baby name rank

[SuzySunshine]

Eh, I sound like a pot-stir here, but I don't like the assumed nickname for my kid.

I don't think that makes you a pot stirrer, I don't like my kids' nickname either. I do correct people that shorten it and I will continue to do so until he's old enough to choose himself. I'm his parent, I named him and I think that is my right.

[Pollyanna]

Naming is just so personal and I so don't get the, "we're naming our kid Steve but calling him Zachary" thing but just think about every instance your child will have to deal with their name if it is odd or not "in order". Like Heidi's dh, my hubby has to deal with his stupid "letter" all the time (because a letter is NOT a name). Every diploma he has ever received is wrong because a period is added to the "letter". Applications for everything have to be corrected. Even getting a plane ticket can be a hassle. Oh and when filling out college applications DD could not use his correct name because the Common app expects first names to be more than one letter. Names are just tricky things.

[Phoebe]

Don't do it!!!!! Really. It's worse than you think.

Sounds like a nightmare!

[Chrisada]

I'm the parent actually trying to get my kid to go by a nickname since he's named after my husband. We were going to call him by his middle name but that never happened. Then we called him by his first and middle name, but I hate double names so I stopped that. We can't call him Little Richard because hello of Little Richard!! There is always confusion in the house as to which one I'm talking too! Drives me crazy. And people are always confused when they call him a Jr. and I tell them he's not bec. he has a different middle name from his dad. Poor kid.

[HouseofWool]

Don't do it!!!!! Really. It's worse than you think.

I have to agree with Heidi. My BIL has the same first name as his father but goes by his middle name. BIL's father has had credit problems because his wife is a nutjob of the likes of MILK. BIL consistently runs into issues because of it.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Well now I'm 38.5 weeks pregnant and freaking out that we can't name our baby what we planned during all those months of trying to get pregnant.

Shit.

I'm going to cry.

[Vanquisher]

I'm really sorry. Don't pay attention to me. Shit. I suck.

[SoonerTexan]

Why not just use the name you like and skip the family imposed name. If they ask, you now have a ridiculously legitimate reason besides the fact that...you know...it's your dang kid!!!

[MissCrabette]

T+S, I'm so sorry. I wasn't even thinking about how upsetting this could be. Ignore me.

[Vanquisher]

I feel like a complete bitch. I'm really sorry. I wish I had never posted.

[Gwendolyn]

Maybe it's an Irish Catholic thing where everyone has the same name, but I've known lots of people from childhood to adulthood who go by their middle name because their first name is like the 15th Michael in the family and they don't have a problem. Also, girl's names (Margaret/Peggy) where the nick isn't an obvious leap. They just use their full name officially and their call-by name in introduction. Just like for those of us who use our first name, we don't introduce ourselves with our middle name. I grew up with a John Andrew whose name is Andy, now a CPA...no problem, A Michael Ryan who goes by Ryan, now a lawyer and gaining some political steam in AZ, also no problem. I think it is just about having a system. My last name is hyphenated, but I go by my given name professionally. I still keep the full thing officially because of my social; so my licensing has both, but students call me just the one last name and all publications/conference presentations are under the one name. Just be consistent and it shouldn't be a problem.

[PrincessFiona]

Eh, I sound like a pot-stir here, but I don't like the assumed nickname for my kid.
In fact, I almost did not name him the name we chose because I knew people would shorten it. I'm not an ass about it when people do shorten his name, but I also do not refer to him as "nickname."
He has his own nickname that we gave him while he was in-utero, and that's the one I use all the time.


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I'll one-up you. I don't get the whole "I can't name my child something that is in the top 10, 20 .... or whatever. The fact that there are now Aidek's running around MN is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I know someone who named their daughter Kirsten but spelled it as if they had never gotten out of Kindergarten. The spelling is so bizzaro that you wouldn't pronounce it Kirsten unless you knew (and no it isn't an Irish spelling .... LOL).

As far as first name/middle name .... It's hard to really say. I know plenty of adults who hate their first names and choose to go with their middle names despite the best intentions of their parents. I knew an adult who was named "Dorla" who hated it beyond belief and eventually renamed herself "Kim" because she just wanted to have a "normal" name. My highschool boyfriend was a Tobey Marshall who now rejects anything Tobey and goes only by Marshall. He's still Tobey to me, but .... you can just never know.

Two of my boys have two middle names because .... I'm that kind of weird. My daughter has an Irish middle name that is pronounced fanula and is spelled Fionnuala. Her nickname is FooFoo and .... that is actually what we CALL her at home! Poor thing .... no wonder she has issues. LOL. My youngest son has the middle name Adolf named after his grandfather who was named after ... right ... but ... Thomas' dad passed away in the year before Aidan was born and it was important to us ... and we have gotten so much flack that I regret it regularly.

Zoe is Zoe Christine ... whom I call Christiney Beany 90% of the time (unplanned). She goes by Zoe at school.

Whatever....I mean .... it's all good, right.

As far as naming your daughter, T&S....you pick whatever YOU want .... She is your baby and you can call her whatever nickname that you want, defend her name and admonish all nicknames.... You. Are. Mommy!!!! Forever!

My husband is Thomas. We don't know a single, solitary American here that doesn't call him Tom. He has given up on correcting them. When they address me and ask how Tom is though I always say "Tom who?" "Tom your husband!!" "Oh, Thomas you mean. Do you call him Tom? How funny." See ... I can do that too because I'm his wife.

Just enjoy gestating that little girl and relish in the names that you have picked for her.

At least her middle name won't be Adolf, right? LOL

Kris

[SuzySunshine]

Kris' Tobey story brings back a funny college story. A guy I knew in high school was Robert but went by Bob. I went to a very small high school but a very large college so when 1 of the 50 girls that lived in my hall told me she had met a guy from my high school and he was coming by that afternoon and I should say hi I had NO idea who she was talking about because there were about 6 kids from my entire school at my college. When he showed up I about fell out of my chair, he had changed his name to Rob and was totally snotty about it to me who ha known him as Bob for like 6 years.

You never know with people.

[L.Jane]

I knew a girl who was named Jessica Ashley, but she always went by Ashley until she hit highschool where there were so many Ashleys she got fed up and reverted to her first name Jessica. It took me quite a while to switch over, but now I rarely even remember about it unless conversations come up. She isn't the only one I know who did this. Another girl's first name was very odd and when she hit high school she changed to her middle name which was much more common. As long as on every important document they ever fill out, they fill out their whole name, you should be fine.

As for funny stories about names, my middle name is unique only because my mom was so drugged up she spelled it wrong on the birth certificate. I however appreciate this because I never liked my middle name in the first place and her oops allowed me to shorten in easily. Luckily when filling out important documents I have never had someone tell me I am spelling it wrong.

[Phoebe]

My SIL decided when she moved with my brother to a new state that she sounded more professional going by her middle name. So all of us were supposed to now call her new name. She is a social worker working with teenagers. Her audience isn't professional. I thought it was crazy that my small children were supposed to understand that she changed to name to something very different which is Irene pronounced in French. She is nuts anyway, but that idea didn't last long and she went back to her first name.