i love the name james. adore it. it sounds soft but still strong, smart but still warm, loving and confident and strong willed and all those wonderful things you want in a name. it’s classic but strangely the insane popularity here doesn’t bother me. i just love the nicknames jamie and jem or even jack. perfect. i’d have a sweet little boy named james tomorrow if i weren’t twenty and in college and completely unprepared for non theoretical children.
there’s just one problem: jim.
i imagine having a sweet little james and watching him grow up and make friends and come into his own and become a whole person and then one day hearing someone call him jim… i don’t know if i’d survive. i haaate the nickname jim. it conjures the exact opposite image that james does for me. and i knowww jim is one of the most common classic nicknames for james so there is absolutely no way to avoid it popping up at some point in the life of a little james… but damn, if i could.
anyone else have any names like this, that just die by the hands of a terrible nickname? anyone have a little james or know a james that somehow avoids the dark cloud of jim following them through life? anyone think jim is completely unavoidable and that i should just break up with james and find some way to move on?
I don’t think people would call [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_m]Jim[/name_m] most of the time. If you called him something else, I think he would correct people if they called him [name_m]Jim[/name_m].
Tbh [name_m]Jim[/name_m] seems like a name more common to an older generation and I haven’t known any young [name_u]James[/name_u] that gets called [name_m]Jim[/name_m]. They seem to mostly all go by just [name_u]James[/name_u].
Having said that, this could be highly dependent on where you live.
james is one of my favorite, favorite names. i think it’s absolutely lovely. unfortunately it’s also my dad’s name— and he’s a jim/jimmy exclusively. i’ve reasoned out that maybe i can have a jamesie as opposed to a james one day, just for some distance— a jamesie feels less likely to get jim or jimmy. i feel your james struggle so hard—
but some little light: i know tons of young jameses and not a single one goes by jim or jimmy— and i think that maybe these are fading as nicknames (and going out of style thank god) in favor of just james, and even jem. so i do think it’s avoidable— especially since— while they’re classic nicknames, they’re not really intuitive nicknames. jamie is probably the most intuitive of them all and you never hear that one as a nickname for james!!
I’ve heard more people my age and younger call their friends named [name_u]James[/name_u] “Semaj” than call them [name_m]Jim[/name_m]. I don’t think it’s going to be a go to nickname for a little [name_u]James[/name_u] - my dad is very big on nicknames and shortens the names of almost everyone he meets and even he leaves the Jameses alone!
I think [name_u]James[/name_u] works well enough on its own.
It will all come down to how you introduce him. If you introduce him as [name_u]James[/name_u], people will follow. Cause it’s not like [name_u]Michael[/name_u], where [name_m]Mike[/name_m] is so inevitable because it’s a short-form of the name.
[name_u]James[/name_u] to [name_m]Jim[/name_m] is a bit of a stretch for a nickname. I think if he isn’t introduce as a [name_m]Jimmy[/name_m] or [name_m]Jim[/name_m], then people would’ve reflexively change it.
That’s like assuming every [name_m]John[/name_m] is going to get called [name_m]Jack[/name_m] at some point.
james is a great name! i especially love jamie and jem for nicknames (or on their own!) i think jim is totally avoidable personally–i know quite a few young-ish jameses, and not one ever goes by jim or jimmy. most don’t have nicknames at all!
my worry was always moreso that he’d be called jim later in life, but hell yea i’m glad to hear that maybe jim is falling out of our realm of thought nowadays!!
i have also considered just going with jamie as the full first name, which would hopefully negate any jimming and also fits better with my last name, so who knows!
i have some other names that i don’t love quite as much, but that have unavoidable nicknames that i just don’t like, so the jim fear is pretty real. i’m glad to hear the two names are a little more easily separated than i thought!
