Naming a baby

Ms_Chocaholic

Purely curious reasons for this post.  I'm intrigued as to why parents give their baby a name but then call the baby by a shortened version immediately and never use that name again.  A couple of examples - a colleague named their daughter Kathryn but called her Katy immediately, another one the baby was called Genevieve but shortened immediately to Evie.

I have no problem with parents doing this, I just wonder why they do.  The child's official name will always be the name they have never been known by and may cause confusion/further expense in later life (thinking change of passport or a friend booking a holiday in the incorrect name).  If the parents really like the shortened version name they choose to call their baby then why do they not name the baby this same name. 

Choirgrl

Reasons I’ve come across among my friends:

• full name has some sort of family connection, but parents prefer the diminutive 
• full name has a religious significance, but ditto
• full name just seems too big for a small child
• full name is difficult to spell for child just learning to write,or difficult for child/other family members to pronounce 
• feel that the official legal name should be a ‘proper full name’ rather than the diminutive 
• want the child to have the option of using a more formal first name in future if they choose to

Spendless

I'm in this category with my eldest one but it wasn't intentional. I called my son a longer name with the intention of calling him both that and the short version. I'm not going to put the name here but think along the lines of having a Joshua sometimes called Josh.

However my choice of name was relatively unknown/unused in the UK at the time, so people started confusing it with a similar sounding name. As in 'you've called him Josiah' haven't you.  This wasn't from random people I met pushing the pram but from my next door neighbour and my Grandmother. Fed up of having to correct I decided when he was 10 days old to just tell people he was called 'Josh' and would explain the longer version only if asked.

From my point of view it can be a pain for some of the reasons you state. If I filled in a form when he was younger, say for him to join cubs, I never knew what to put him under if I filled in the correct full name he would get called by that rather than his usual short name than no one called him. If I considered putting the short name down I would worry that if they ever had to call the Drs about him in the event of being unable to get hold of me, would the Drs be able to find him if I hadn't given the full name. Only once during his childhood did I come across a form that gave 2 lines saying  first name <Joshua> and  known as/prefer to be called <Josh>. I've never come across an issue on a very official form though, things like passports would always be in the full name as it's something you're always aware of. No issues learning to write either because son's shortened version runs on to the long one in exactly the same way Josh(ua) does. That's potentially a bit more of an issue if you have an Elizabeth that's known as Libby when they start learning. 

However I was very conscious of the negatives of having a child named this way so when my daughter was born 3 years later and I wanted to name her after a relative but that name I considered dated nowadays and preferred a diminutive, I called her the diminutive.

silvercar

Choirgrl said:

Reasons I’ve come across among my friends:

• full name has some sort of family connection, but parents prefer the diminutive 
• full name has a religious significance, but ditto
• full name just seems too big for a small child
• full name is difficult to spell for child just learning to write,or difficult for child/other family members to pronounce 
• feel that the official legal name should be a ‘proper full name’ rather than the diminutive 
• want the child to have the option of using a more formal first name in future if they choose to

Exactly these thoughts applied when I was naming mine. The last one in particular. Having a shortened version gives the child options. 

For my elder, he was always going to be named after a family member. It was only after we'd officially named him that we started shortening it as it did seem to big for a baby. 
For the younger, we chose a long name that we could shorten. In fact, at a young age he thought that the second part of his name was a middle name.

74jax

My longer name was only ever used by my mam. She's no longer here and I've not heard it said to me in years. 

It's on my Birth Certificate, but every other legal document has my name I'm known by. 

elsien

Sibling used child’s second given name right from the start. When I asked why they hadn’t just reversed the two names, they said that the initials didn’t look right? Couldn’t see it myself. 

Drawingaline

All our children have names which we shortened. I grew up with a name that cannot be shortened and was always jealous of people who could have two names. So when we had kids I really wanted to name them with names that could be shortened.

Also our daughters shortened name may not suit her when she is older, so having the option of the official name was important to me. As it is, she has held onto the shortened version and at 18 uses it exclusively.

Our boys have names that are not common in this country, but all shorten to more common versions. My oldest boy likes this and actually is known by the full version to his friends and only family tend to call him by the shortened version now. My youngest has also embraced his full name at school. My middle boy actually dislikes his name as people struggle to pronounce it and he isn't confident enough to ask to be called the shortened version. He keeps telling me he wants to be called Bob!

All have family names as middle names, which are all more classic English names. Our thinking was if they ever dislike the first names they could choose to be called by middle names. 

marycanary

I work in a male dominated profession, it's sad but women in the profession can still struggle to be taken seriously on occasions. I always use the long version of my first name at work. All my family and most friends call me the shortened pet form of my first name. I've followed the same convention with my children (both female and male). They have the choice to use the longer or shorter version of their name as they wish.

JGB1955

My daughter is Elizabeth.  We chose it PRECISELY so she could change at will throughout her life - Liz, Lizzie, Betty, Beth, Eliza, Liza etc etc.  She'll always be our Lizzie, but Liz to all of her peers...her choice what she (now) calls herself.

Bluebell1000

My eldest son chose a diminutive version of a name for my youngest son. We gave him the long version so that he has a choice. He now uses a couple of different versions depending on who he's with, though not the full one!

Flugelhorn

Spendless said:

From my point of view it can be a pain for some of the reasons you state. If I filled in a form when he was younger, say for him to join cubs, I never knew what to put him under if I filled in the correct full name he would get called by that rather than his usual short name than no one called him. If I considered putting the short name down I would worry that if they ever had to call the Drs about him in the event of being unable to get hold of me, would the Drs be able to find him if I hadn't given the full name. Only once during his childhood did I come across a form that gave 2 lines saying  first name <Joshua> and  known as/prefer to be called <Josh>. I've never come across an issue on a very official form though, things like passports would always be in the full name as it's something you're always aware of. No issues learning to write either because son's shortened version runs on to the long one in exactly the same way Josh(ua) does. That's potentially a bit more of an issue if you have an Elizabeth that's known as Libby when they start learning. 

Doctors database will always be able to find them on surname + address or DOB or first initial - surgery I worked at had hordes of people known by diminutives, middle names, names they didn't have officially recorded etc