A Dilemma

[kilobites.livejournal.com]

Say that you like a particular name that is usually a nickname--I'll use Bree as an example because it's what I've been thinking of--but you don't like the given form of it at all.

Do you:

a) Bestow the nickname upon your baby (so you have a baby simply named Bree)?
b) Bestow the long form of the name upon your baby (so you have a baby named Brianna)?
c) Forgo the name all together because it's too much of a sacrifice either way?

WDYT, and do you have any name dilemmas like this on your list?

Edited to add: Also, do you think Bree is a name unto itself, or it is still a nickname?

Comments

[lustdumpster.livejournal.com]

kind of. i love lily, but too many three hundred year old lillians call me at work and irritate me to make me hate the name, and lilliana is too clunky for my tastes. i'd never use just lily though because it sounds juvenile to me.

as for bree though, i'd just use bree. bree sounds more grown up to me than brianna does (brianna just sounds like an eleven year old to me forever) and it has a great strong sound. in the case of lily though, i will just forget it or use it on a future dog.

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

There are two little girls are work called Lily. One has the given name of Lillith and the other is Elizabeth. I love Lily as a nickname for Elizabeth.

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

While I don't like Lily, I've never thought of it as a nickname. It could be, obviously, but I've always thought of it as a complete name because of the flower.

[azelmaroark.livejournal.com]

Lily can't be a nickname for Elizabeth, if that helps you. =)

[tiphanism.livejournal.com]

how do you mean, it can't?

[azelmaroark.livejournal.com]

Ahahahaha, *can. I type gud. Sorry!

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

D) I'd try to find another actual name I liked where the nickname could work.

You could use Bree as a nickname for Gabriella/Gabrielle, for instance. I think Bree is too much of a nickname to be a given name but, like lustdumpster said, Brianna sounds juvenile. It's tough.

[aimeewins.livejournal.com]

I don't see Bree as a full name.

Another option as a full name is Sabrina, which can age nicely.

[jerseygrits.livejournal.com]

It entirely depends on the specific nickname and full name(s). There are some nicknames that I think would be just fine as given names. And there are plenty of nicknames that have been adopted as full given names over time, so you may just end up being part of that process.

With Bree specifically, I think it can pass as a full name. (Behindthename.com also lists it as the anglicized form of the Irish name Brígh, so it seems like it is a full name in its own right.)

If you really feel that either of the first two options is a sacrifice, you should probably take it off the list. If your only issue is that it might seem like a nickname to others but you are entirely happy with it on its own, you should go for it.

The wedding invitation test seems like a good one in this case. See how you feel about just "Bree" being printed on your daughter's wedding invitation...

[kilobites.livejournal.com]

My issue with it would be that other people would view it as a nickname, yeah. I think you're right though, about the wedding invitation test. I need to use that more =)

[fangirlism]

The wedding invitation test seems like a good one in this case. See how you feel about just "Bree" being printed on your daughter's wedding invitation...

Ooh that's a good idea too. I usually do the calling test (how would it sound if you were standing outside calling the kid home), or I have a "graduation test" (how would it sound if the kid's principal/dean was calling out their name at their graduation ceremony). I vetoed a name or two that way.

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

I dislike using nicknames as given names, as I feel children deserve to have the option of going by something that's not a diminutive.

But: as quoted above, Bree is not etymologically the same thing as Brianna. At all. If, like me, you dislike Brianna, don't feel obligated to use it as an extension of Bree.

[tiarrajanae.livejournal.com]

I'd use the nickname as a name. No point in giving your baby a name you don't like just because you like the nickname.

[sweet-caro1ine.livejournal.com]

When pregnant with my first, I was set on the name Amelia. My husband didn't like it but did like Amy. I don't think Amy is really a nickname for Amelia but it was a compromise I could handle. I've grown to really like the name too, it suits her.
My second girl is called Brianna. I personally don't like Bree and have gone to pains to make sure people don't call her that. But I do see it as a name in it's own right. It's weird actually, I don't like Bree and I don't like Anna, but I like them together. My personal nickname for her is Nan, or Nanny. That was brought about by my first daughter and just stuck.

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

In this particular instance, I do think of Bree as being a complete name on its own, so it's not a problem.

In other examples, I think I would see if there is another complete name that I like better which could result in the same nickname. Failing that, unfortunately, I would probably give up on the name. You don't want to not love the name you choose, and I don't like nicknames as given names, generally speaking.

