If you were naming your son Edward with Ted as a nn, how much ...

[LionHeartedMama]

Would you use Edward in your son's life?

Would you introduce him as Ted or Edward?

Would things such as clothes tags etc have Edward on?

My brother is called Edward but my mum calls him Ted, however this is only at home and to family at school etc he is known as Edward or Ed and actually he doesn't really like Ted.

However my own son is called Issac but he is known to everyone including nursery, friends etc as Zak and new people we meet are surprised when I say he's actually christened Isaac.

So I think you need to decide early on how much you want to use Ted and go with that.

Depends what you want to call him and if you think you'll ever want to call him Edward.

Our Edward known as Ted has always been introduced as Ted (we always introduced his as Ted even when we called him Teddy as a toddler), learned to read Ted as his name etc. He is registered as Edward on his birth certificate, on his passport, at the doctors and at school etc, but I've always made a point on school forms of putting 'known as Ted' so that Ted is the name on pegs and books. Usually they ask you to underline the name that's used. His clothes tags and labels all have Ted on them. He uses T as an initial. Actually he doesn't like being called Edward and gets annoyed if his brother teases him with it.

I can answer this one
I have an Edward who is nicknamed Ted/Teddy.
When he was first born and people asked what we'd called him I would say 'Edward, with Teddy for short' and now he is older I just introduced him as Teddy. (He is now 2.3yrs old)
His nursery bag etc is labelled with Teddy and everyone calls him Ted or Teddy. The only time Edward is used is for official things like Drs appts.
If you were in the same room as him and called 'Edward!' then I would bet money he wouldnt even turn round as he wouldnt recognise the name (might have to remedy that before he starts school!!)
He has wooden initial on his bedroom door and its a 'T' rather than an 'E'
Works very well for us. I'm really happy with things this way and also very happy that he will have other ways to use his name when he older/writing a CV.

x posts, sounds as though we do things exactly the same Singersgirl!
When did your Teddy become a Ted? Is there an age when Teddy just becomes too babyish do you think?
My Teddy is definitely still a Teddy, but he's still a toddler!

My Teddy is an official Edward but we have never used it. If people ask, I'll happily tell them but he at 2.4 he has no idea.

I'm just beginning to call him Ted on occasion.

Similarly I have a William but known to all as Billy.

Exactly as singersgirl said, I have registered him at docs etc as William, but he's Billy for now at groups/nursery etc (he's nearly 2).

I suspect he may become a Will at some point. And I'm saving the full William Arthur for when he's been very naughty.

But he's my Billy Sausage for now... .

Edward.

When someone insists that everyone uses the nickname I wonder if they feel they made a mistake and don't really like the full name.

By all means use the nn yourself and your child can choose how to introduce themselves when old enough.

I feel they should be proud of their name and have it written on things in full...

If you don't like a name enough to have it on their bedroom door, don't choose it!

hedwig I think it can be more a case that to some people some names feel very grown up... Charles, Edward, William, and thus some like to have the option of having a shorter/younger/easier to say name for early years.

As you say it also gives more options for the small person to choose as they grow up and as their personality develops, are they more of an Edward/Eddie/Ed/Ted in their teens/20s etc.

If it was me, I would just register as Ted as Edward has a different initial etc and not everyone would think Ted is short for Edward or Zak short for Isaac etc. Unless it is an obvious short form like Zac/Zachary, Ben/Bejamin with same initial, it may get confusing and seem like it isn't their name. Each to their own of course though.

my son is Charles, nn Charlie. Other than the birth announcement, he's always been introduced as Charlie.

I didn't like Charles that much to begin with, but DH calls him it a bit, and he (DS2) likes it. So, agree with jollster really

BTW - I love Edward/Ted/Eddie

agree - full name on labes etc but introduce him as Ted or Teddy - god i love Teddy - might put it on my potential boys name list!

My dd1 is Katherine and we called her that from birth.

In the last 2 years she has insisted that school, and us call her Kathy.

Quite happy to do so - its her choice, its one of the reasons we chose the name, to give her the choice.

I would use the "proper" name often enough that the child knows it is theirs!

My son is Taliesin, to be known as Tal. Taliesin is a bit formal and grown up for him, also hard to get it pronounced properly outside Wales! We always intended him to be known as Tal, that's what we call him and how I introduce him. I will use Taliesin for formal documents and when I'm telling him off .

Ho is it pronounced, Willbean?

How

Bit much to say 'If you don't like a name enough to have it on their bedroom door, don't choose it!'
I love the name Edward. Obviously, otherwise I wouldnt have chosen it. Just because DS is called a nickname (a perfectly usual short form of his name, not a totally different name) does not mean I dont like his full name.
It just so happens in this case that his nickname (which as a very young child is the name he is more used to) starts with a different letter so thats the initial we use for him right now!
You rarely get someone these days (adult or child) that isnt known by some shortened/nickname version of their name, it just tends to be that the nickname has the same initial!

My friends son Edward is known as Ed.
I love that name and if I named a potential son Edward I would enjoy using the full name.
I like the nn Teddy as thats what Jo calls Laurie in Little Women

We like the name Edward too - and I felt very strongly that I didn't want to give a nickname as a registered name. Ted is a diminutive of Edward or Theodore - it's only slightly complicated by the fact that it starts with a different letter from Edward.

Fel1x, we started gradually to call him Ted as he got older, but a couple of people I ran into again recently who had known him when he was a toddler/preschooler called him Teddy to me. He didn't like to be called Teddy at school after about 8 or so.

I'm bemused by the 'if you don't like a name . . ' enough thing. My dd has a (long) full name, and goes by one of the several shortenings of it.

Having the full name means that she has a choice of shortenings, and also the option to use it in full if she ever becomes PM/QC etc.

To answer the OP, she generally introduces herself as 'esme', but sometimes will say "my name is 'esmerelda ermintrude takversdaughter', but 'esme' for short"

(example only, clearly she isn't really called esmerelda ermintrude!)

Re ages - I know at least one grown up Teddy (Ted/Teddy/Edward are all lovely names, btw)

Sorry went off to take the cat to the vet...

It's Tal-yes-in. Usually people say Tal-eye-sin, Tal-ass-in or Tal-ee-shin. Always loved it and I also love Tal as a name, but it definitley sounds short for something.