Actually, in my family, only a few people go by nns.
My grandmother is
Flossie June and she goes by
June (which isn't
really a nn, but it's not her first name).
My father is
David, but he
sometimes goes by
Dave.
My aunts are
Sandra and
Beverly and they go by
Sandy and Bev. I have another aunt who is
Deborah, but she goes by
Debbie. And last but not least, my cousin's daughter is
Alexandria, but she goes by
Ally (or
Allie, I honestly don't remember the spelling). In my immediate family (because we rarely see the rest of our family), we all have just casual nns that are "easier to say," I guess, than our real fns.
My mom is
Mare (her name is
Mary), my sister is Stace (I honestly don't know how you'd spell it, her fn is
Stacie & her nn is the first syllable). Mine is the weirdest of all, though. I am
Laura, but in my house, I am pretty much always referred to as
Orla (which is the way my sister said my name when she was little & it happened to stick as a nn). Nicknames aren't really a tradition in our family. It's pretty normal. You either go by your first name or the nn your parents gave you in public places like school, but in the household, well, nns happen, haha.
Personally, for the most part, I plan on using the first name I give my child as their name they'd introduce themselves as. There are only a few names where I plan on using nns, at least until the child is old enough to decide for themselves (
Winona nn
Winnie,
Amarantha nn
Ama, &
Kipling nn
Kip are the only ones that come to mind). Of course, I'll probably have "household nns" for all my children.
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"The dog is a gentleman; I hope I go to his heaven, not man's."
- Mark Twain.This message was edited 7/27/2006, 2:15 PM