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So..
in reply to a message by Bex
Most people are calling her Thea. I'm surprised because husband and I haven't ever referred to her by a shortened name, if we have then it's Theo. I guess since it's such a long name I shouldn't be surprised that people are shortening it.
However we've had a few odd ones. Husbands father has referred to her as Dora and Dory (no one else has)
Husbands mother said that she is going to call her Odie?? (That's not happening!)
Another friend just refers to her as T
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Because I pronounce Theodora more like Theadora, Thea makes sense to me. I don't think it'll matter if she's called Thea by some and Theo by others. Chances are, she's not sharing this name with anyone else around! :)
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Dory is adory-ble (sorry). But it is up to her parents for now, and up to her later and if you don't like it, then you have every right to say so!I like Theo much more than Thea too
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T is cute. Interesting that Thea is the go-to. I think with a long name like Theodora, you really need to jump in with the preferred nickname pretty quickly or people do decide for you.
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Mum is adamant (and a few others) that she will be Thea not Theo. Dave and I intend to use Theo, i'm wondering if it's going to be weird if some people use Theo and some use Thea?
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Also...Can I keep campaigning for Teddy?! Lol...I love Teddy on a girl :)
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I have called her Teddy a few times but i'm not sure it suits her!It's a pity as I totally wanted to do Teddy's 1st birthday as a Teddy bears picnic!
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Whatever feels natural. Theodora is such a wonderful name as there are so many awesome nicknames to choose from :)
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AgreedAgreed - she can choose any one - then use other nicknames for other social settings by her own situational preference.
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I don't think so. My family as a general rule call me Lisey but my Dad has gone through periods of calling me DeeDee and ICE-ee (not sure how to write that one) depending on what my younger siblings called me. Secondary to that, my grandparents have never called me Lisey although my Aunts/Uncles/Cousins all do. They call me Aine (hence my name on here), Elise, Chookie (no other girl in my family is called this), and "the Cherub" (ha). Among other things. I've never found it confusing. I imagine that with the similarity between Theo and Thea, your little Miss will make it known loud and clear which of the two she prefers. Toddlers are good at correcting people ;). I used to correct people who just called me Lise or if they called me Lise-o when I was like 2 ("It's LISEY!!")
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Not weird at all. Both my kids have so many nicknames, different ones by different people, and it's not weird or confusing. A unique nickname from a person is a personal connection with that person. It's good for your child to have separate relationships with other people. Special nicknames can mark a special bond in those separate relationships. Even the grownups have several names. A given name, a common nickname, an endearment used by the spouse only, an endearment used by the parent only, a title (mom or dad) given by the child, and a title (grandma, grandpa, baba, opa) given by the grandchild. Each name is a mark of a particular relationship. Just as it's not weird or confusing for an adult to have 6 names, each used by different people, it's not weird for a child to have many nicknames either.

This message was edited 8/17/2016, 12:53 PM

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My first nickname was Ulle; my brother, father and friends from this time still call me Ulle. There was another girl named Ulrika in my class in elementary school, she was called Ullis. So it was easy to keep us apart, no need to use lastnames (or initials of). But in 3rd or 4th grade I started playing a sport and most of the girls on the team was from another school. They started calling me Ullis. When we got to middle school the other Ulrika and I ended up in different classes and the girls on my team also attended this school. I was called both Ulle and Ullis depending on who addressed me. It worked.
In high school and at uni I'd introduce myself as Ullis, but it still happened that people called me Ulle. No big problem, I react to both.
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