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The thing that I find most weird ist when parents say "We love the name Patrick (or whatever) but we hate the nn Pat" and therefore let go of their favorite Patrick. As if there is no way of avoiding Pat (or whatever nn). Why just not call him by his full name and then it may stick?

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Or if they say "Patrick Turner" is ok but Pat runs into the ln. If you are that formal to use the ln, why use the nn and not the formal name? This is an argument I've only seen on American sites. Even though parents sometimes consider less disirable nn in Sweden too, they don't worry how it will sound with the ln. I get the feeling that nn are so ubiquitous in USA that nobody calls a Michael or Katherine Smith that; he/she is always just Mike (or Kate) Smith.

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And then the whole point of nn is lost imo. You call someone by a nn as a sign of familiarity and affection. But how can these be, if everybody calls this person by the nn.

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So I guess that people use nn just b/c they don't have time to say the whole name. Which I can understand with Alexander and Alexandra, but not with Michael.

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Another side of the coin is that people name a child Jackson or Katherine, even though they don't like the name that much; but they love Jack and Kate. Why not name them Jack or Kate them? No, that name is not good enough if the child becomes a judge or president of United States. If their child would have the qualifications and financial resourced to become the president of USA, I don't think the name would stop him/her.

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"But it’s all right now.
I learned my lesson well.
You see you can’t please everyone
So you got to please yourself."
Rick Nelson, GardenParty

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"It does not become me to make myself smaller than I am." (Edith Södergran 1891-1923)