Baby name shortened

aviendha

Quick question.. if you know that from Day0 a baby will be known by his shortened name (eg: Chris) why would you bother christening him Christopher?
Having a "discussion" with DH at the minute, and I personally don't see the point in naming a child one thing, knowing from the very start that they will be known as something else??

mcbert

aviendha wrote: »

Quick question.. if you know that from Day0 a baby will be known by his shortened name (eg: Chris) why would you bother christening him Christopher?
Having a "discussion" with DH at the minute, and I personally don't see the point in naming a child one thing, knowing from the very start that they will be known as something else??

+1. Yes! I agree. Take it further, and name yer child something short, so there is nothing to shorten it to. And while we're at it, why name yer child something that nobody is ever going to spell properly? There are some obscure names names out there!

implausible

By christening a child with the full version, you give him the option of using the longer, more grown-up version when he's older. I know plenty of Paddys who decided to be Patricks when they got older.

Theoretically, every name can be shortened or made into a nickname. There is no guarantee that your child will end up being called what you christened him/her in the future.

dublinlady

implausible wrote: »

By christening a child with the full version, you give him the option of using the longer, more grown-up version when he's older. I know plenty of Paddys who decided to be Patricks when they got older.

Theoretically, every name can be shortened or made into a nickname. There is no guarantee that your child will end up being called what you christened him/her in the future.

I agree - its only you that will know what's on their birth cert but at least your giving the child a choice when they are older. I wouldn't feel too strongly about it but don't see the harm in giving your child the choice when you can, as I said - you'll be telling everyone his name is Chris for example so that is what he will be called - no one else will see the birth cert or care

aviendha

I suppose.. but trust me, with the amount of syllables in our surname, there isn't a hope in hell he'd ever opt to go with the longer version!!
we have been looking at mono-syllabic first names (like Ben, rather than Benjamin) due to the awkward 4-syllable surname!!

but as you've pointed out, maybe you should leave the child the option... cheers!

Kildrought

I find that people seem to understand less and less about names these days.

Taking the Irish spelling of Caithlin and mispronouncing it as 'kate-lin' really irritates me and then better yet we get mis-spellings of mispronounciations and it becomes Kaytlyn or similar efforts...bah-humbug I say! :P

A friend told me she was going to call her child Zec; I commented (in a friendly way!) that it was a very biblical choice... she looked blank & I said that it was a short form of a bible name vis., Zechariah. She tried to insist that it was a completely different name & had nothing to do with the bible....sheesh...

Ms2011

I'm naming my son after my Dad, the long version would be my Dad's name but the shortened version would be thought of as being more youthful.
Me & my Dad will know who he is named after regardless if his name is shortened and that's what'll matter to us ;-)

Georgeee

Kildrought wrote: »

I find that people seem to understand less and less about names these days.

Taking the Irish spelling of Caithlin and mispronouncing it as 'kate-lin' really irritates me and then better yet we get mis-spellings of mispronounciations and it becomes Kaytlyn or similar efforts...bah-humbug I say! :P

A friend told me she was going to call her child Zec; I commented (in a friendly way!) that it was a very biblical choice... she looked blank & I said that it was a short form of a bible name vis., Zechariah. She tried to insist that it was a completely different name & had nothing to do with the bible....sheesh...

is it not Zach?

tfitzgerald

No matter what you call a child people will always shorten it . If you called the baby AL you would get some moron calling him A

Kildrought

Georgee - I've don't know how she was planning to spell it!

Betsie_xr3i

I was christened Catherine but have been know as Cathy from almost day one, the only time Im called Catherine is if Im in trouble with my mother, never to old for that haha

cyning

My family would always call me a shortened version of my name, but everyone else calls me my full name. I think its nice to have the choice: just as I don't mind having a shortened name for use by family, I also love my proper name!

Georgeee

Kildrought wrote: »

Georgee - I've don't know how she was planning to spell it!

;-)

Mink

Betsie_xr3i wrote: »

I was christened Catherine but have been know as Cathy from almost day one, the only time Im called Catherine is if Im in trouble with my mother, never to old for that haha

This is so true. That's the beauty of giving a child an extendable name - like Christopher - but also a couple of middle names. So when he's after breaking the window with his football, you get to shout

CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL ANDREW SMITH!!! Get your skinny little ar$e in here this instant!!!

... or some combination of the above. It sounds so much better with all the long names.

pawrick

I've always had nick names over the years - very young children find it difficult to say Padraig and some of those names stuck like Paw.

Other people call me P and some others call me didds as a result - there is little you can do to stop people either shortening your name or giving you a nickname without telling them off each time. Give the child the long version like other people have said, they can play around with it when they get older and easily use which ever version they prefer.

