Help! Question about Lawrence

I need some imput from you ladies. We’ve decided that [name]Lawrence[/name] [name]William[/name] is our favorite boys name. [name]William[/name] is after my father, and [name]Lawrence[/name] is just a name I love. I was reading on NB that [name]Lawrence[/name] could be used to honor a [name]Larry[/name]. My FIL’s name is [name]Larry[/name] and I do NOT want to name my son after him. My question is will people assume [name]Lawrence[/name] is honoring [name]Larry[/name]?

[name]Larry[/name] is a nn for [name]Lawrence[/name], so people may make that connection especially since your dad’s name is in the mix.

My husband’s grandfather was [name]Lawrence[/name] nn [name]Larry[/name].

I love [name]Lawrence[/name] nn [name]Law[/name], but if you’re worried about it, I would change it around to [name]William[/name] [name]Lawrence[/name].

Is your FIL’s name just [name]Larry[/name] or is it short for something? If his full name is just [name]Larry[/name], then I wouldn’t worry about naming your child [name]Lawrence[/name]. No one outside of your immediate family would know your FIL’s name anyway and your family would know that your son wasn’t named after him.

Also, if you’re worried about people nicknaming your son [name]Larry[/name], he could always go by [name]Law[/name] or [name]Ren[/name] instead.

His full name is [name]Larry[/name]. I had never heard of [name]Larry[/name] as a nn for [name]Lawrence[/name].

That makes me sad that people might associate them together. I do love [name]Lawrence[/name] but I guess we’re back to using [name]Everett[/name] for a boy. Thanks for you help.

If you name your son [name]Lawrence[/name], assume that people will call him [name]Larry[/name]. I like [name]Everette[/name] much better.

I would never have made the leap to associating [name]Lawrence[/name] with [name]Larry[/name], even if there was already a [name]Larry[/name] in the family. Perhaps if it were the other way around, (FIL was named [name]Lawrence[/name] and you picked [name]Larry[/name],) then I could see people making the connection. Frankly, the two names are quite different acoustically, with the exception that they both have an L and R. (I’m a speech therapist, so I have a bit of an ear for these things. :slight_smile: )

I think [name]Lawrence[/name] is a safe choice, especially if you’re in love with it! If people question it, just casually add “it’s been a favorite of ours for a long time.” If you want to avoid nn [name]Larry[/name], just avoid using it yourself. If other friends or family start doing it, gently remind them you prefer the full “[name]Lawrence[/name].” My sister has done that a few times with me, as I sometimes have taken to calling her little [name]Micah[/name] “[name]Mikey[/name].” It never hurt my feelings, just reminded me that they named him [name]Micah[/name] for a reason and that I should respect that!

Best of luck!