Nicknames and Birth Certificates

[meandtheguys2]

I agree. Formal names give options.

My poor grandfather was a Dick (not Richard) no middle name last name.

When he went into the military they made him add a middle name, and he was continually having to "fix" paperwork sent to Richard.

 

[mjkacmom]

Oooh! Take THAT, Tom Cruise! ZING!

I guess I don't think of names like Peggy and Jack as nicknames in the same vein as, say, Ricky, Billy or Gabi. Maybe that's just me...

Oh, and count me in as one who doesn't get the whole "Jack is a nickname for John" thing. Same number of letters. Same number of syllables. Why not just say John??

My Jack is John on his birth certificate, but I do not like nicknames as formal names. My Kate is really Katherine, and my Charlie is really Charles. I don't know why Jack is a nickname for John, but it is, so I didn't want it on the birth certificate.

 

[babytrees]

We have an Abi whose birth certificate has Abigail. Her middle name honors both grandmas, one espescially since my mom always wanted to be known as Kate but her mom insisted everybody call her Kathy. Abi only answers to Abi but if she wanted she can always go by Abigail. Though she/we get grief over the spelling of Abi as opposed to Abby. One of my mom's friends first granddaughter is Abbey...I made the mistake of saying "oh, like a nunnery?"

I am one of those who likes the formal name better but I also have a Cassidy and I am always telling her if I wanted to call you Cassie I would have named you that!! (I do call her Cass sometimes)

 

[Laura]

I'm for just giving the kid the name you plan to call him or her. I'm not at all fond of nicknames, though. If I name my kid Michael I'm calling him Michael. A "pet name" that just family uses is different--I might call toddler Michael Mi-Mi or something.

I'm lucky, though, with the name Laura there isn't anything you can do with it. DH's name is the same way. I don't have any kids, but DH and I have a boy's name picked out: Duncan. And we'd just call him Duncan. We'll find something nickname-proof for a girl whenever the time comes.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

We have an Abi whose birth certificate has Abigail. Her middle name honors both grandmas, one espescially since my mom always wanted to be known as Kate but her mom insisted everybody call her Kathy. Abi only answers to Abi but if she wanted she can always go by Abigail. Though she/we get grief over the spelling of Abi as opposed to Abby. One of my mom's friends first granddaughter is Abbey...I made the mistake of saying "oh, like a nunnery?"

I am one of those who likes the formal name better but I also have a Cassidy and I am always telling her if I wanted to call you Cassie I would have named you that!! (I do call her Cass sometimes)

Funny you made that comment. My daughters name is Victoria - we call her TorI and the family does as well. The thing that gets my temp rising is they spell it TorY. I know it's a little thing but I tell people Tori is her nickname. We took the letters from her name, we didn't change anything so it is not Tor with a Y it is Tor with an I. I just let it go but I see it and go when I see it.

 

[ProudMomTo3Boys]

My name is Tina and for as long as I can remember people have always asked if it was short for Christina. There are plenty of people with Tina as a first name so I don't know why they ask. When I was registering my son for school I still got asked this question. Don't ya think that at this age(36) if Christina was my name I would tell you that.

 

[babytrees]

Funny you made that comment. My daughters name is Victoria - we call her TorI and the family does as well. The thing that gets my temp rising is they spell it TorY. I know it's a little thing but I tell people Tori is her nickname. We took the letters from her name, we didn't change anything so it is not Tor with a Y it is Tor with an I. I just let it go but I see it and go when I see it.

I have never figured out why people add letters to nicknames that aren't in the original names...other than Jim from James...because well Jam just doesn't fit hubby .

We had a friend from Guatemala at the time that Cassidy picked out Abi's name and her name was Abi and said that's all she had ever seen it spelled as until coming to America. We loved it so we "stole" it for our Abi. To be honest, her personality fits the Abi spelling better.

I've never seen Tori spelled with the y at the end but it doesn't surprise me.

 

[sha_lyn]

voted for formal so the person has a choice as they grow up. I know Margarets who are Peggy and others who are Maggie. And they may change along the way. My sister is Patricia. We always called her Trish or Tricia when we were growing up. Somewhere in her early professional working life, she wanted to be known as Pat. Her husband and everyone else calls her Pat. I still call her Trish! LOL! I just met her new husband a couple weeks ago. I told him that I'm probably the only person on the planet that calls her Trish. She made a gesture to him when I said that like...see, I told you. LOL! Oh, yes. I'm sure my son calls her Trish also.