I know about 10 people called [name_u]James[/name_u] and not one of them has ever been called [name_m]Jim[/name_m], so I wouldn’t worry! None of them go by a nickname at all and all introduce themself as [name_u]James[/name_u], so that’s what people call them. From my expérience, it’s a little odd for anyone to randomly call somebody a nickname that isn’t just related to the first syllable of their name. E.g. If someone introduced themselves as [name_m]William[/name_m], I can imagine some people may call them [name_m]Will[/name_m] but never [name_u]Billy[/name_u] etc. [name_m]Jim[/name_m] is the same in that it’s a classic nickname for [name_u]James[/name_u] but isn’t phonetically a part of the name so I wouldn’t expect anyone to just start randomly using it, especially these days where [name_u]Jamie[/name_u] is a much more common nn for [name_u]James[/name_u] than [name_m]Jim[/name_m] is.
Most of the [name_u]James[/name_u] I know (and there are several) go by [name_u]James[/name_u]. The only ones I can think of going by [name_m]Jim[/name_m] are over the age of 45. Most people today will respect your decision to go by no nickname or a different nickname.
Honestly, [name_m]Jim[/name_m] doesn’t feel super intuitive to me. And I honestly think more and more people are not nicknaming people with assumed nicknames. Generally, people are most likely to call someone by the name they introduce themselves with. Besides, [name_u]James[/name_u] is one syllable – I doubt most people would think they need to shorten it. So, all that to say, you’re probably safe with [name_u]James[/name_u].
I have like a million friends called [name_u]James[/name_u] and none of them have ever gone by [name_m]Jim[/name_m]. I had a childhood friend who went by [name_m]Jamesie[/name_m], and I know a couple of guys who’ve gone for [name_u]Jamie[/name_u] or J/Jay. So i think [name_m]Jim[/name_m] is easily avoided. Most of my friends just go by [name_u]James[/name_u].
[name_f]My[/name_f] brothers name is [name_u]James[/name_u], hes 15. He’s never been called [name_m]Jim[/name_m] in his life. I think it’s much more common for James’s be to be called [name_u]James[/name_u] than any nicknames nowadays
[name_f]My[/name_f] “baby” cousin (he’s about 10) is a James-only [name_u]James[/name_u]. I have another cousin who is a “Jim” [name_u]James[/name_u], he’s much, as in decades, older. [name_u]James[/name_u] is a big family name for us if that wasn’t obvious lol (my middle name is also Séamus, which isn’t an accident) I think in this day and age, [name_m]Jim[/name_m] (which I’m not a fan of either, my nickname loves for [name_u]James[/name_u], which I do love but can’t use for many reasons are [name_u]Jamie[/name_u] and Jem) is a choice rather than an inevitability.
Gah, I have that issue with [name_f]Victoria[/name_f]! [name_f]Vicky[/name_f] withers my soul a little. Sorry to anyone by that nn!
I have teenage nephew names [name_u]James[/name_u] and, to my knowledge, he has only ever been [name_u]James[/name_u]. I know some adult Jims but I wonder if that is more of an older generation style nn? Similar to how William’s used to be [name_m]Bill[/name_m], [name_m]Will[/name_m], or [name_u]Billy[/name_u] but now [name_u]Liam[/name_u] is a rather popular nickname?
I have a cousin, 25, named [name_u]James[/name_u] and never in his life has he been called [name_m]Jim[/name_m]. I don’t think someone would receive this nickname if they didn’t invite it themselves (nor do I think [name_u]James[/name_u] would be automatically nicknamed at all- at least my cousin hasn’t had any)
I had a friend named [name_u]James[/name_u] in elementary school. No one called him [name_m]Jim[/name_m] and I doubt anyone thought to, honestly. Everyone called him [name_m]Jack[/name_m]. I agree with what people here are saying, [name_m]Jim[/name_m] seems to be fading out of style, so it shouldn’t come up.
I have a cousin named [name_u]James[/name_u] that has never been called [name_m]Jim[/name_m] in his life. I also have two uncle’s named [name_u]James[/name_u] that exclusively go by [name_m]Jim[/name_m]. Throughout my school career I knew several Jameses and most just went by [name_u]James[/name_u], but there was one [name_m]Jimmy[/name_m] (who I believe changed to [name_u]James[/name_u] sometime in middle school).
I don’t think that the nn will be an issue nowadays as many people have said. Especially if he only ever is introduced as [name_u]James[/name_u].
i think jim is totally avoidable personally–i know quite a few young-ish jameses, and not one ever goes by jim or jimmy. most don’t have nicknames at all!