My given name (like that of about half of the American males born in the early 70s) is Jason. I got sick of being the “other Jason” in high school classes that had as many as three other Jasons. So, I started going by “Jake”. First week of classes, as the teachers called roll, when they called “Jason”, I replied “I go by Jake”. Easy peasy.
When people ask, “how do you get ‘Jake’ from ‘Jason’?”. I just reply, “I don’t make the rules. How do you get Bill from William? Dick from Richard? Jimmy even has more syllables than James!”
(Actually, I saw part of an episode from the series “Jake and the Fat Man”. The “Fat Man” was talking to “Jake” during some very tense situation and instead of calling him “Jake” he called him “Jason”. I assumed, whether accurately or not, that “Jason” was his given name and somehow conveyed more weight in this dire circumstance than the more relaxed “Jake”. Now everyone calls me “Jake”, even my parents, sibs and friends from the pre-Jake days. Well, not my wife. “Jake” doesn’t work for her. It’s apparently creepy because her brother is named Jacob.
I voted “no” because it’s in the uncanny valley. It has a “I see what you did there” vibe. I suggest you go a little wide. My dad calls my brother “Sammy”. His real name is Erik.
In a world where people are making up names with 3 consecutive consonants, apostrophes, Ys in place of Is, and all sorts of other contortions Jake for Jonathan is downright quaint. Go for it. Sometimes a story behind a name is a good ice breaker, might get the boy laid in college.
Well, if you’re going by traditional diminutives, because John and Jon are two different names, related only in that the original Hebrew versions referred to God.
And, if you’re not going by traditional diminutives - well, ‘looking like you don’t know your own kid’s name’ could be an argument against it, I suppose, as could ‘having to explain why you went with Jonathan, but the diminutive for John’.
Aaaaand the kid will be one of the first in his class to be able to spell his own name 'cos it’s nice and short. Sure beats the poor kid having to nut out Jonathan with crayons and stubby fingers.
These Are Things Which Should Be Taken Into Account When Naming Ones Child.
YMMV etc
Yeah, Jack is a good strong name in its own right. Go for it.
I don’t know if this is strictly an Aussie thing but I have played sport with 3 different guys named John whose father was John. So although we knew them as John on the cricket/football team they were Jack in their own families. One of them was in the marital family of a lifelong friend and it was no problem calling him John away from his family and Jack when I talked to his family members.
My husband’s name is Christopher and his family nickname is Henry. Maybe I can start calling him Jack now.
I know two young Jacks. One has Jackson as his given name and the other one is named Jack. It’s not a nickname. It says “Jack” on his birth certificate.
My son’s given name starts with J and I call him a variety of nicknames that start with J (or the J sound). I often call him Jumpin’ Jack Flash, but so far never simply Jack.
I believe you can call him whatever you feel suits. Just know that if he’s called Jack people will assume John for most of his life.
You can call him “Honey”, “Goober”, “Astronaut”… if you want, so you can call him Jack, whether that happens to be a common nickname for people with his firstname or not.
Johnathan isn’t the correct way of spelling the name. I know someone with their name spelt that way but it’s wrong!
There are two correct spellings of the name: Jonathan (the best) and Jonathon (I grudgingly accept as an alternative).
I know people can be named whatever they want but whenever I see someone with a misspelt name I don’t think, “Wow, how unique!”, I just think that their parents can’t spell.
Heh, when I was a kid I thought Jack Kennedy and John Kennedy were two different people. I still don’t get the connection between John/athon and Jack but apparently it’s fairly common.
