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Original poster

Little rant about name shortening

118 replies

PickasillyChristmasName · 09/12/2004 08:41

This isn't an important rant but it's something that bothers me a bit so I wanted to share it Smile.

DS is called Benjamin and DH and I call him that ie not Ben. We have no objections to the name Ben, but we call him Benjamin.

So why if we introduce him as Benjamin do people automatically call him Ben? Am I the only person with this problem? And is it Benjamins who always get shortened by other people?

Any other names that get shortened when you'd rather use the "long" version?

OP posts:
codswallop · 09/12/2004 12:55

I have a friend whos ds is called " alexander" and it drives me nuts that its never shortened
Have no idea why - seems a little contrived to be yelling it after him IMHO

ds1 is NEVER callled "Gus"

codswallop · 09/12/2004 12:56

oh and woudl never picka name where i didnt like the diminutive anywat

spacedonkey · 09/12/2004 12:56

you have an augustus coddy?

codswallop · 09/12/2004 12:57

oha and Twig mys ister calles her madeeleine maddy moo too!

codswallop · 09/12/2004 12:58

oh yes "sir augustus of cod land"
no angus! you old donkey

spacedonkey · 09/12/2004 12:59

I thought Gus was short for Augustus, never thought of it as a diminutive form of Angus

codswallop · 09/12/2004 13:05

sd this is \link{http://www.jackals-forge.com/abominate/abom_sc_1.jpg\you}

spacedonkey · 09/12/2004 13:05

actually the resemblance is uncanny Grin

Flumberrysauce · 09/12/2004 13:28

Sorry was very grumpy this morning. V. rude with the 'affected' and 'smacks of bunnies' comments. I like the name Ben and Benjamin. My brothers middle name is Benedic - bit unfortunate Ithought.

I'm just antagonistic, always fun to get a rise!!

Its alright to want to be called whatever you are called BUT people will call you whatever they want, I mean its a name isn't it.

I had daft nickname at school (proably coz I was always offending people - no change there then) but its hard to get people to change

JennisaurusUnderTheMistletoe · 09/12/2004 13:46

We have the opposite problem. People try and call my Evie Evelyn, and Eva. Grrr we called her Evie because thats the name we liked!

I always introduce myself as Jenni and people insist on calling me Jennifer! Oh well Grin

mikeyjon · 09/12/2004 14:13

my sons name is jonathan and thats what everyone calls him, except bil who calls him johnnie which drives me mad! nobody seems to be able to spell it either.... i call him jonif (or nippy) for some strange reason

ds2 is called michael and gets called cully. sil insists on calling him michael mouse and i swear one day im going to thump her...

im sarah, nobody ever shortens it, dh is Rob although he gets called robert by his granny or robbie when i want my own way....

nieces are catherine and elizabeth - cat and bethy
brother is matthew - mattie

hate other people shortening my kids names unless i've done it first - if i wanted to call my boys Jon and Mike then i would have Grin

fisilhohoho · 09/12/2004 14:20

A friend shortened ds' name from birth. It is an unusual name, but the first syllable is quite a trendy name in its own right. I thought she was taking liberties, and it took me sometime to notice that I have always called her son Chris, but in fact at home he is always known as Christopher - so I think she was just getting me back! lol Smile

I don't mind it if people shorten ds' name, I don't, but that's my choice. When he's older if he expresses an opinion then I'll go with what he wants.

DP, on the other hand, has had plenty of years to decide that he does not want his name shortened, not ever. If you shorten his name you get a particularly nasty type of food which Irish people traditionally ate. It doesn't suit him, and it's not a name he likes. If anyone uses the wrong name, I use his proper name very pointedly!

zubb · 09/12/2004 14:55

I specifically chose names that could be shortened, so that when I used the long version they would know when they were being told off Grin

sassy · 09/12/2004 15:22

As a Sarah (a name which shortens very badly to Sair (dh calls me sassy - don't mind this)) I was determined that my childrens' names would shorten properly IYKWIM. So we have a Rebecca who is almost always known as Becky or variants of this, and have chosen equally shortenable names for the sprog due to make an appearance on Jan 1st!

wordsmith · 09/12/2004 15:41

wwb, you can shortern trace even further, to 'tray'. But I won't. My name is Mary, and I used to work with someone called Jacky. When I arrived in the morning I'd say "hijack!" and when she left at night she'd say "Nightmare!". I also have known someone who shortened 'Ian' to 'eeee' - I mean, what's the point?

Eulalia · 09/12/2004 15:48

We have a thing about this too. There are so many lovely names about which sound so nice in their proper full form but are shortened. We had quite a problem thinking of names for our children so that they couldn't be shortened but finally managed to find a girl and boy's name.

Some names do sound better shortened than others. I considered Sebastian which sounds nice but don't like Seb at all!

Eulalia · 09/12/2004 15:53

mikeyjon - snap, same name - and yes we get constant mispellings, with an extra h and an o .... grrrr!

PocketTinsel · 09/12/2004 15:59

i have a name that shotens in a few ways. Full name being Natasha EVERYONE calls me Tasha. And i almost always introduce myself as his now. I've discovered that when i introduce myself with full name a lot of people go for Nat...I know one or two people who call me Nat, this makes my hair stand on end. Few people call me Tash which i can tollerate if they've known me long enough.

I find it strange how people always want to shorten names, but when you name a child with a one sylabel name people always add a y!

nerdgirl · 09/12/2004 16:03

Got to ask Fisil - what is the nasty Irish food?

PamiNativity · 09/12/2004 16:07

Nerdgirl, that puzzled me too. My best guess is Stew.

mrschristmaswallace · 09/12/2004 16:09

dd is Eve and people continually call her EVIE!!! how can you ADD to someones name????

xmascaroltygirl · 09/12/2004 16:13

Same here, Mrs CW, although we find that she gets "Evie" less now that we're in N.I. rather than England - or maybe it's because she's older. She was Evie all the time at her first nursery though.

xmascaroltygirl · 09/12/2004 16:14

Irish Stew is quite nice, though (well, it is when I make it...???)

But "Black Pudding" doesn't work and I can't think of anything else!

Gobbledigoose · 09/12/2004 16:40

Twig - my Mum didn't want us to have James either for that reason - she hates 'Jim'. It's James anyway so there!

fisilhohoho · 09/12/2004 16:42

well, I guess as dp is also a vegetarian it make it a not very appropriate name for him! (and I hate stew cos I hate gravy!) But you guessed right!

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