nicknames

[sliveredlight.livejournal.com]

What liberties do you allow people to take with your kids' nicknames? For those without kids, what spinoffs do you envision having for the top name(s) you have in mind for future/hypothetical kids? Or for those outside either box, your OWN name, the names of kids around you, etc....

Not my kid, but I got (silently, invisibly) irritated at one of the people I work with for calling baby Christian "Christopher", despite knowing his actual name. If I'm going to nickname one of the kids, I usually add something to the name (Ella-Bella) or make the nickname totally unrelated to their name (Liam is Motor Scooter because he is across the room on hands and knees in 2.2 seconds.)

My top two names are Juliana and Lucas, and I think my overwhelming preference will be to use their full first names.

Comments

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I just call people what either their parents want them to be called, or, when they're older, what the kid themselves want me to call them. I'm friends with 3 James, and none of them ever went by anything other than James. I know a family that basically forbids nicknames; their children are, to everybody: Rebecca, Benjamin and Joseph.

If you want to call Juliana and Lucas, then that's all you have to say. People I know tend to be really respectful of that.

[satunian.livejournal.com]

I love your top 2 btw!

I don't mind people making up their own nicknames for others, after all, your kids will in fact form their own relationships with others and might even like being called by those nicknames. My name is Diana and my mother hated the nickname "Di" because it sounds like Die or dye, so she made up her own for me.
Needless to say I hated the made-up one, and when my first boyfriend started calling me "Di" for short, I found I really didn't mind it.

But I would get annoyed over the Christopher thing too, but that's because that's not a nickname, that a completely different full name. Like when I get called Diane or when my friend Natalia (whoops, even I typoed her name the first time around!) gets called Natalie, or Melissa gets called Michelle. My mom Janice, gets called Janet or Jeanette. We all hate that. I'd rather be called a completely different name, like Jimmy, because then at least it's obvious it's a joking name.

[bingybingy.livejournal.com]

My name is Michelle and I always get called Melissa. So annoying.

[beanxsprout.livejournal.com]

My son's name is Logan, and that is what the husband and I call him. Other people try to call him Logie, and I hate that, so I always correct them to Logan. There is also a brother and sister that are my age and one calls my son Logo, and the other one calls him Logs {pronounced Low-gs}. These I don't mind as much as "Logie."

[tames.livejournal.com]

Logie is awful, it sounds like Lugie :( I'd correct them too! But Logo is pretty cute as a nickname :)

[beanxsprout.livejournal.com]

I thought so too. I never would have come up with Logo.

[esilva7.livejournal.com]

My son is Logan too, and my dad calls him Logo man. Never crossed my mind either!

[rainbowbrii.livejournal.com]

I always call peoples kids by there names so i dont offend anyone. My daughters name is Jayden...We call her Tator tot because she was always soo much shorter for her age. My family called her Jay bug or Jay or Jay Jay. I didnt mind.
I actually consider what my next childs nickname would be off there real name when im choosing..We love Minnow & minnie is a nickname of it that we love.. Aubrey we love aswell & love the bre nickname. Keiran for a boy and kier is cute to us

[how-obscure.livejournal.com]

I think people should call other people's children whatever they are introduced as. Christian to Christopher would annoy me too because it is a separate name and not a nickname.

[beanxsprout.livejournal.com]

This. =)

[esilva7.livejournal.com]

I intentionally chose my son's name because there is no obvious nickname for Logan. I like to call kids how they are introduced. That being said, I always introduce myself as Emily and still get called Em sometimes. Drives me crazy!

[mrssubee.livejournal.com]

my kids are Laila and Benjamin
and it bothers me when someone playfully calls my son Benji or BJ (his middle name is Joseph) don't go for either of those nicknames- but the only people I've ever heard call him that is a total stranger when asking what his name is or people who don't know us well...so, I don't bother to correct them
-------
one of the teachers at my daughters school started calling her "Lulu" but she jokes with all the kids in a playful way and my daughter finds it funny- so I let it go
she's 5 and one day she explained "My name is really Laila but you know, my nickname is Lulu"

[02895.livejournal.com]

my daughter has a name that doesnt really have any nicknames. Lillah (lie-luh). but we call her "bubba" more than anything, her dad started calling her that since the day she was born and it just stuck!!

but i do have a friend who her daughters name is Leanna but she calls her Lily.

[iamsurrealism.livejournal.com]

ugh, my name is christina and one woman at day care would constantly call me christian. it would make me so angry. grrr! i hated that.

[sparklymoon.livejournal.com]

My friend has 2 kids, Christopher and Kassandra. She INSISTED on calling them Topher and Sandie, and had fits when people called them Chris and Kass - like fits of rage that involved her screaming for a solid 2 minutes.

My name is Sara, and I have been called Sasha, Sharon, Serena, and someone used to call me Sophie all the time too. It's a very simple name. My mom is a Jennifer who hates being called Jenny.

