View Message

I don't feel like reading a whole article on this but I will say that I think people give or use nicknames for many different reasons as well as the ones you mentioned. I wouldn't let the possibility of a certain nn stop me from using a name I really loved, I just wouldn't call her/him that particular nn myself.

---

I've always thought that Kim is pretty much inevitable as a nn for Kimberly, as I'd never known a Kimberly who wasn't called Kim by everybody. But my sister-in-law's husband has a sister named Kimberly whose family has never called her Kim and her friends only rarely call her Kim. She introduces herself as Kimberly and signs cards and emails Kimberly and the nn Kim just doesn't seem to crop up very much.