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I think they work with long first names. It's best when they don't end with an "ee" sound because then they're just like short names instead of nicknames. Katie sounds like an obvious nickname, Leo and Jules* sound like regular names that are short. (Sophie also sounds like a regular name, probably because it's longer and it's used more often as a full name, but normally I'd avoid -"ee" to get that full-name feel).

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*but is Jules even a nickname?

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ETA some combos (some of these mns are also full names but they're all short for something as well):

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Alexandria Vin
Violetta
Catherine Essie
Gwendolen Mina
Miranda Cassie
Wisteria Jen
Lin
Wilhelmina Kate

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Alastair Ben
Sebastian Con
Desmond Mark
Gabriel Pen
Hephaestus Jack
William Theo
Theodore Will
Leonardo Red
Edmund Quin
Malachias Liam
Salvatore Win
Alexander Seb

This message was edited 11/16/2019, 6:28 PM

I sometimes suggest Gracie in the middle, as opposed to Grace, or Liv actually, which I also like.

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I like the idea. I like it when the middle is not expected, like the typical Rose. I like Rose as a middle name a lot, but, sometimes things need a freshening up.

I like it.
But, I think Leo is a full name, not a nickname.

I dont see any of those as nn except Katie, but its fine as a mn as a honour name

It depends on the name, but I generally don't mind them, and from the middle names you posted, I only think of Katie, and potentially Liv, as nicknames.

I don't like nicknames as full given names in the first place, but as middle names it feels especially silly. Anything with an -ie/-y end in particular just sounds absurd in that spot - especially when you consider middle names come up most often in formal request contexts.

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That said a lot of your examples are fine. Leo and Liv are full names in their own rights, and while Sophie feels nicknamey in an English speaking context, it's also the proper French form of the name. Katie, though? Nope. Silly.

First of all, I don't perceive all those mns as being nns - or anyway as being the same kind of nn.

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Leo, Jules and Liv are pretty standard as fns in their own right, and I wouldn't blink if I met a Sophie who was just that, and not Sophia. Which leaves Katie!

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So, let's focus on Katie and, say, Jimmy. If those were used as mns, I'd assume that it was for family or personal reasons - a wish to honour a Katharine or a James who always went by those nn forms. And that would be just fine; I'd like it. And I'd like the fact that mns tend not to be in daily use, as well.

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Katie and Jimmy as fns would get a very different reaction from me: regret that the parents were limiting their child's choice by giving a name that, by definition, did not have a nn form. Katharine could be that, could be Kate, Katie, Kathy, Ree, Rina, and could change from one to another as fashions or her personal preferences changed.

Some I like, some I don't care for as much. Some are given names in their own right anyway. Of the ones you listed, I don't care for Katie as a middle (unless it were honoring someone whose given name was Katie-- my husband has a just-Katie in his family tree) but the rest are fine.

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Sometimes I challenge myself to make combos using names off my family tree and my great-great-grandmother was named Jennie so I've sort of developed a soft spot for Jennie as a middle name.

Normally I've not one for nicknames in the legal name, in general; but one of my Top 10 combos is Donovan Leo. Then again, I don't necessarily think of Leo as strictly a nickname for Leonard, Leopold, etc., but also as a reference to the constellation. I also don't think of Sophie as a nickname, but as the French form of Sophia / Sofia. (Liv is also a Scandinavian / Nordic name.)

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Of your combos, I like Alexander Leo and Margaret Sophie the most.

Hi Higuma Kanora !!!

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They flow very well with a long first name.

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Actually the most of them are not nicknames. Sophie and Jules are common in French as well as Leo in Latin and Liv in Danish or Swedish.

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I think that it depends on the nickname in my case: I love some of them while I judge others so flat and trashy.

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In any case put them in the middle is a wonderful idea to not be too informal.

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I really like Theodora Liv and Alexander Leo.