My top 2 names are Claire and Henry, not much chance of nicknames with that! I love the name Robert, but I hate Rob/Robbie/Bob/Bobby

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

I don't care what they call my kid as long as I don't dislike it. For example, our son's name is Benjamin and we call him Ben. Some family members began calling him Benji, which we didn't mind, and it has stuck a bit. They still call him that and we've used it, and he went through a phase around age 1 1/2 where he called himself Benji. But we won't let anyone call him Benny because we don't like it at all.

We plan to name our first daughter Margaret. I'm not sure if we'll use a nickname that often, and if we do I'm not sure which one because I'd rather meet her first and see which one fit her. My favorite is Gretch/Gretchen, and I'd like to use that. But I would anticipate people automatically trying to call her Maggie, and I don't like that. I would have to correct them.

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

It's kind of funny, because Margaret seems like a nickname that everyone is going to want to abbreviate, but one of my favorite shows has a character named Margaret, and I honestly can't imagine calling her by any nickname (to the point where I cringe when fans call her Mags.) I think there will always be people who will try and use a nickname you don't like, but I think it is possible to get people to "see it your way".

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

Mags? Blech. I'd cringe too. Mags is short for Magglio Ordoñez anyway. :P

It's definitely possible to get people to call your kid whatever you want them to be called, but sometimes it just takes more effort. My brothers in-law were always Joshua and Daniel. Not Josh and Dan. You just have to correct people if they get it wrong. And anyway, with my son I've found that people will call him whatever he's introduced as. Or if I say Benjamin, they'll ask if we call him Ben.

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

Getting a little off topic, but just overall it's stupid (in my mind) to nickname that character, because she's a very serious character normally, so other than her canon given nickname which is meant to anger her, it's really only acceptable to call her by her full first name, or her last name. But I digress.

Mags is short for Magglio Ordoñez anyway.
AGREED!!! (It's funny, I read this while watching the Tigers game, LOL).

sometimes it just takes more effort
I'll agree with that. There are certain names I think that we (as a general rule) are more likely to give nicknames to.

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

True, it does seem strange to nickname a character something that isn't used in the actual show or book or whatever.

Hahaha, yay, a Tiger's fan! And I see you have a Wings icon too. I approve. You must also be from Michigan?

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

Haha :). Yes I am. Although due to my icon hoarding, my hockey icons always seem to get used after that player retires/leaves. (Kind of like how my mom bought me a Granderson shirt and the next day he went to the Yankees).

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

I used to have a Granderson shirt!

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

Hehe. I also have a Pudge shirt. I think I need to stick with general team shirts. . . :).

[duck-deluxe.livejournal.com]

I have the opposite problem with my daughters. Their given names are Norah and Lucy so I always have people trying to give them longer first names (Eleanor and Lucille usually). I just correct it and move on. My son is Harrison and we call him Harry and Harrison depending on what comes out. His youngest sister calls him "hair hair" but she is only 1.5 years old so I don't anticipate that sticking.

My name is Amy and I usually get called by my name or "aim" (which I HATE). It isn't worth my time to correct every person who does it though so I just let it slide.

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

I had a roommate named Amy once, and I used to call her Amers. It makes me wonder if there's something in a lot of people that gives them the urge to call people by something other than their given name.

[politicking.livejournal.com]

If you call your kids by their full names and teach others to do the same, by the time they get school-aged, they will most likely automatically tell people "I'm Juliana" or "I'm Lucas."

My cousin is Cameron. My aunt and uncle do NOT like the nickname "Cam"... so they've never called him that. No one does. He is Cameron.

My son is Ryan. At first I disliked "Ry" because I always think of rye bread. And amazingly, he has NO ONE in his grade or the grades immediately above/below him with the name Ryan. However, on his football team, he has THREE other Ryans! Now I'm thinking of having him go by his initials, just to ease the confusion for the coaching staff!

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

I tend to shorten people's names/do "cutesy" things (i.e. Angela has been "Ange-Wange", "Anala", "Annie", "Ange-Ange", among others I'm sure).

I think should I have kids, I would be pretty generous with what nicknames I would "allow".

I do think calling Christian "Christopher" is a bit strange. Although I have called Mark "Marcus" before (I don't remember if it was to his face or not), even though I'm 99.9% sure his full name is Mark. I don't know if that's the same thing, or if there is a difference.

My top girl's name (or at least one of them) is some for of Grace (be it, Grace, Gracyn or Gracelyn), and I know I'd be calling her "Gracie", "Gracie Lou", "Gracie Belle", "Grace-Grace", etc.

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

Speaking of nicknames, I went to college with a girl named Katherine, and her mom was against nicknames. One of my profs always called her by her last name.

[http://users.livejournal.com/-----citylight/]

I work at a childcare centre and look after a set of sisters;
Arabella who goes by Billie & Clementine who goes by Lulu.

I like giving kids nicknames. I call;
Will - Wilco, Wilbo, Willenstin, Willmeister, Wilma...pretty much anything that starts with Will. lol
Sadie - Sardine (how she pronounces her name)
Lara - Lou

My brother in law calls my daughter Darth (her name is Veda)