# I have been thinking about a name for my baby **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 15, 2007, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320 "2007-02-15T07:12:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/1 "2007-02-15T07:12:20Z")
I have been trying to think of a name since finding out my wife is pregnant. I want to have a fairly unusual name but not the ghastly ones currently being discussed in another thread. I do not want my son to be one of six in his class with the same name. But apparently this cannot be predicted usually. I want the name to not be able to be made into nicknames ( unless it is one I choose ). I keep asking my wife about my son’s name. She always replies it is up to me. It has to be a name with good connotations and not bad. The best names I have thought of are Charlie, Darcy, George, John-Paul, Robbie. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/2 "2007-02-15T08:18:58Z")
By talking about this here you are only adding to the mysterious effect by which you call your child something unusual only to discover that their name has strangely become commonplace, seemingly overnight, amongst people in your demographic. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/3 "2007-02-15T08:19:09Z")
You realize Charlie and Robbie are nicknames, right? And my favourite take on “no nick names” was SiL… the official excuse she used to take Mark over Michael is that Mark is a “no nicks name and the kid won’t get called Mikel or Mike or Mich or whatever”. Guess who calls him Markie. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/4 "2007-02-15T08:40:06Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] The best names I have thought of are Charlie, Darcy, George, John-Paul, Robbie. [/QUOTE] You forgot Ringo. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/5 "2007-02-15T08:43:51Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] You realize Charlie and Robbie are nicknames, right? [/QUOTE] Yes I realise. That is why I wrote - “I want the name to not be able to be made into nicknames ( unless it is one I choose ).” I choose Robbie and Charlie. If I call my son Robert then he could be called Bob,Rob,Bobbie etc. I was hoping to avoid that by calling him Robbie. There are many names that were nicknames but are now just names. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/6 "2007-02-15T08:45:08Z")
[QUOTE=Surly Chick] You forgot Ringo. [/QUOTE] Did not see that one. I was actually giving the names in alphabetical order. That name was ‘John-Paul’ ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/7 "2007-02-15T09:16:58Z")
I think it’d be pretty mean (you know, in the abstract sense) to name your child a nickname for their given name. “Robbie” “Charlie” etc all sound tremendously childish and it wont look very professional when he gets older. My mom wanted my nickname to be Angel. Not Angela. Not Angelica. Not Angie. So she named me Angelique and just always called me Angel. Growing up, everyone knew me as Angel and called me that. Now that I’m an adult, I go by Angelique more often (Angel sort of sounds like a stripper) and it wasn’t until recently that I started getting random nicknames. People seem to have a problem pronouncing Angelique, so I am regularly called “Angelina” or “Angelee” or “Angie.” But now I’m a grown up, so I can smile, while politely correcting them to either Angel or Angelique. So, you could always give your kid a grown up name, but choose his nickname accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/8 "2007-02-15T10:14:10Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] I want the name to not be able to be made into nicknames [/QUOTE] I forgot to add: you live in Australia. You should know that it is _impossible_ to avoid nicknames here. Any one syllable name _must_ be lengthened till it is multisyllabic and vice versa. Give it up 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/9 "2007-02-15T10:34:55Z")
Roy. Try making that into a nickname, I dare ya. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/10 "2007-02-15T10:58:08Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] Roy. Try making that into a nickname, I dare ya. [/QUOTE] R. Do I win anything? (it’s commonish in Spain for guys who have two firstnames and both start with J to be called _jota_, for example) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/11 "2007-02-15T11:07:21Z")
Roy -\> King But dunno, Darcy sounds like a girls name and Robbie reminds me of Robbie Williams. My best friend is a [John-Paul](http://www.rabbitjunk.com/)\* though, so I’d be biased towards that. - Blatant plug ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/12 "2007-02-15T11:44:19Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] Roy. Try making that into a nickname, I dare ya. [/QUOTE] Roy-o Royster Rozzer No problem. [QUOTE=Nava] R. Do I win anything? [/QUOTE] Nope. Broke the first rule of Aussie nicknames: you converted a one syllable nickname into another one syllable nickname. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/13 "2007-02-15T11:45:38Z")
