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[Opinions] Re: Hot Take: Nicknames Are Overrated
Yeah, I come from a nickname-name family and I don't like it. I always wished more of my ancestors had full, lovely names. Even the ones that did have full lovely names were saddled with nicknames! I was always a Romantic and sentimental type, which clashed with my family's "get over yourself" salt of the earth style. But I definitely don't think it was laziness that induced them to ditch the long form. The main nicknamer, the grand old matriarch, was possibly the least lazy person I've ever known! Maybe it was a control thing.... She'd be introduced to a newborn member of the family and decide what they would be called, regardless of what was on the birth certificate. I've known people with some of the names you listed who used the full version. It was never an issue, I don't remember anyone ever complaining about the length or formality of a name.... It would be so rude to force a nickname on someone. I feel like that sort of thing is pretty juvenile. One of my friends named her kids very deliberately short names because she wanted to avoid nicknames. I always felt kind of bad about that for her. It seemed limiting.

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