RobAMerc

Kildrought wrote: »

A friend told me she was going to call her child Zec; I commented (in a friendly way!) that it was a very biblical choice... she looked blank & I said that it was a short form of a bible name vis., Zechariah. She tried to insist that it was a completely different name & had nothing to do with the bible....sheesh...

Why is it that just because a name is mentioned in the bible is that name suddenly associated with it and everyone named such has to suffer because of it. The name Zachariah was around long before the bible I am sure, as was the name Jesus for that matter - but because it's in this book about the fella no one (in the English speaking world anyway ) can share that name ?

So if I choose the name Sydney for my child - would they have to put up with being told that name is Dickensian because it a character in a very well know Dickens novel ?

I am also a bit cheesed off as to why once a celeb calls their child something you are instantly branded a cream cracker if you use the same name. Romeo is a perfectly good name, but you couldn't dare now that the Beckhams have got their first !

Kildrought

I don't know that anyone necessarily has to suffer for their name!

Whilst the bible may not be the first or only location of a particular name it is an extraordinarily popular book and hence would (one expects!) be well known in countries where religions based on that book are pre-dominant. In particular those who claim to be adherents to one or other of the 'christian' religions.

highly1111

We've been having this discussion too. I'm due in a few weeks and we like Beth for a girl. However we're going to call her (if it is a her!) Elizabeth and the main reason is that she'll have more choice when she's older and Elizabeth can sound more professional than Beth. (if you know what I mean - but at least she'll have the choice) but we've decided that when we tell people her name, we're going to tell them we're calling her Beth. Not Elizabeth as I don't want it to be shortened to anything other than Beth. No Liz lizzy lily etc so there maybe a a few surprises at her christening when the priest says Elizabeth!! but by then she'll be Beth to everyone so hopefully no one would think of calling her anything else!! Hope this makes sense!!

If its a girl of course ;-)

egan2020

I have a nine month old daughter. Decided when she was born that we would call her Lexie. However, she is Alexandra on her birth certificate and will be on her passport and she will have the choice of using her full name when she's older.

Chocolate fiend

Christening a child a name isn't a given, it is what you put on their birth cert that is their full official name.

We were planning on giving a boy (if we were having one) a long name, and calling him by the shortened version. Simply because we liked both and wanted to give him the option. You can get your passport in the name you are known as rather than the name on your birth cert.

implausible

Chocolate fiend wrote: »

Christening a child a name isn't a given, it is what you put on their birth cert that is their full official name.

I don't know about everyone else on here, but it's nearly force of habit for me to say 'christening' when I mean naming officially:o

Squiggler

Whether we have a boy or a girl they're getting two long "christian" names each, although we intend to call him/her by a short version of one of those. We feel that it will give him/her more options regarding how he/she wants to be identified later in life.

We're also paying attention to the initials he/she'd have too. Having grown up with SEL (and been called salty as a result, which was mild enough) it's something I'm conscious of

Ayla

Squiggler wrote: »

We're also paying attention to the initials he/she'd have too. Having grown up with SEL (and been called salty as a result, which was mild enough) it's something I'm conscious of

Hehehe, I thought I was the only one who did this...but with initials JIRM, I suppose I'm conscious of it too

cynder

I have a Benjamin who us called Ben, benjie and Benjamin and a Samantha who is either Sam or Samantha, she went through a phase where she only wanted to be called Samantha and would correct anyone who called her sam , but now she is mostly called Sam. Ben doesn't mind what his called but if you ask him he would say Benjamin, but does not correct anyone if they call him Ben or Benjie.


After having the 2 of them my father Inlaw complained I called them dogs names, Sam and Ben..

Cat Melodeon

Names can influence how seriously people take you in later life, so like others have said, I think its good to give a 'serious' name and then just call the child by whatever variation of it you like. I really wanted to call our daughter Maggie or Daisy, both of which are diminutives of Margaret. Unfortunately every Margaret we know (lots, including very close relatives) told us not to as they all seem to dislike their name. Hubby wouldn't agree to Daisy as he thinks she'd either be regarded as a cow or as a girl all the boys would like to jump on (Daisy Duke?) so that was out too, and I don't think Maggie on it's own would work, it would still be shortened to Mags or lengthened to Margaret. The name we went with is a long frilly one (we have a one-syllable surname) but it has a few nice nicknames, one of which will probably stick. She's currently known as Squidgyarse by husband and 2yo, I'm hoping that will pass.

silly

I'm thinking of Ollie for a girl, but official name Olivia.