I’m not talking about shortening your own name, or your children’s names. But, if you met a woman who introduced herself as “[name]Jennifer[/name]”, would you automatically shorten it to [name]Jenny[/name]? Or if you met a parent who introduced their baby as “[name]Christopher[/name]”, would you automatically shorten it to [name]Chris[/name]?
I absolutely love the name [name]Susannah[/name], and while I don’t necessarily mind it being shortened to [name]Susan[/name] or [name]Suzy[/name] or [name]Anna[/name] if that’s what she decides later on in life, I just want to know how likely will it be that I’ll have to correct people who want to call her by a shortened version.
I call someone by whatever name they introduce themselves as. If someone introduced themselves as [name]Susannah[/name], I would feel it a little presumptuous to call her anything but [name]Susannah[/name]. Good luck!
[name]Love[/name] [name]Susannah[/name], btw
My husband is called [name]Christopher[/name], all his family call him that (though this may be because his mum is [name]Christine[/name] and everyone calls her [name]Chris[/name]), but i always call him [name]Chris[/name] and his mum [name]Christine[/name].
If someone said my name is [name]Susannah[/name] i would call her that unless she said call me [name]Suzy[/name].
I had a friend at school called [name]Jennifer[/name] which she hated and introduced herself as [name]Jenny[/name].
I wouldnt automatically give someone a nick name unless they asked me to.
I don’t automatically nickname anyone. I call the child what they introduce themselves as unless told otherwise. When I meet a new person, I call them what they ask to be called. For example, the newest little boy at my daycare is named [name]Nicholas[/name]. Some people call him [name]Nick[/name] but his mother introduced him to me as [name]Nicholas[/name] and that’s all she calls him so I asked [name]Nicholas[/name] “[name]Nicholas[/name], do you want to have a nickname? [name]Do[/name] you want me to call you [name]Nick[/name] or [name]Cole[/name] or anything?” He said nickelodeon then giggled and said “No, just call me [name]Nicholas[/name]. I don’t like nicknames”
So the lesson of that story was that those 3 or 4 people shortening his name were wrong and it’s better to ask. I think most people are courteous enough to do that.
I’ll address people by the names the introduce themselves to me as. For example, “[name]Hi[/name], I’m [name]Jennifer[/name]” would get [name]Jennifer[/name]. “[name]Hi[/name], I’m [name]Jennifer[/name], but people call me [name]Jenny[/name]” would probably get [name]Jenny[/name].
I think its a bit rude when people take it upon themselves to nickname others as they see fit. So, in all, I’ll address them by the name they introduce themselves to me with.
I don’t nickname people unless I’m very close to them.
My friend [name]Liz[/name] goes by that instead of [name]Elizabeth[/name]. Sometimes we call her [name]Lizzie[/name]. She’s fine with that. However, she hates it when people she barely knows refer to her as [name]Lizzie[/name]. But I think most people aren’t that presumptuous.
My husband’s name is [name]Christopher[/name] and a lot of people automatically call him [name]Chris[/name] (I don’t - he likes his full name, so I use it, and I’m almost the only person who calls that except for his parents). I think that’s because MOST Christophers go by [name]Chris[/name], and it’s an easy jump. It’s almost the only nickname for that name, too.
For [name]Susannah[/name], I wouldn’t expect people to automatically shorten it, because it has a myriad of nicknames. MAYBE they’d say [name]Suzy[/name]. But that would seem overly familiar in first meeting someone, and I’d be taken aback if that was my name and someone did that to me.
No, the opposite, actually, and only when I’m comfortable with them. I have a close coworker I call [name]Carolina[/name] (her full name is [name]Carol[/name]), and sometimes I call my little sister (whose full name is [name]Natalie[/name]) [name]Natalia[/name], or even [name]Tallulah[/name] (since her most common nn is [name]Tallie[/name]). Most people call my other sister [name]Becca[/name] but I call her [name]Rebecca[/name] a lot… I’m not sure why… I guess it’s because longer, flowy, girly, frilly names appeal to me in a GPish way, haha. I have another coworker named [name]Julia[/name] who I keep wanting to call [name]Juliana[/name], too, haha. And I caught myself calling one of my bosses ([name]Rose[/name]) “[name]Rosalie[/name]” today… And I used to call a former acquaintance [name]Leopoldo[/name] (full name [name]Leo[/name]), too. Apparently I do it all the time, haha.
But I agree with the others–I wouldn’t want to use a nn for someone without them saying so–it just seems presumptuous and rude. I have a few names on my own lists that I wouldn’t want people shortening ([name]Violet[/name], [name]Rachel[/name], [name]Daphne[/name], [name]Magda[/name], [name]Everett[/name], [name]Lincoln[/name], etc.), so I try to show others the same courtesy.
No and I cant believe other people would do this when first meeting someone. Its incredibly rude and presumptuous to assume someone who introduces themselves by a certain name would want to go by anything besides that name. Anytime this has happened to my husband he has been really quick to correct the person and that’s what I would do if I were you.
I remember someone on a nameboard once posted about meeting a kid with a cool name, I dont remember the name but lets say Bérengère because I like it, anyways when she was introduced to the little girl she called her Berry but the child corrected her and she seemed baffled that that the family wasnt utilizing this great nn. I remember thinking why on God’s green earth would you call a child you just met anything but her given name? Maybe they call her Berry but it doesnt mean they want you to lol.
Anyways it looks like most people on here wouldnt do it so maybe you can use Susannah without worrying.
I usually ask… “do you go by [name]Christopher[/name] or [name]Chris[/name]”? This way I can be certain as sometimes people may say either is fine. Or I ask the parents if it is a child. I don’t just automatically nickname someone.
Since my name is [name]Victoria[/name], I get a lot of “[name]Do[/name] you go by [name]Vicky[/name]?”, even though I always introduce myself as [name]Victoria[/name]. When I tell them I don’t, most people just stick with calling me [name]Victoria[/name], though some people insist on using [name]Vicky[/name]. It can get annoying, but since it’s mostly people I don’t know that well, I try to ignore it. It’s always nice when people ask before using [name]Vicky[/name], though.
