Okay, this is the first time I’ve started a thread here, and it’s a bit of a vent.
I totally don’t understand posts that are a version of “We want his nickname to be XYZ…but I’m not crazy about any of the seven names that I can see leading to XYZ”.
I’ve always thought that nicknames ought to be a bit more natural than that. [name]Nicholas[/name] becomes [name]Nick[/name], because he thinks it sounds cooler when he’s in middle school. [name]Margaret[/name] becomes [name]Daisy[/name] because the meaning of her name is totally reflected in her bright morning personality. [name]Jane[/name] becomes [name]Janie[/name] just because the ‘ee’ ending seems to express affection.
I [name]DO[/name] understand “I want to call my child [name]Bessie[/name], but I’ll name her [name]Elizabeth[/name] because it’s a name I like, it’s the name [name]Bessie[/name] is traditionally derived from, and it gives her choice.” I [name]DON[/name]'T understand “I want to call my child [name]Lacie[/name], so should I name her [name]Lilac[/name] or [name]Wallace[/name]? We’re not crazy about either one…I guess I could name her [name]Laura[/name] [name]Andrea[/name] [name]Charlotte[/name]…[name]LACe[/name].” Why not just name her [name]Lacy[/name]?
I guess what I’m ranting about is what I see as a headlong rush to a nickname, before a child is even born. Why not pick a name you like, and let the nickname arise naturally?
I kind of agree. I never thought anyone picked a nickname first and then tried to find a name until on nameberry. I figured nicknames were derived because the name was too long or hard to say or because a group of friends decided to give the child a nickname.
It seems silly imo. I personally don’t like nicknames and intend to call my child the name I give them, which is probably why I tend to lean towards shorter names like [name]Luna[/name] and [name]Ezra[/name] or names that aren’t normally shortened like [name]Caroline[/name].
I must admit have done this but only because I want all my favourite names to fit together, for example, my girls list consists of long names such as [name]Arabella[/name], [name]Emmeline[/name], [name]Matilda[/name], which all have obvious nicknames available. However, I’ve come to love [name]Winnie[/name] but would never use just [name]Winnie[/name] alongisde those names because it doesn’t fit the same style and [name]Winnie[/name] would look odd alongside [name]Arabella[/name] and the rest. I wanted to see if there was a beautiful longer name that I might come to love that just so happens to have the nickname [name]Winnie[/name]. If there isn’t one then I’d move on and leave [name]Winnie[/name].
Also, [name]Cade[/name] is a massive guilty pleasure for me but wanted to find a longer version which more matched my style than just using [name]Cade[/name] on it’s own. So there is often logic behind a person’s thinking and to be honest I wouldn’t want to be known as just [name]Lacie[/name], which sounds so nicknamey and childish so I’d be happy if my parents found a longer version for me that I could grow up with and use as an adult/professional and still have the option of being known as [name]Lacie[/name].
I am [name]Elizabeth[/name] who often goes by [name]Beth[/name], [name]Lizzie[/name], [name]Lizabeth[/name] depending on where I am and quite frankly, I couldn’t imagine introducing myself to anyone as [name]Lizzie[/name]. I’m glad that I have a variety of options.
I’ve determined that nicknames can get pretty complicated. I’ve fallen into lots of different camps with my girls and their names. I’ve got two whose nicknames evolved gradually. ([name]One[/name] is even the [name]Jane[/name]/[name]Janie[/name] example that you mentioned.) I’ve got one who only goes by her first name because I don’t like any of the nickname options for her name. And knowing that I could use a particular nickname is what made me fall in love with one daughter’s formal first name.
The situation in this case was that I liked her first name and my husband really loved it - she’s named after a family member on his side - but I really LOVED the nickname. And my husband would have never simply given her this nickname as her given name because he didn’t think it was substantial enough.
Hm. I haven’t really done this…although, well I kind of did.
My oldest is a [name]Valerie[/name]. When I was a child, we had to pick a name for a character we wrote a short story about in my 6th grade class and the first thing that popped in my mind was “[name]Val[/name].” [name]Ever[/name] since then, I’ve loved the name [name]Val[/name] as a nickname. When I had to name my daughter, the first thing I thought of was [name]Val[/name], and wanted to use a longer name that could be shortened to [name]Val[/name]. [name]Valerie[/name] was the one I liked the best, and I especially love the meaning.