According to the social security folks, these are the 1000 most popular names. I personally don’t like the ones at the end of the list all that much, but you might: [http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/popularnames.cgi](http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/popularnames.cgi) You can’t go wrong with **Atticus**. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/14 "2007-02-15T12:39:09Z")
I have a cousin, now around thirty. His mother named him Charles, his whole family, his whole life called him Charlie. About seventeen he transformed himself into Chuck. My mother has three girls called Chrissy, Stephie and Jenny growing up. All of us use the long form of our name as adults. Unless its an Austrailian thing, don’t give you kid a babyish nickname for a real name. Give him a name that has some flexiblity for him to decide as a young adult that he doesn’t like what he’s called and find an appropriate name for himself within his name. Otherwise he runs to the courthouse and changes it for himself. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/15 "2007-02-15T12:44:14Z")
[QUOTE=Dangerosa] I have a cousin, now around thirty. His mother named him Charles, his whole family, his whole life called him Charlie. About seventeen he transformed himself into Chuck. [/QUOTE] Heh-heh. My husband, whose entire family goes by nicknames, came home one day and announced that from that day forward, he wanted to be called Charlie. It lasted for a few years, but then he went back to the family nickname of Willy, which has absolutely nothing to do with his given name of Jerry. I call him by his last name most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/16 "2007-02-15T12:47:06Z")
I’d suggest thinking of a name that they will grow into. As far as nicknames go, your child as they grow older will be called whatever nickname they decide to use (inspite of your best intentions). Hallgirl 1–Catherine–was always Catherine while she was growing up. Anyone who called her Cathy (which I hate–no offense to any Cathys out there), was promptly corrected by her. That all changed around high school when she took on the nickname Kat. Almost everyone (exept me, who loves the name Catherine) calls her Kat, including the other two Hallkids (who do not have nicknames, except Hallgirl2 who has a nickname only I call her). ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/17 "2007-02-15T12:54:33Z")
My brother-in-law (an Australian!) was given the name of Jamie. Now that he’s a professional and a grown-up, he goes by James. Reverse nicknaming. My mom also didn’t want to give us names that could be shortened. Mine is multi-syllabic, so I occasionally get nicknames, but not often. My brother, though, is named Joel and hasn’t ever had a nickname (well, except when me and my annoying little friends used to call him Mole). ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/18 "2007-02-15T14:15:35Z")
[QUOTE=DiosaBellissima] I think it’d be pretty mean (you know, in the abstract sense) to name your child a nickname for their given name. “Robbie” “Charlie” etc all sound tremendously childish and it wont look very professional when he gets older. [/QUOTE] I totally agree. Robert and Charles are great names that have the nicknames you want but carry over well into adulthood. Robbie and Charlie are childish. I do think Robbie is a little better than Charlie as a given name because at least he has the option to go by Rob when he gets older, but Robert is still miles better. It has also already been pointed out that no matter what you want your kids’ nicknames to be (or not to be), they will ultimately decide for themselves what they want to be called. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/19 "2007-02-15T14:15:41Z")
If you have a local paper or some other source that runs birth announcements, check those to get an idea of what the popular names are. We discovered that at least one name we were considering was a lot more popular than we had realized. The name you choose could become popular after your son is born but there isn’t much you can do about that. I agree with the others about not giving him a nickname type name. If you like Robbie then name him Robert officially and tell everyone his name is Robbie. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320/20 "2007-02-15T14:18:53Z")
[QUOTE=Baracus] If you have a local paper or some other source that runs birth announcements, check those to get an idea of what the popular names are. We discovered that at least one name we were considering was a lot more popular than we had realized. The name you choose could become popular after your son is born but there isn’t much you can do about that. [/QUOTE] Kid Kalhoun’s name was #33 on the list the year he was born, but he was the only one we knew. Then suddenly there was a rash of 'em. Twelve years later, it was #7, now it’s #36. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-thinking-about-a-name-for-my-baby/392320.md?page=2)