It's just the oppisite wiht DH's sister. She grew up being called Pat or Patty. All of her family still calls her that. About 20-25 yrs ago she worked with another Patricia who went by Patty, so SIL started going by Trish. You can tell how long someone has known her by what they call her.

Funny you made that comment. My daughters name is Victoria - we call her TorI and the family does as well. The thing that gets my temp rising is they spell it TorY. I know it's a little thing but I tell people Tori is her nickname. We took the letters from her name, we didn't change anything so it is not Tor with a Y it is Tor with an I. I just let it go but I see it and go when I see it.

DD is Brianna, we usually call her Bri. It just fits her, but wasn't planned.
People get really creative the spelling. I've had people spell it Brie, Bree, and Brei. nope just Bri, the first 3 letters of her name.

with DS, Russell, I actually planned on calling him Rusty, but it never fit him. We rarely call him Russ either. DS was named after FIL, who always goes by Russ. It just doesn't seem right to call DS Russ since that is what FIL goes by. Others have called him Russ, but usually it is Russell.

 

[LisaNJ25]

If parents intend to name their kid something like Bill or Peggy, should they just go ahead and give them that name, or should they formally name them William or Margaret and use Bill and Peggy as nicknames.

I had to laugh because those are my aunt and uncles names and they go by Bill and Peggy

All 4 of my kids go by nick names.

 

[becka]

Another Becky/Rebecca here. My family has always called me Becky and many close friends do as well (although DH has to be different and calls me Becka - hence my DIS screen name ). However as I got older I loved having the option and I use Rebecca now in most instances. It justs sounds older and more professional even though I have no problems being a Becky most of the time.

Since I loved having that option I wanted that for our kids. DS's name in Nathan and there really is no nickname for him but we named DD Allison even though we planned on calling her Allie. I want her to someday have the choice if she wants it and hopefully she won't find it to be a burden for her. Even though I call her Allie 90% of the time I still manage to call her Allison quite a bit as well so it is not like it will be a foreign name to her as she grows up.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Since I loved having that option I wanted that for our kids. DS's name in Nathan and there really is no nickname for him but we named DD Allison even though we planned on calling her Allie. I want her to someday have the choice if she wants it and hopefully she won't find it to be a burden for her. Even though I call her Allie 90% of the time I still manage to call her Allison quite a bit as well so it is not like it will be a foreign name to her as she grows up.

We called the kid in the neighborhood Nate

 

[TnTsParty]

My grandmother's first name is Patricia but goes by her middle name Helen (the only answer I ever got from her was that her sister's name was Patty - but I am not sure what her real name was) so my mom wanted to name me after my granmother but didn't want people to call me Pat or Patty so she just named me Tricia. I can not tell you how many times I have had to tell people my name is Tricia (the worst is people calling me Trish - I can not stand that - except when my dad calls me that because well he is my dad) To make it worse my middle name is Anne - I have had to sign my name multiple ways on paperwork just because someone somewhere has gotten my name wrong - I am not Trisha or Patricia and my middle name is not Ann. I don't particullaly care for my name but I like it a whole lot better than if it would have been Patricia.

My dad's name is Robert but he mostly goes by Bob. When my brother was born they named him Robert after my dad and we called him Bobby when he was little. Now that he is older he isn't Bobby anymore even though I still slip sometimes and call him that (he is 13 years younger) I think most of his friends call him Rob. I try to call him Robert. He says he will answer to anything.

My sister named my 11 year old niece Samantha and that is what she prefers to be called. Except my sister did give her a somewhat nickname that we call her - Mantha or Manthies - she doesn't mind that but don't even think of calling her Sam or Sammy - that is a boy's name. Except I think some of the girls on her gymnastics team call her Sam.

Here at work we have a lady who insists on giving everyone a shortened name but then insists on calling a Jeff that we work with Jeffrey and a Sue that we work with Susan (now granted that is their name but she also calls a Linda - Li for short.)

I voted for naming someone what you plan on calling them.

 

[monorailsilver]

I say do what you want to do.

My oldest doesn't have a nick name her name is Kelli.

My son has a nickname-CJ but it is short for his first & middle name since he is a Jr otherwise it would be too confusing.

My youngest I wanted a K name (since I am as is my oldest) if it was a girl so we picked out Katie. Kathryn isn't me nor is Catherine plus I have a cousin IL named Cathy & I find her annoying. She can change it to Kate if she wants to when she is older but for now she is Katie. I'd hate to waste the name Kathryn & not use it, does that make sense?

