Trust me a five year old knows what his name his and what his nickname is. He’s not going to let a teacher or other kids establish a new name for him. At least my kid didn’t. If the parents call him Will or Liam instead of Billy or Willy, I don’t care how many kids call him by another name, that kid will correct them and so, “no my name is Will, not Willy.”
All bet’s are off if you as a parent haven’t instilled in your kid the importance of their name.
As a direct result of this post, my husband has started calling our Little One Eustacia Peanut. And now I’ve started doing it! Hmph. 
As an Elizabeth, I started introducing myself with a nickname of my own choosing on the first day of preschool. So my parents got about three years of mileage out of my name. My mother is still a little tweaked about it.
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I honestly don’t understand how a parent would go about doing this. My parents called me by my full name, it wasn’t as if I was addressed around the house as “hey you kid.”
Could you give some specific examples?
My kids are very glad I named them before I hit upon my current favorite names, or they’d be Hester and Vladimir. 
I honestly don’t understand how a parent would go about doing this. My parents called me by my full name, it wasn’t as if I was addressed around the house as “hey you kid.”
Could you give some specific examples?
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I suspect its the same sort of “here, kid, share my values” as the rest of parenting. And it isn’t always successful no matter how much you brainwash little Eustacia that her name is the prettiest in the world, that its an old family name awash in tradition, that she shares it with her wonderful Great Aunt Eustacia who was a wonderful person.
Someday your child turns on you. They get a tattoo you don’t approve of. They date someone who you thing “oh, God.” The shout “I hate you!!! You are so unfair!!!” Or they decide that Elizabeth is such a burdensome and common name, and come home named Eustacia Peanut after a trip to the judge. Maybe they do it in Kindergarten - maybe they wait until they are 19 for the tattoo, nosering, and insisting their name is “Dyspair.”
My son completely rejects his second middle name. Ask him, and his middle name is one single name - not the second there that was put there by his parents for VERY IMPORTANT REASONS (he was adopted from Korea - his second middle name is his birthmother’s family name - Park). I suspect that he’ll drop it from all the documents he can as he grows up, and maybe even legally change it at some time to get rid of it on his passport. Its his name…
German/Polish names: Frederick, George, Conrad, Max, Stanley, Thaddeus, Casimir. Zbigniew would be awesome, but people would probably call him “Ziggy.”
Victorian/Edwardian names: You could try to “reclaim” an old-style boys’ name: Ashley, Leslie, Carroll, Quinn, Blake, Paris, Marion.
The name you are looking for is Jasper. You’re welcome.
Conrad Raymond sounds good to me. Nice choices, Tom Tildrum. (I like *that *name, too!)
The name game can be tricky.
We thought we were so original when we named our older son Ethan back in 1983, and there were very few other Ethans throughout his school years–it was quite a novelty.
Now it is #3 on the list of most popular baby names.
My only other advice is to be mindful of spelling. I have a fairly unusual first name, which I hated as a kid but am fine with now, but all my life (and this will likely continue with my obituary) the spelling of my name has been an issue.
My husband picked our daughter’s name, I don’t know where he got it from, but he just decided that would be our girl name.
She is Maya Elizabeth Ruth Lastname- going by “Mymy” or “Bogey baby” at the moment.
Just go for what feels right.
A selection of names I think of as classic:
Alfred
Albert
Algernon
Barney
Benedict
Crispin
Clifford
Darwin
Dorian
Douglas
Ernest
Enoch
Euell
Eustace
Francis
Geoffrey
George
Harris
Ignatius
Jasper
Jeremy
Karol
Lloyd
Mitchell
Norman
Otis
Percival
Quentin
Ralph
Sebastian
Sanders
Titus
Vernon
Watt
Wallace
Xavier
If you can find one namesake that means something to you (even a character in a book) it might be easier.
I love it!
Serenata67, please let us know what you name your son. I get really invested in these naming threads!
It’s an epic name! Like Lester Wayne.
Sorry, forgot link;
I’ve got no boys, but if I did, I would think they would be best served in later life with a macho sounding name like Butch, Randy, Rod or Lance.
Phallic names are fine, but avoid Peter or Willie.
Kurt
Gavin Raymond sounds freaking awesome. And Gavin can’t be nicknamed so you can use the full name all the time.
Gavin Raymond sounds freaking awesome. And Gavin can’t be nicknamed so you can use the full name all the time.