My husband and I love [name]Alastair[/name], but are struggling on the nickname. I would prefer to always use the full name, but I know my family will come up with their own short form if I don’t give them an approved one. Some we’ve discussed:
[name]Al[/name]: don’t like it, and too close to big brother [name]Will[/name]. Also I’m afraid of the feminine [name]Ally[/name].
AJ: we did consider using [name]James[/name] in the middle so he could use his initials, but ultimately we don’t like this much either
[name]Ace[/name]: I’ve seen this suggested for [name]Alastair[/name] on nameberry, but feel it makes the name sound presumptuous
[name]Alec[/name]: no
[name]Lester[/name]: yuck. [name]Just[/name] yuck
[name]Tai[/name]: pronounced “[name]Ty[/name].” This is husband’s preference, but I think it would constantly be mispronounced and don’t want a complicated nickname. It also seems too Japanese for such a European name.
So what do you think? Does [name]Arlo[/name] solve our problem or are we trying too hard? Any nickname suggestions we haven’t thought of?
I like [name]Ace[/name], its not that pretentious.
I like AJ, but not [name]James[/name]. [name]James[/name] is a bit of a default middle name for boys (sort of the [name]Rose[/name]/[name]Grace[/name] equivalent) and I don’t especially care for it. There’s many other J names out there?
I don’t really see how you get [name]Arlo[/name] from [name]Alastair[/name], honestly. And I think [name]Alastair[/name] is much nicer than [name]Arlo[/name] is, anyway. I mean family nicknames don’t have to make tons of sense but [name]Arlo[/name] seems like it would be more for a name that has Ar- or an o in it, somewhere? Maybe if I was a bigger fan of [name]Arlo[/name] I could see it?
[name]Arlo[/name] and [name]Alastair[/name] are two completely unrelated names, so I can’t support [name]Alastair[/name] called [name]Arlo[/name]. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. I would just use [name]Ace[/name] if you really need a nickname. [name]Ace[/name] is sporty to me, not presumptuous.
I like [name]Ace[/name] and I love [name]Ally[/name]…I don’t find it too femme, but most do I suppose. [name]Arlo[/name] feels a bit forced, but why not? You’ll probably have to explain it & remind people a lot and he could just end up as [name]Al[/name] at school.
You could give him a middle name with nickname options for your family’s sake. Or use [name]Dair[/name]/Dare, though that might not be your style. It’s a bit of a stretch but no more than [name]Alec[/name] or [name]Lester[/name].