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People often ask if my son's name (Niko) is short for anything. It's not, we just liked it way better than Nicholas, nn Niko.

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People have also asked if my name (Jodi) is short for something. It's also not. And in fact, my parents were between Jodi and Josie (not Josephine, just Josie).

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I like Alec, Bram, Kai, Mack, Xander for boys.
Anya, Brielle, Elise, and Sadie for girls.

I like Beth, and might use it rather than Elizabeth, though I like Elizabeth too. But maybe it's because my favourite cousin is named Elizabeth, but absolutely always called Beth. (her husband calls her "Bethie", but never mind, he's a nice guy.)

I think it's fine, and I'd do it if I didn't like the full name, rather than give a full name I didn't like just to "get" the nickname.

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I really wanted to use Drew. I don't care for Andrew so much. My husband said OK to Andrew, but not to Drew. And implied that he would be calling him Andy. So I ended up taking it off my list. Besides, our surname is one syllable.

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I'd also consider using Max. I think Maximilian is overbearing and Maxwell is too surnamey, and all the others are too foreign to me. But I love Max. I didn't seriously consider it because of our surname.

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Sandra is another, and Sherry, although they're not top faves. And if you count them, Sonya, and Tanya. =)

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Names I would rather use full names for, and just have the child go by the nickname all of the time, because I like the full names enough too:
Charles "Charlie"
Alexander "Alex"
Richard "Rick" or "Rich"
Nicholas "Nick"
Thomas "Tom"
Edith "Edie"
Marjorie "Jorie" or "Margie"
Angela "Angie"
Marcus "Marc"
Victoria "Vicki"

Well, there's my name, Nina :) I've been asked a few times if it was a nickname for something, and I kind of wish it was. For that I would never use names that are normally nicknames as given names. But I do like:
Will
Beth
Josie
Charlie
Nate
and some others I can't think of right now :P

Hattie
Sam - for a girl

I can't help but shake the feeling Bonnie is a nickname for something, but I just don't know what. Regardless, I would still use it as a full name.

I would use Liam or Finn for a boy. William is too common for me to want to use it, so I would just use Liam. It's probably more likely that Finn would be a nickname for Finley, but I do like Finn on its own.

Alec! I love Alec. It was my favorite name for a boy for a long time. I have other names I like better now but it is still a name I would use in real life. I would never use Alexander and I hate (and I mean hate Alex).

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I also have Archie and Bram on my list but I wouldn't use them in real life.

The only one on my list currently is Nora.

The only one I can think of right now is Lucy.