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Well, I have a long, difficult name (Annelise), and as a child, I found it much easier to let friends' parents, swimming instructors, babysitters, etc. just call me "Anna" than to correct them over and over again. Now that I'm an adult, I don't bother correcting people, and just respond to anything that vaguely sounds like Annelise. But I do enjoy hearing very old friends still call me "Anna." If you name your child something hard to remember or pronounce, nicknames are a necessity. It's hard to work with people who are constantly forgetting your name.

Where I live nicknames aren't important... They're something that people you're close to call you. People never introduce themselves by a nickname, and they'd never call you a nickname unless you asked them to.

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Also, the person who bears the name should be the one who picks his/her nickname. Not the parents, not any random person. [/rant]

I know what you mean. People try to do that with my little brother. His name is Johnathan & that is what everyone in our family & really close friends call him, but everone else tries to call him John. Even his teachers at school; my mom always tells them not to do that because its not his name & it really irritates her when they do it. I think some names just need to be left as is, instead of trying to shorten a kids name. Some names are just too pretty to shorten.

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~Arie~

I don't know. Sometimes it depends on the kid. My friends gabby doesn't look like a gabrielle. so or if your name it william but you look like a bill i ould go either way.

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May the LORD bless you and keep you make His face shine up you...

I prefer full names as well, if I am going to name a baby I prefer to stick to either names that don't sound nicknamey (e.g Sam-short for Samuel or Samantha etc) or names that can't be shortened (although I hope to name my son Nathan if I ever have one but I hate Nate and Nathaniel) My parents named me Cassie (NOT Cassandra etc) my mum told me they named me just Cassie becuase if it was Cassandra everyone would just call me Cassie anyway. It gets annoying having to explain my name (my mum's name is Sandra too so that would be even more confusing.) I went to school with a girl named Sandy and everyone just assumed that Sandy was short for Sandra when it was actually short for Alexandra. Don't get me wrong I do like SOME nn's but like I said, if it came down to actually chosing a name for my own child(ren) I prefer names that you can't shorted and names that aren't nicknamey, my daughter's name is Hayley and you can't really shorted that, maybe Hayles but no-one calls her that anyway.

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Also, I knew a sibset named Christian and Evelyn and whenever someone would call them Chris and Eve their mother would get mad, but if you name your children names that can be shortened people will shorten them no matter what. I like the name Bradley but I can't stand Brad so I wouldn't name my son Bradley (maybe as a mn or whatever)

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Mum to Hayley Anne

This message was edited 2/16/2006, 5:14 PM

I think that a lot of people accept the fact that someone somewhere is going to nickname their child if they like longer names, be it a friend, neighbor, teacher, whoever. After that acceptance, comes the search for a name with a nn you can live with.

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Some parents don't think it through enough. I know a boy with the unfortunate nn of Mike. It wouldn't be so bad if his last name weren't HUNT. Say it out loud and you'll understand.

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_________________________________________________
John: Why do you know all this random, useless stuff?
Me: One day I will win a lot of money on Jeopardy.

I hate nicknames!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This message was edited 2/16/2006, 4:26 PM

It seems whenever nicknames are discussed,

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people, especially those who do not like or use nicknames, think that if a person is given a nickname, that's all they're called. My sons have formal names and nicknames and we use both.

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I happen to love nicknames. That does not mean I don't love the formal name I use, too.

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The thing that I find most weird ist when parents say "We love the name Patrick (or whatever) but we hate the nn Pat" and therefore let go of their favorite Patrick. As if there is no way of avoiding Pat (or whatever nn). Why just not call him by his full name and then it may stick?

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Or if they say "Patrick Turner" is ok but Pat runs into the ln. If you are that formal to use the ln, why use the nn and not the formal name? This is an argument I've only seen on American sites. Even though parents sometimes consider less disirable nn in Sweden too, they don't worry how it will sound with the ln. I get the feeling that nn are so ubiquitous in USA that nobody calls a Michael or Katherine Smith that; he/she is always just Mike (or Kate) Smith.

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And then the whole point of nn is lost imo. You call someone by a nn as a sign of familiarity and affection. But how can these be, if everybody calls this person by the nn.

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So I guess that people use nn just b/c they don't have time to say the whole name. Which I can understand with Alexander and Alexandra, but not with Michael.

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Another side of the coin is that people name a child Jackson or Katherine, even though they don't like the name that much; but they love Jack and Kate. Why not name them Jack or Kate them? No, that name is not good enough if the child becomes a judge or president of United States. If their child would have the qualifications and financial resourced to become the president of USA, I don't think the name would stop him/her.

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"But it’s all right now.
I learned my lesson well.
You see you can’t please everyone
So you got to please yourself."
Rick Nelson, GardenParty

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"It does not become me to make myself smaller than I am." (Edith Södergran 1891-1923)

I don't think every name requires nns at all. To use one of your examples: I love William as a full name but I'm not entirely against using Will as a nn (never Bill, Billy, or, God forbid, Willy!) but for Michael - I would never use a nn for Michael because I love the sound of it. Madeline is another one I think sounds much better with a full name.

