So our February miracle will be [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] [name_m]David[/name_m]. We made the decision months ago and have been proudly telling people ever since. Reactions have been mixed, which we don’t mind. ([name_u]Truly[/name_u], we don’t care if people love or hate it. The name is meaningful to us, and that’s what matters.)
Anyway, what we HAVE been getting slightly annoyed with is this comment: “Oh, [name_m]Raphael[/name_m]. That’s nice. What will you call him?” WHAT [name_m]WILL[/name_m] WE CALL HIM?!?! I thought I just told you. I would say 90% of people ask this question, seriously. Hubs and I are both stumped. We don’t really want a nickname, but have said all along that we would roll with it if he happened to acquire one. The one that really gets me is when people automatically ask if he will be called [name_m]Ralphie[/name_m]. [name_m]Ralphie[/name_m]! Is it just me, or is that not a COMPLETELY different name? 6 different people have asked if he will be called [name_m]Ralphie[/name_m].
So now we are kind of feeling like we HAVE to have a nickname prepared so that WE can control what it is, to ensure he won’t become [name_m]Ralphie[/name_m]! (A fine name BTW, just not what his name will be.) Ideas? I almost feel like I might have posted a similar “find a nn for [name_m]Raphael[/name_m]” thread before, but we are getting down to the wire.
Rules: DH hates [name_u]Rafe[/name_u]. We both dislike [name_m]Ralphie[/name_m], (plus it makes no sense to us.) DH likes Raf, (rhymes with laugh,) but I’m not loving the sound of that. I thought of Riff, but we are both kind of “blah” about that one. RD is always a possibility I guess, but we actually already know a man named RD, plus I don’t really care for it. Open to suggestions!
Again, our hope is that [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] can just be “[name_m]Raphael[/name_m],” but we want to be prepared just in case.
and people today are totally out there about nicknames.
When I was growing up, parents did not plan their child’s nicknames.
Not that nicknames weren’t used. In fact, many of my peers got nicknamed and the name stuck for life: [name_u]Danny[/name_u], [name_m]Jimmy[/name_m], [name_m]Timmy[/name_m], and the like.
The keyword there though is “got” nicknamed. By their teachers, friends, neighbors, family friends, extended family, siblings, and yes, parents, but not in a proprietary way: “This is my son’s official and only nickname!”
I think most of us no longer want to live in the [name_m]Land[/name_m] of the [name_f]Eternal[/name_f] Jimmies so we take care to give names which stand on their own.
Many of us also are aware of possible repulsive nickname options. For example, as much as I love the names [name_m]Charles[/name_m] and [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m], I am so horrified by the spector of [name_m]Chuck[/name_m] and [name_m]Nate[/name_m]/[name_u]Nat[/name_u]/[name_m]Nathan[/name_m] that I would never give my son the longer names.
But [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] is cool because it does not seem to carry within it hideous nicknames. No doubt his friends and romantic partners and colleagues will nickname him, who knows what, it could be anything, but that is their job, not something you need to plan.
[name_f]Margaret[/name_f] [name_m]Just[/name_m] [name_f]Margaret[/name_f]
[name_f]Rebecca[/name_f] not [name_f]Becky[/name_f], not really [name_f]Becca[/name_f]
[name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] just [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m]
[name_m]Just[/name_m] tell them you prefer the full name. Be insistent and consistent.
If they know you don’t like [name_u]Rafe[/name_u], maybe that’s why the jump to [name_m]Ralphie[/name_m]. Also it is getting close to [name_u]Christmas[/name_u], so [name_m]Ralphie[/name_m] is on their minds.
[name_m]How[/name_m] about [name_u]Ray[/name_u]? If you want a nickname, you don’t have to, although [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] is kind of mouthful. Still it’s a nice name in all it’s glory.
Good [name_m]Luck[/name_m]!
Discuss that you don’t want a nickname with your close friends and family members. Only the people that will be around him often have much influence over nicknames. I’m not sure why so many people think that it is necessary to have an alternative predetermined name suddenly. My daughter’s name is one syllable, so her nicknames are much longer than her actual name. The equivalent for [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] would be something like “Raphaellus” or “Raphaellie.” Doesn’t work so well after a certain age obviously.
We had a similar problem for my younger son, Koa. Our older son has only gone by his nickname since birth, so people just assumed our second would go by a nickname, too. (It’s three letters, two syllables, so I have no idea why they’d make that assumption). He kept getting called Koe, which we don’t really like. We decided to do a non-name related nickname: [name_m]Lion[/name_m]. It was personality based, and he’s only called it on occasion, but close family likes the chance to use a loving nickname.
I know a [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] called [name_m]Rafi[/name_m]/Raphi
Makes more sense to me than [name_m]Ralphie[/name_m] what is a completely different name
My SO and his sister have very common fn, in the [name_u]Michael[/name_u] and [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] category common, familiar and classic. People just assumed they’d be [name_m]Mike[/name_m] and [name_f]Lizzy[/name_f]. They parents, especially their mother, hated the nn. When people tried to give them nn’s she politely corrected them, and with any new teacher she emphasized that their family didn’t use nn’s for the kids, and she’d appreciate if the teacher helped dissuade peers from doing so. [name_m]Both[/name_m] my SO and his sister love their names now, but hate nn’s for them.
I think if you don’t like nun’s for [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] then just politely remind people he doesn’t have a nn and you’d like to keep it that way. It really shouldn’t be such a biggy.
(FYI: [name_u]Michael[/name_u] and [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] aren’t their actual names, but he asked for me not to post them so I looked for close stylistic subs.)
[name_m]Raphael[/name_m] [name_m]David[/name_m] is handsome and well-balanced. I strongly associate [name_m]David[/name_m] with [name_m]Michelangelo[/name_m]'s sculpture, and [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] with [name_m]Raphael[/name_m] [name_m]Sanzio[/name_m], so it strikes me as a very Renaissance combination.
[name_m]How[/name_m] about nicknaming him [name_m]Ra[/name_m]? Like the Egyptian sun god! Dude.
