DS is 14 months...help me spell his nn!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2004
DS is 14 months...help me spell his nn!
13
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 10:41am

Hi naming experts!


I haven't been to this board in a long while, but I'm really struggling with my son's nickname. My DH thinks I'm crazy (probably!). His name is Tobias Wade, and he is usually called Tobey. Since it's a nickname, we never had an "official" spelling, but started out spelling his nn with the "ey". Our reasoning behind this was because we live in a intellectual college town area, and baby naming is pretty progressive here—we had read about "Toby" being used as a girl's name, and figured people in our area would be likely to

Amy, mom to Nate (9), Calvin (7), and Tobias (4). You can find me at my blogs:

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2005
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 6:05pm

Well tell your DH that I don't think you're crazy! LOL It's actually a good idea to think this through now, while he's still a toddler, because if he regularly uses the nn Toby/Tobey he may want to do so once he starts school in a few years. I'm not sure if it works the same everywhere, but where we live you include the child's preferred name (the name he/she will actually "go by") on the school paperwork, so spelling would become an issue if you wanted to include that at that time (or risk the teacher forever forcing him to use his full name on everything, KWIM?).

I actually had the same dilemma concerning the nn Kate/Kait for my daughter Kaitlyn (only because the literal shortening of the name would, in fact, be Kait). Luckily, she usually goes by her full name, and will most likely do so when she starts school in the fall, so I'm not too worried about it. (Incidentally, I have started using the more familiar Kate spelling anytime she does use her nn in writing, which isn't often).

Of your two choices, I actually prefer Toby, and have never met a girl with that name. However, with the current trend of altering a masculine spelling and then using it for a girl, I'd assume Tobey might be a girl (while I probably wouldn't question Toby even once). Now if you had mentioned the spelling Tobi (again, the literal shortening of the full name), I'd almost definitely assume girl.

HTH! :)

~Kelli


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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2004
Wed, 02-15-2006 - 8:49pm
Thanks everyone! I talked with DH, who laughed and said "whatever you think!" and it's official...he'll be Toby, no e. It feels right. Something about the other spelling was just bugging me!
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Amy, mom to Nate (9), Calvin (7), and Tobias (4). You can find me at my blogs:

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 02-16-2006 - 12:33pm

My vote is for Toby.

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