Your thoughts on nick names

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-06-2004
Your thoughts on nick names
17
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 4:20pm
Do you love them or hate them? I know a lot of people choose names that will have cute nn, while others choose names that will ensure their children do not get weird nn.

Personally, I am trying to choose names that won't be shortened to a nn. Girl's names I have chosen so far are:

Adora

Thora

Calla

Dahlia

Although I'm having a harder time with boy's names because I love Weston and Preston, which could become Wes or West and Pres.

What are your thoughts on nn?

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-24-2003
Thu, 07-15-2004 - 10:49am
I think shortened forms of given names are just fine. True nicknames: Red for a redhead, Sissy for a sister.........are okay for family only. I don't like parents wanting me to call their child Junior, Sissy, Bubba, Bubbles, etc. It's not such a problem now in 2nd grade, but when I was teaching Pre-K, some of these kids didn't even know their actual names, and I was to teach them to read and write the names they didn't even know referred to them! In cases of Elizabeth and William "going by" Liz and Will, I usually taught the short form first, and then expanded it into the given name if the child was able to do that. My first son was not supposed to have a nickname, or if he did have it was to be a twist on the spanish pronunciation of his name rather than the usual English-language one: his name is Nicolas, we wanted Nico rather than Nick or Nicky. HIs preschool classmates and teacher started with Nick, and he adopted it rather quickly and insisted on it. So, with my second son we chose a name that would have an accepted English language nickname that we liked, as well as the long form that can change pronunciation from spanish to English without changing spelling.......so he is Lucas/Luke. HOwever, our third son/daughter choices seem to have strayed from spanish names now......and we are still picking names we like nicknames to. Because of my preschool teaching background, I do like the option of teaching a child a short 3-6 letter name in place of a longer 8+ letter name, since developmentally many four year olds aren't really ready to write, but anymore education doesn't care about development.....just skills we can measure. I could get almost any child writing a 3-6 letter name, but some just couldn't do a longer version without getting confused. So, in that sense, I think a short name or a name that can be shortened are good for little ones.
Avatar for lesetlo
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Thu, 07-15-2004 - 10:59am
More reason I should

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 07-15-2004 - 11:34am
I have a cousin Zoe. She's in her 40s and everyone's always called her "Zo" (ryhmes with dough).
Avatar for lesetlo
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Thu, 07-15-2004 - 11:40am
Yeah, that's still cute tho.

Avatar for alsatia23
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 07-15-2004 - 11:44am

I do like nn's, but they're not required.







Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-24-2003
Thu, 07-15-2004 - 4:21pm
Leslie, you're so funny! Hey, use anything that works! Zoe is great and sounds so good with Aidan.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-10-2003
Thu, 07-15-2004 - 10:11pm
When we were pg with dd #1, we never even thought of her having a nickname. We liked the name Madison (ok, this was 9 years ago before EVERYONE and their dog named their daughters Madison...!!!) When she was about 3 weeks old, we started calling her Maddie for short. We don't know why, I'm not even really fond of the name Maddie, but it has stuck, and she's now a Maddie. I can't imagine her being anything else (except when she's in trouble, then she's Madison Marie).

With our son, we had decided on Reece Edward. Shortly before he was born, DH suggested changing it to Reece James so we could call him RJ as a nickname. Well, he's 8 months old and we've NEVER called him RJ. (Mostly, we call him Reecey, or Reecey Piecey!)

DH's real name is David, but when I met him he introduced himself as Dave. I've never called him David in the 14 years we've been together (ok, when I'm mad!) but his parents on the other hand have NEVER called him Dave in the time we've been together.

I think nicknames just happen, you can't plan for them. BTW, my 4 year old DD calls real names "big names" and nicknames "little names". She says, "Lizzie's big name is Elizabeth, but her little name is Lizzie."

And... to poster #2 who has a dd named Morgan, one of the girls at our daycare is named Morgan and EVERYONE calls her Morgi (with a hard g).

And, to the teacher, I'm also a teacher and I SOOOO agree with little kids learning shorter names! I teach sixth grade and I have students who can't spell their own middle name, many of them don't even KNOW their middle name!!!

Sorry to ramble!!!

PS. I really like Adora!!!

Pages