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The thing with nns though is that when people are children, names like Madeline or Michael or (especially), Phillip, just sound so adult. They're little kids! They're young and innocent, not to mention a lot of kids have trouble pronouncing some letters (for instance, I was 'Abby' (my name is Tabitha) to my little neighbor for the longest time because she was missing teeth and couldn't say my full name).

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Nns also are considered more informal and are thought of as names that special and for use only by the people you like. I, personally, don't mind people I barely know calling me Tab (though I do prefer Tabitha if they don't know me) but I will not tolerate them calling me Tabby. Tabby is what my friends call me and have called me since I was little. I think we associate those names with our childhood and we feel we can be silly and more open with our friends when we're called by our nns. That makes for the other association where when you want to be taken seriously or are in a serious (not neccessarily bad) situation and you want (or are addressed) by your full name.

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And just as an ending note: I know when my parents are angry with me because they say my full first name, Tabitha, where most of the time I'm just Tab or Tabby :) It's good to know when to hide!

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"Chan eil tuil air nach tig traoghadh"

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"Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh I miss you, you know"
- 'Home', Michael Buble

This message was edited 2/16/2006, 2:42 PM

I didn't have a really formal nickname growing up, though I was sometimes called Ames and Ramie. :) I think that might be part of why I like them so well; my sister, whose name was the same length as mine, was a Boo for a very long time. I'm sort of jealous of people who can remake themselves in an instant by choosing Liza over Libby, or Nan over Annie. I feel a bit better about it now, since I get called by my initials a lot here in college. :)

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I love nicknames because it's like owning a reversible coat. He might be born a James, but he can be a Jim or Jimmy in an instant. Besides the flexibility, it's a question of image for me. I'm made uncomfortable by terribly formal or stereotypically upper-crust sounding names. (For example, there's a girl here named Briggs--yes, Briggs!--and I'm glad I don't know her personally, because how awkward would it be to call someone Briggs?) William is yuppie, Anglophile, or just hard-assed. Bill and Billy are far more down to Earth sounding. I'd simply much rather associate with an Al than an Alexander--he sounds more up my alley.

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I think the final main reason I like nicknames is because I love jazz and blues, and the genres are full of people with nicknamey names. There's Bessie, Billie, Ella, Dizzy, Jelly Roll, Benny, Charlie, Dave, Buddy, and Willie, among many others. On the other hand, there's Miles, Eric, Louis, Lester, Oliver, Sidney, Robert, Lionel, and Scott, but their names are all to the point. Nicknames sound sharp and witty to me.

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I think people just get lazy and shorten it automatically in some cases. I've called my friend "Em" rather than "Emma" when I'm just not in the mood to say that one extra syllable. The name doesn't stick though--she hates it, and to my horror, calls me "Han" in return.

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Anyway, I do agree with you. There are many names I love that I can't stand with nns: Alexander, Alexandra, Tamsin, Bethany, Robert, Nicholas, etc.

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Hannah
Everything looks perfect from far away

Absolutely!

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Everyone in my family goes by a nn even my mother and father. I feel that when it comes to family and good friends your fn is your "proper name" and just too formal. A nn is an expression of love and affection in my family, like a "pet name". I do the same thing when I make new friends. In the beginning of the friendship I call them by their fn and once I'm comfortable I give them a nn. It's my way of saying your like family to me. So, when I pick a name I automatically think of what the nn would be because in my family that's what they would go by for the rest of their life....unless their in trouble then it's your fn, mn, and ln! Uh-Oh.

I don't know, I find long names pretentious on little kids. Something like Alexandria just wouldn't work for me on a daily basis. Really, anythhing longer than 2 syllables needs a nickname in my opinion.

I couldn't tell you why some people think nns are necessary. All I know is that I, too, am rather annoyed by the seemingly constant "Alexander (nn Alex" or "Liliana (nn Lily)" I see here.

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I've never been nned anything other than cutesy nonsense words I refuse to disclose here. Somehow my parents have managed to spit out all three syllables of my name for nineteen years and counting, so it can be done. ;-)

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Miranda

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Proud adopter of 15 punctuation marks; see my profile for their names.

I don't know either. I love so many names, and not their nicknames. Espcially boy names. I love Nathaniel, Nicholas, Alexander, Joshua, William, Michael...but not Nate, Nick, Alex, Josh, Will, or Mike.

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On girl names, I love Alexandra, Anna / Anne, Elisabeth, Natalia, Madeline / Madeleine...but not Alex, Annie, Liz or Lizzy or Beth, Nat, or Maddie..

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Speaking from a parents point of view...I think it's because it's a real pain in the **$ to say some names 1000 times a day. Especially the four syllable ones. "They" say that before you name your child you should YELL the name outloud over and over again and see if you still like it. I don't yell at my kids, but I think it darn good advice when picking a name. :)

Whole names can be used. I include nn suggestions because (a) it's fun, and (b) it could be a selling point for a name.

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Parents often think about nns because they know that if they don't think of one, one will be thought up be others (at school / playground.)

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As an observation, I noticed that when I went to college on the East coast in the 80's, more kids / students went by formal names than I was used to. On the West coast (at least when I was growing up) names almost always got shortened / nn'd.