 

[maelstrom]

I think you should name your kids whatever you want to name them. If you really like the name Lizzie and never plan on calling your child Elizabeth, then name them Lizzie. When she grows up, if her name bothers her that much, she can have it changed.

I have names picked out for my future hypothetical children: Audrey Caroline & Aleksandr David. I don't have any nicknames in mind, though Aleksandr would probably be shortened to Aleks on occasion. Maybe they can make up their own nicknames.

 

[ZuZugal]

My Jack is John on his birth certificate, but I do not like nicknames as formal names. My Kate is really Katherine, and my Charlie is really Charles. I don't know why Jack is a nickname for John, but it is, so I didn't want it on the birth certificate.

I also have a Jack who is John on his birth certificate. Our other children have formal names. and we knew we wanted to call him Jack but preferred a formal name for his BC if he wanted to use it later in life.
I don't see why people have a problem with "Jack" for "John". Makes perfect sense to me and our family!
I also know some people who give their son the formal name of Jackson and then call him Jack. I like that as well.

 

[lillielil]

I vote formal names. I've always been "Lillian". If I'd been named Lil or Lilly I don't think I would have liked it very much, because I've always preferred to use the formal version instead, no matter how much my grandma whined about how I should go by a shorter, cuter name. The only people allowed to call me Lil are my wife (who also coined "lillie-lil") and my brother. No one calls me Lilly.

 

[Arielle22]

I always thought nicknames were something used only by friends. So I voted for formal names.

John is my dad's and brother's name. When my sister had her son 2 years ago he was also named John but we call him Jack. However my brother is called Johnny (although he is 48 yrs old). The other day I had my nephew and brought him to visit my brother at work. DB was telling his coworkers how Jack won't know is name is John. So I said watch this and called Jack by his full name. He turned around immediately because that is what I call him when he is in trouble. Th funniest thing is DB is called Yaya by us also. Apparently my youngest sister couldn't pronounce his name so Yaya stuck. When Jack called him Yaya, his coworkers laughed and said that was what they were calling him now.

When Jack was born I was talking to my niece. She is actually a step-niece but has been in the family since she was 9. It wasn't until we were discussing Jack's name that she told me that the name we called her was her middle name. Apparently she doesn't like her first name. We never knew until then.

Having worked in Human Resources my advise is not to get creative with the spelling of the names. It may be cute to change the "i" in Chris to a "y" but it will be a pain for the paperwork.

I have an Abigail and an Emily who go by Abs and Em with their friends. When I was pregnant my mom gave me the advise that I should pick a name they won't be embarrassed about when they are professionals.

 

[ZuZugal]

DB was telling his coworkers how Jack won't know is name is John. So I said watch this and called Jack by his full name. He turned around immediately because that is what I call him when he is in trouble.

Having worked in Human Resources my advise is not to get creative with the spelling of the names. It may be cute to change the "i" in Chris to a "y" but it will be a pain for the paperwork.

I have an Abigail and an Emily who go by Abs and Em with their friends. When I was pregnant my mom gave me the advise that I should pick a name they won't be embarrassed about when they are professionals.

My Jack knows he is John as well. If anyone asks his full name it is John Middlename Lastname even though we only call him Jack.

Your mom's statement couldn't be better. Cute nicknames are fun when they are little (or to stay within the family only) but give a name the child will not be embarassed to use as an adult.

 

[MNFootballMommy]

I also have a Jack who is John on his birth certificate. Our other children have formal names. and we knew we wanted to call him Jack but preferred a formal name for his BC if he wanted to use it later in life.
I don't see why people have a problem with "Jack" for "John". Makes perfect sense to me and our family!
I also know some people who give their son the formal name of Jackson and then call him Jack. I like that as well.

Please don't misunderstand--I don't have a problem with it, I just don't understand it. Most nicknames are 'shortened' versions of a longer name and "Jack" is not shorter than "John." I cannot comprehend how the name Jack is derived from the name John, that's all. No problem at all, except for maybe my ability to grasp where it comes from!

I didn't mean to offend--Sorry!

 

[Ride Junkie]

Please don't misunderstand--I don't have a problem with it, I just don't understand it. Most nicknames are 'shortened' versions of a longer name and "Jack" is not shorter than "John." I cannot comprehend how the name Jack is derived from the name John, that's all. No problem at all, except for maybe my ability to grasp where it comes from!

I didn't mean to offend--Sorry!

Exactly. How did they get Dick from Richard, or Peggy from Margaret?

DH goes by his nickname (Frank) since he hates his formal name (Francisco), and has seriously considered legally changing it. Especially since everyone assumes he can speak Spanish when they find out his real name.