Both my wife and I love the name [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], but because both mine and our son’s name start with the letter P, my wife has serious reservations about adding another P name to the family. One idea we had was to come up with a non-P nickname for [name_f]Penelope[/name_f]. We’re not crazy about [name_f]Nellie[/name_f] or [name_f]Ellie[/name_f], and my wife is in love with the name [name_f]Lily[/name_f]. We’ve seen some examples of people using [name_f]Lily[/name_f] as a nickname for [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], but they’re few and far between. We’d love to get everyone’s thoughts on using [name_f]Lily[/name_f] as a nickname for [name_f]Penelope[/name_f]. Is it too much of a stretch?
That is way too much of a stretch. Maybe use a [name_f]Lily[/name_f] name as a middle name?
I guess we’re tempted because we’ve seen so many suggested nicknames for [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] beyond the obvious [name_u]Penny[/name_u] or [name_f]Nellie[/name_f]. Some of the less obvious ones we’ve seen are:
[name_u]Pepper[/name_u]
[name_f]Poppy[/name_f]
[name_f]Pippa[/name_f]
[name_f]Lola[/name_f]
[name_f]Nola[/name_f]
[name_f]Lupe[/name_f]
[name_f]Lily[/name_f]
[name_f]Polly[/name_f]
A lot of these seem equally a stretch but are for some reason more commonly accepted.
I think [name_f]Lily[/name_f] is too much of a stretch because, unlike a lot of those other nicknames you’ve listed, [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] has no ‘lil’ part to it, where it does have a ‘lo’ for [name_f]Lola[/name_f] and a ‘pe’ for [name_u]Pepper[/name_u]. [name_f]Posey[/name_f] is another possible nickname, also [name_f]Enna[/name_f], [name_f]Lena[/name_f]/[name_f]Leni[/name_f] and [name_u]Ollie[/name_u].
Personally I think it would be confusing since the names sound nothing alike and [name_f]Lily[/name_f] is more often used as an independent name than a nickname. If I met a young girl who introduced herself as [name_f]Lily[/name_f] I would assume it was her full name.
I know a lot of less intuitive nicknames get discussed on Nameberry, but the only nickname for [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] I have encountered on a real person is [name_u]Penny[/name_u].
In think that [name_f]Lily[/name_f] is too much of a stretch. I second @otrl suggestion of using [name_f]Lily[/name_f] as a middle name.
My [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] goes by [name_f]Pippa[/name_f] which isn’t nearly as intuitive as [name_u]Penny[/name_u] or [name_f]Nell[/name_f] but no one has had trouble adapting to it.
Others I considered were [name_f]Poppy[/name_f] and [name_f]Nella[/name_f].
[name_f]Lily[/name_f] just doesn’t work for me. I feel like it’s one of the off the wall nicknames that needs a story behind it, which usually aren’t planned.
For instance, [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] being nicknamed [name_f]Birdie[/name_f] because she would open and close her mouth like a bird as a baby. (I made that up, but you get my drift. )
We’re naming our daughter [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], and using [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] for a nickname, which I think is kind of a stretch itself - but neither of us love [name_u]Penny[/name_u] or [name_f]Nel[/name_f], although I won’t be offended if she’s sometimes called by either. Sadly I think [name_f]Lily[/name_f] is even more of a stretch - there is no “lil” sound in [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] where it will make sense to most people. People will assume her full name is [name_f]Lily[/name_f] (which I adore, btw) - but if everyone thinks her full name is [name_f]Lily[/name_f], what’s the point of naming her [name_f]Penelope[/name_f]? On the other hand, if it’s what you love, I think you can go for it. I’ve heard of a [name_f]Helen[/name_f] being called [name_f]Ellie[/name_f], among other stretch-nicknames, and people adapt. I think you just have to be prepared that some people are still probably going to call her [name_u]Penny[/name_u] or [name_f]Nel[/name_f], and decide whether you can live with that.
I think that it would be a stretch, but it could work. I once met an [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] whose nickname was [name_f]Lily[/name_f], and I think that it was a pretty big stretch, but it worked.
If you like it, I think you should use [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] nn [name_f]Lily[/name_f].
I think that it is too much. I would just name her what I planned to call her, to make it easier on everyone.
I don’t think it works, sorry. My favorite nickname for [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] is [name_f]Nell[/name_f] but I like the idea of [name_f]Pippa[/name_f] as well.
[name_f]Lily[/name_f] is so much more gorgeous than [name_f]Penelope[/name_f]! You should just use it as her actual name, in my opinion.
I quite like it from [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], and if you want to go for [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], [name_f]Lily[/name_f] would work fine
Thanks, everyone. The feedback has been helpful. We considered [name_f]Lily[/name_f] as a middle name, but it’s just close enough sounding to [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] to give [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] [name_f]Lily[/name_f] an odd ring to it. We didn’t want to go with [name_f]Lily[/name_f] as a full name because we really like the versatility of longer names like [name_f]Penelope[/name_f]. We’re not taking [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] nn [name_f]Lily[/name_f] totally off the table yet, but the name search is definitely continuing.