'm Joanna who has always been known as Jo. it doesn't bother me, but I wouldn't want to be 'just' Jo - it seems wrong somehow

birdofthenorth · 14/05/2010 09:47

I'm expecting a DD and we're thinking of Bess, full name Elizabeth.

I sympathise with Bluesunday as Bess/ Betty are derivatives of Elizabeth rather than direct shortenings so the longer name feels more remote than the short name. Think we're going for Elizabeth on the birth cert though, to give her more options later in life, and because it sounds a bit better with our chosen middle name (my mum's name).

bruffin · 14/05/2010 10:16

I use my full name on everything, but lots of people call me by several different shortened versions.

DCs have formal name on BC which I put on all official documents. At school they are usually know by their shortened name. I did note that on the programme for the christmas concert dd was mentioned twice as she was in two items. Once she was referred to by her shortened name and the other by her full name.
Having a formal name is very good for telling them off, they know you mean business if you use it

My 83 year old MIL middle name is Betty, but it really doesn't sound right with her first name Eileen.

BettyBizzghetti · 14/05/2010 10:31

Bruffin, I do the long-name-telling-off thing too for my DD!! She's otherwise only ever known by her shortened name.

My granny was called Betty, with Elizabeth as her 'proper' name (hence my MN nnn). I think it's great.

nessmay · 14/05/2010 15:45

I don't understand the obsession with choosing a name and then trying to think of all the possible nick names that could go with it. If you like a name (the full official one or something which has come from it) then go for it. Some names don't have obvious nicknames, my dh is called Mark for example and my sis is Sonya and neither of these names conjure up an obvious nn.

I know a Rebecca and you would think her nickname is Becky, Becs or Becca but no, it's Fred. I can't actually remember why and neither can she, we've just always called her that!

diddl · 14/05/2010 16:11

I agree to go with the "proper" names.
TBH if I could have had a lovely name like Elizabeth & was lumbered with Betty I´d be mortified.

muggglewump · 14/05/2010 16:15

I am always known by shortenings of my name, but use the full version for anything official, and I think it sounds so much better.

Saying that, it was me who wanted my name shortened so my parents didn't give me a long name for an official reason, but because that's the name they liked. (It's Jennifer, I'm known as Jenny or Jen, btw, drives me mad on these threads when people don't say what the name is!)

AbFabT · 14/05/2010 21:35

I use my full name for all things official, and my email address and Facebook account show my full name, but invariably I get called the shortened versions. I am glad I have the options.

MrsSchadenfreude · 14/05/2010 23:07

I've always been called the short version of my name (which is pretty much a name in its own right anyway), and it's on my passport as this, too. I was called the long version of my name if I was naughty, and the only time I've heard it in recent years was when I was being called to board my connecting flight in Eastern Europe (it's a Slav name).

My grandmother used to call me Sandra and my great grandmother used to call me Christina. Never entirely sure why!

nikkisbump · 15/05/2010 17:41

I'm Nikki but BC says Nicola.

roundabout1 · 18/05/2010 09:49

I have a similar problem with names, dp likes Elizabeth & I like Lizzie. Having had a long name myself which I hated through til my 30's (Jacqueline) I am unsure about using Elizabeth on bc & shortening to Lizzie. I used to hate it at school as every yr with a new teacher I would be called my full name & was so embarassed. My parents always called me Jackie from a baby but thought they would give me the option of having the full name to use as an adult & I so wish they hadn't!

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