Re: nicknames as given names?
I was ready to say that I don't like nicknames as full names but actually I agree with this, there are plenty of names that work perfectly well as full names:
Alec
Eli
Jack
Liam
Eliza
Elsa
Megan
Molly
Sadie
etc.
I tend to prefer names that have a long history of use as names on their own, and are also non-ambiguous as to gender, Alex doesn't fit that for me because it's masculine unless it's a nickname for Alexandra.