View Message

This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

[Opinions] Re: Love the names, but not the nicknames
in reply to a message by Phebe
I like Jamie for James ... he could also be Jay. James doesn't really need a nickname, so I don't know that I'd worry a lot about it.Andy for Andrew is unavoidable IMO - I rejected the name Andrew, for which I wanted nn Drew, for my son because of that. (I had recently worked with a really conceited professor named Andy so it annoyed the living hell out of me)Joe, Eddie, Matt, Ben, Finn, Toby, Thad are probably unavoidable.I know a Kendrick who is called Kendrick only.
Finley could be Finley too, but not if the guy actually preferred to be called Finn.
Penelope could very easily become Nell.
Adelaide could be Della or Dede, conceivably. I don't think Adele or Alice is very likely to work.
Abigail could be Gail.

This message was edited 9/27/2012, 9:33 AM

Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

nn's seems to unavoidable here... (Ar?)... Since I heard a friend of my daughter calling her 'Ar' (my daughters name is Arwen)
After asking Arwen why they called her 'Ar' she told me they all use short versions of each others name, Evelien is called Ev (EE-v), Leanna is called Lee, Bella is called Bel or Be. and not just by other kids, no teachers, parents, family members, they all seem to join in.A few years ago I noticed making names shorter and *new* nicknames was getting more common/popular (Like 'Ro' for Robert, 'Mar' for Marleen, 'Tam' for Tamara) and not just friends calling each other nicknames or relatives. No, I'm talking about classmates you hardly talk to, colleagues from another department you only know by name and function, the sister of a friends cousin you see at a birthday party once a year... I might sound a little neurotic, but I think it's a little ridiculous, 'Ar' is something a pirate says (they really let the r role it sounded like 'Ah-rr') NOT my daughters name. Sorry for rambling about it, just had to get it of my chest.Greatings Ph. ;-b

This message was edited 9/27/2012, 11:02 AM

vote up1
Yeah I have a co-worker who just about ALWAYS refers to her daughter (Autumn) at Aut. I always think, "what a terrible NN" but I catch myself wanting to shorten names a lot too.... which is probably why I'm drawn to one-syllable names or names that have a one-syllable NN. But on the other hand, once you get use to using a full name it sort of just becomes natural. My friends names are Marybeth and Carolyn and I never even think to try to shorten them in speech. I'll sometimes refer to them as Marb and Care/Caro but I have to actually think about it first and it's usually just to abbreviate in text
vote up1