[awoodnymph.livejournal.com]

I'd choose option D.

I like the nickname Bree, but it's also the name of my grandpa's dog so that's the first thing I think of. :)

[azelmaroark.livejournal.com]

I usually go with D, but I have had situations where I can't think of a full name I like, and it makes me sad, but in that case I go with C. =( (Rosie is one of them. I don't like Rose. I have no idea why adding an 'i' in between makes it awesome to me.)

I think Bree could stand on its own, but I really love Sabrina/Gabriella for the full name, as others have suggested. Brianna will always sound like a fourteen-year-old girl to me.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Bree is a nickname to me, so I opt for b)

[intothefireugo.livejournal.com]

Usually I'm the other way around - loving the long version and hating the nickname. When that happens I drop the name and move on. I'd do the same for this scenario.

[lind-saay.livejournal.com]

I would definitely not go with #1.

If I don't love the name, but don't hate it either (how I feel about Samuel), I would use the full name and just always call them the nickname.

If I hated the name, I'd find something that I don't hate that I could still use the nickname for. Using Bree as the example still, I HATE Brianna. I don't hate Gabrielle, which Bree could work as a nickname for.

If I can't find another name to use, I just wouldn't use it. Nicknames are just that -- nicknames. If it's something like Eliza/Elizabeth or Lucy/Lucille where the nickname is ALSO a legit name on its own, it'd be fine, but if it's something like Bree or Sam or Ben or Jake where it's NOT a legit name on its own, I would not ever use it as the given name.

[istytehcrawk.livejournal.com]

I went to college with two people named Bree (not short for anything), so I consider it a legitimate name on its own.

[rewashed.livejournal.com]

I'd just name my kid Bree. Ultimately, no one's opinion but your own matters. I think Bree is an actual name.

[missinfinity.livejournal.com]

I don't like Bree all by its lonesome, but I know someone named Breelyn (late 20's/early 30's) and I do kind of like that.

[laminy.livejournal.com]

A. A all the way. Sometimes C, depending on how ridiculous the nickname is. I find it completely ridiculous to give your kid a name that you hate, just so you can use the nickname that you like. With option A, Eli is probably more of a nickname, but I don't like anything that it comes from, just Eli, so that's on my list. Same as Jack.

With C, I like the nickname Mog, or Moggie, but I'm not going to name my kid Margaret to use it, and I would never use just Moggie.

I consider Bree to be a name all on its own.

[bandnerd88.livejournal.com]

I know that with my cousin, one of his parents wanted to just name him Jake and the other insisted that they use Jacob and have Jake as a nn. They eventually agreed to name him Jacob. He gets called Jacob half the time and Jake the other half.

If I really really loved a nn, I'd likely try and find something to use as a full name. I know I wouldn't want to go through life with nothing but a nn. (Heck, my name is technically a nn even though it's pretty well-established as a name in it's own right, and I often ask my mom WHY she didn't give me the longer form and just use my name as a nn.)

Bree feels too insubstantial to be a full name to me, but I personally wouldn't use Brianna as I don't like that name. If I really liked Bree that much I'd try and find something with the "Bree" sound in it that I liked.

[tiphanism.livejournal.com]

Are there any names you do like that you could use it as a short for, if you don't want to use it on its own? I can only think of Briony at the moment, but there must be others.

In general I don't like short forms as given names, because some of them don't age too well, but it depends on the name and how it's percieved where you live, and so on.

I'm sorry to say I've never heard of Bree as a name except for the horse in the Narnia books, but I guess that's regional.

[pythianlegume7.livejournal.com]

If you don't have many names you like and you really love Bree, I'd probably go with Brianna or some other full name nn Bree. However, if you have other names you like as much or more, I'd forgo it all together, probably.

[krosp.livejournal.com]

It depends how much the nickname is accepted as a standalone name, or, how much it sounds like it could be pulled off as a full name. Bree is totally fine to me, but perhaps it's used a lot more here in Australia as a full name than it is wherever you live? Because I don't even see it as a nickname of Brianna, but it's a normal name.

Normally I like a longer name and don't like short versions, and find that people are more inclined to shorten a name than use the full name if it's got a commonly accepted nickname. I took Joseph off my list a while back because I don't like Joe.

[jintana.livejournal.com]

Cambria