My second daughter does not really have a nickname–her name is hard to find a nick name for. I mean, we call her a ton of things other than her name, but they aren’t really directly related to her name. Although we do sometimes can her vay vay. Vay is the last syllable of her name.
Our son’s name, I chose mainly because it was a family name, with a good meaning, and I did really love the nickname.
My husband has recently fallen in love with the name [name]Miriam[/name] for if we have a third daughter, “because I want to call her [name]Miri[/name].”
Our next son’s name will likely be [name]Alexander[/name] because we want to be able to honor my late grandfather who went by [name]Al[/name]. His full name was [name]Albert[/name] but I really don’t like that on a child of mine. I love the name [name]Alexander[/name] and I’d love to call my son [name]Al[/name].
I have decided not to use a name in the past because I disliked the nicknames. Such as [name]Josephine[/name], [name]Victoria[/name]…
So I guess I do what makes you “mad.” But, I think you are being a little excessively negative towards other people’s inspiration for a name. Everybody names differently, just as everybody does everything in their lives differently. Being different is what makes the world interesting.
I think some people find using nicknames as full names to be too informal for a serious adult.
I agree that trying to force weird nicknames out of equally weird names is a bit pointless.
But then a lot of my family goes by nicknames that are only vaguely connected to their names (if at all)–most of my aunts and uncles go by nn’s of their middle name, which seems crazy, but it does go to show that you really can “go by” almost anything you want as long as you conduct legal business with your legal name.
So [name]IMO[/name], people can go ahead and name their kid [name]Margaret[/name] and call her [name]Lacie[/name] if they want to. I doubt anybody will ever complain.
I do agree that everybody is different, and I’m not ‘mad’, I was just frustrated over not being able to understand. Actually, I was just thinking about my post and wondering if my real issue is related not to what people are doing, or what they are asking, but instead to the difficulty of expressing emotion in writing, or perhaps even more relevant to me, not reading in emotion that’s not there.
I totally understand, to use sheflieswithherownwings’ example, someone who thinks [name]Winnie[/name] is a charming diminutive and would love using it for a childhood nickname, but determines that [name]Winifred[/name] and [name]Winona[/name] aren’t names she cares for, so she moves on. What I am probably reading into the posts is a sort of determined stubbornness or desperation, a willingness to do all sorts of contortions to get to a nickname. It just seems to me that if the ‘[name]Winnie[/name]’ is so important at that point, either because of affection for the nickname or a reason like honoring a relative, you have to make a choice–a diminutive for a full name, a somehow disliked full name, or an official name that has nothing to do with the nickname. Perhaps the posts that I’m thinking of are not really expressing that stubborness, but only an effort to confirm that they aren’t overlooking anything.
My ds, my dh, several of my friends and relatives, and I all have nicknames that have nothing to do with our names. They have meaning between the person who holds them and the person who bestowed them. Maybe that’s why I don’t see why my hypothetical parents’ couldn’t name their daughter [name]Caroline[/name] or [name]Isla[/name] or [name]Juliet[/name], but call her [name]Lacie[/name] as a special nickname.
I don’t really know how to explain it, it doesn’t seem that odd to me. Sometimes I fall in love with a full name (like [name]Isabelle[/name] or [name]Violet[/name] or [name]Caleb[/name]), but other times I fall in love with a nn (like [name]Evie[/name] and [name]Posy[/name]). I’m with @sheflieswithherownwings that [name]Isabelle[/name] and [name]Evie[/name] just don’t mesh stylistically, and I want my child to have options, so I look for a fuller name that can yield [name]Evie[/name] or [name]Posy[/name]. However, I wouldn’t want the connection to be contrived, and if the name is a name in its own right (like Esmee), I wouldn’t feel the need to use a fuller name (like [name]Esmeralda[/name]–although I do like the idea of [name]Esmeralda[/name] nn Esmee, because using both together would honor more relatives than simply using only one). [name]Lacey[/name] on its own is just fine. I suppose [name]Posy[/name] can stand on its own as a nature name, but the general consensus when I asked was that it didn’t age well enough, and I agree. Which is why [name]Posy[/name] still isn’t on my list.
