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Annabella - dislike Annie, hate Bella with a passion
Lucille - dislike Lucy bc bad personal association
Cecilia / Cecelia - dislike Cece and Celia (although I am [slowly] warming up to Cece)

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Bennett - hate Ben and Benny
Barrett - hate Barry
Gerard - hate Gary, dislike Gerry / Jerry

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And here are some where I favor some nicks over others:

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Elizabeth - hate Beth, Betty, Betsy, and Bess, love Liz and Lizzie
Abigail - hate Gail, love Abby
Penelope - dislike Penny and Nell / Nellie, love Ella and Ellie

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Christopher - dislike Chris, like Topher
Alexander - hate Xander / Zander, love Alex
William - hate Bill bc bad personal association, like Billy and Will / Willie

One of the reasons why I will never use Madison in real life is because I hate Maddie.

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Also Virginia, Bartholomew, Cornelius/Cornelia, and Demetrius are names I like but don’t have any nicknames I like.

Like more or less Karl, but not the common NN Kalle, sames applies for
Edeltraud, NN Traudel
Christine, NN Christel
Lieselotte, NN Liesel or Loki
Raffaele, NN Raffi
Constanze, NN Stanzi
Veronika, NN Vroni
Detlef, NN Det or Delf
Rudolf, NN Dolf
Anastasia, NN Stasi
Agnes, NN Aggi
Robert, NN Berti
Johanna or Hanna, NN Hannele
Marie, NN Mariele
Sebastian or Bastian, NN Basti
Hildegard, NN Hillu

I like Oliver a lot, but I can't stand Ollie.
And yup, it's out of your hands, because it's not your name! - little Minerva might love being Minnie. The only way round it is to come up with another nn that you can tolerate, and establish that instead. (Mimi? Mia? Mivvy?)

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I do know a lot of people who don't use the standard nn for their name, or don't use one at all. But almost all of them have been called the disliked nn by at least a few people in their lifetimes.

Yep... lots of those. And there's no way to avoid it because the baby might actually like the bad nickname. The main one for me is Gabriel. Gabriel is so pretty and lyrical, and then Gabe is the complete opposite.

Constance - as I don't like Connie.

I really like Percival but definitely put off by the possible NN Percy

I love Cynthia but not Cindy. One of my friends in high school was a Cynthia who was always called Cindy. There was another Cynthia in my class who wanted to be called Cynthia and not Cindy, but I noticed that she had to correct people, including teachers, who would call her Cindy. Cynthia is too dated for me to consider using, anyway.

Oh definitely, I even made a list of names I like but would never use because of the inevitable nickname lol:

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Vincent- 'Vince/Vinny'
Edmund- 'Ed/Eddy'
Barnaby- 'Barnie'
Frederick- 'Fred/Freddie'
Augustus- 'Gus'
Ernest- 'Ernie'

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Some nicknames are just so entrenched in people's minds from repeated use (like 'Fred') that there's really no way to avoid it sadly...

Re:Madeline

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is pretty, but I have mixed emotions about Maddie.

Can’t think of any nickname-ruined favorites off the top of my head, but I bear a name for which the most common nickname is disliked by my parents and myself. My parents went with it anyway, thinking they/I could teach people to use my full name. It mostly worked among family and close friends, mostly. If I’d really put my foot down, it may have worked entirely among that group, but I allowed a few individuals special dispensation by answering to the nickname, so it was out of my parents’ hands at that point. School, church, neighbors and, later, clients, are another story. I find that when people like you/feel familiar with you, they nickname you. My parents had no hope of influencing this other than through me. I generally tend to answer to the nickname, though I never use or sign it myself and, when introduced by the nickname, I do correct it. The people closest to me, and the sharper members of my wider circle use my full name or a general endearment.

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I would say use Minerva if you truly love it the most and do your best to indoctrinate your kid to speak up about it, understanding that, if your kid chooses to allow a nickname, it will be out of your hands. Maybe have a nickname option you can tolerate ready just in case: “M”, Min, Minna, Mina?

This message was edited 12/13/2018, 5:47 PM

I loooove Cecilia, but I can never use it, because Cece is inescapable, and I haaaate Cece. I worked at a daycare that had a Cecilia, and I found myself even using Cece myself, as everyone else did, because it was just that much simpler for quick communication. (Where is Cece's bottle, I'm changing Cece's diaper, etc)

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I think you can discourage people from using a nickname if you prefer the full name (I've known parents of a Joshua who would correct any instance of Josh) but you can never keep from hearing it entirely, much less stop it if your kid decides once their old enough to have their own opinions on their name that they'd like the nickname, actually. (In kindergarten where it's easier for all their friends to say, in high school where they think it sounds cooler...) So, if you just really hate a nickname... best not to risk it imo.

Eh, the only one that comes to mind really is Madeleine/Madeline as I don't care for Maddie/Maddy at all. So if I were to use the name, I would have it be the middle name.
I feel sort of the opposite when it comes to the name Joshua I think it's a very decent name but I actually prefer the diminutive of Josh more and would be more keen to choose it over the full name. Just my unpopular opinion.

The only ones I might've shortlisted except for this particular issue, are Francis and Vincent.

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You might be able to insist on a full name for 3 years, maybe up to 8 or 10. But beyond that, it'll be up to your kid, not you.

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I agree with you about Minnie not being a good nick for Minerva at all.