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HelpRe: Nicknames and full names
in reply to a message by Pie
Well, in Croatia full names are definitely more common. I and all my family members go by full names regardless of the name length (for example we use full names for Darinka, Jadranko, Katarina, Anamarija...). Here it's more common for diminutives to be used among family, especially children, but those are usually longer than the full names (from my family - Sanjica, Petrica, Ivanica, Ivica...). And it's considered extremely rude to call someone by anything but the name they introduced themselves by (I've noticed that American's seem to give people nicknames even when they introduce themselves by their full name).
From what I've observed English speakers seem to use nicknames much more (even in official situations that would be unimaginable here -like a president going by Jimmy or Bill). I have a British boss named Leslie (a male Leslie!) and he came to the office and said call me Les. Now, everyone in the office is Croatian and we all call him Leslie. He's the boss and you don't call your boss by his nickname, his wife calls him Les.
From what I've observed English speakers seem to use nicknames much more (even in official situations that would be unimaginable here -like a president going by Jimmy or Bill). I have a British boss named Leslie (a male Leslie!) and he came to the office and said call me Les. Now, everyone in the office is Croatian and we all call him Leslie. He's the boss and you don't call your boss by his nickname, his wife calls him Les.
This message was edited 10/29/2010, 4:05 PM
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So, Croatians would be unlikely to give someone a name because they liked the nickname for it, as a lot of people in English-speaking countries seem to do?
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Yup. You name a child what you plan to call him/her, since full names are required and used in most places outside family (at school for example the child will be call by their full name, including any possible middle names). And since we don't usually use middle names there are many people with short names (I'm friends with Ria, Dea, Iva, Mia, Ela, Ema, Lea, Ivo, Mio, Pero, Niko, Din, Dan...). So if you don't like Aleksandar, but love Sasha, you''d have to use Sasha, otherwise he'd be called Aleksandar all the time.
Hope you get what I mean, I'm tired and rambling a bit.
Hope you get what I mean, I'm tired and rambling a bit.
This message was edited 10/29/2010, 4:00 PM
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So now I know who to blame for this trend of nicknames as full first names! Clearly everyone is copying the Croatians. :D
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LOL!
Yeah! But in our defense, we don't use diminutives on official papers much nowadays (apart form names that are in diminutive form originally -like Danica) like the Brits seem to do. So no Alfie, Evie, Gracie, etc. for us. But we would use Ben or Maks if we didn't want him to be called Benjamin or Maksimilian.
The diminutive forms were popular in my grandmother's generation and there are a lot of older women named - Barica, Marica, Dragica, Katica... (the thing is, they were all called Bara, Mara, Draga, Kata... when they grew up). It's considered very dated now.
Yeah! But in our defense, we don't use diminutives on official papers much nowadays (apart form names that are in diminutive form originally -like Danica) like the Brits seem to do. So no Alfie, Evie, Gracie, etc. for us. But we would use Ben or Maks if we didn't want him to be called Benjamin or Maksimilian.
The diminutive forms were popular in my grandmother's generation and there are a lot of older women named - Barica, Marica, Dragica, Katica... (the thing is, they were all called Bara, Mara, Draga, Kata... when they grew up). It's considered very dated now.
This message was edited 10/29/2010, 4:15 PM
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