# Parents who name their child just the diminutive/short form of a given name **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2023, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382 "2023-12-10T20:30:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/121 "2023-12-11T18:41:08Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > No it’s not. Making my point. > > My legal name is long, convoluted and totally not for normal consumption. > > I hate it. > > I was nicknamed “Beck”. Occasionally “Becky” > I had no choice in any of this. > I was but a wee babe. I don’t get it. You objected to “Alex” being used as a nickname for “Alexandra” and “Max” as a nickname for “Maxine” but you go by a shortened form of your own name. Is it just that those tend to be male names? You know “Beck” is a male name too… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/122 "2023-12-11T18:46:41Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > It’s not something I’ve give much thought, but I do generally err on the side of naming your child what you actually plan to call them. That’s always been my thought. But … I suppose some parents simply cannot arrive at a single name they agree on. So one parent gets their way with the legal name and the other with the nickname. In grade school I knew a kid like that. Mom _had_ to name her baby boy after Uncle Somebody for nonnegotiable reasons. Dad eventually relented under the condition that the one and only name they’d ever actually use for their kid was “Buck”. Buck was cool but his parents (who were friends with mine) were odd. I can’t now remember what his legal given name was but it was not a good choice for that era. Here’s some more disjointed thoughts … I am blessed with a _very_ teasable family name. My parents had the wisdom (born no doubt of Dad’s own merciless teasing as a kid 25 years previously) to choose simple unmistakable monosyllabic first names for all of us kids. It didn’t stop the teasing, but at least all the other snotty kids only had one handle to hang their teasing on, not two. I suppose overall that parents have the right to select anything as the name of their kid. And the kid has a total right to reject that socially as soon as they can talk, and to reject it legally as soon as they’re at the age of majority. The wise parent will include practicality in the desirable features of a name. The idiot or selfish parent will not. My late first wife was an attorney. Whenever she encountered somebody who expressed annoyance over their name, her comeback was “For 200 dollars we can fix that for you; this isn’t hard.” When we encountered somebody whose name we thought especially noteworthily unfortunate, all one of us had to say to the other was “For 200 dollars” and we both got the message. 😉 The serious punchline being that anyone here who regrets their parents’ naming decision, or even doesn’t like their surname, can readily fix it. I’ve never favored Juniors, naming for aunts, uncles, etc. That baby is going to spend its life as an individual. Don’t make it feel like a mere clone of some soon to be dead ancestor. Oh, and “Mini me” is right out. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/123 "2023-12-11T18:51:01Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Buck was cool but his parents (who were friends with mine) were odd. I can’t now remember what his legal given name was but it was not a good choice for that era. I know it couldn’t have been Buckminster, because surely all the kids back then thought R. Buckminster Fuller was the coolest. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/124 "2023-12-11T18:56:29Z")
I object to my name. Does me no good to object. Are there _naming_ police I can call and report my dead parents? Adding - It’s not because **I** think they’re male sounding names. It’s because other people do. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/125 "2023-12-11T19:03:28Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > I have an Uncle Ted… not Theodore just Ted My brother’s name, similarly, is “Ted.” That’s on his driver’s license. It’s on his birth certificate. Sometimes, I can hardly _look at_ him. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/126 "2023-12-11T19:08:04Z")
What I find weird and somewhat unsettling are people who say out loud in a public space that short names shouldn’t ever be given to children. That’s more the sort of thing one should whisper to a therapist. Of course that doesn’t apply to Exapno. Who would want to be Ex? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/127 "2023-12-11T19:13:39Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Don’t make it feel like a mere clone of some soon to be dead ancestor. I’ve always hated the idea of naming children after their parents, but everything depends on things that are unknowable for infants. I really like being named for my great-grandfather, and he for his grandfather… it makes me feel anchored by a tradition and culture. Other people might hate that. My cousin is named for our aunt (same first, middle, and last name), but because my cousin changed her surname on marriage and lives in a different state, it causes no problems and she’s happy with it. On the other hand, the convicted felon cousin named directly after his dad (same town) shows the downside of sharing a name with someone. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/128 "2023-12-11T19:14:39Z")
Ummm? Twitter? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/129 "2023-12-11T19:16:58Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > There was some single mother on there that named her son Justus because it was “just us” (meaning her and the child being a family alone). I thought that was a sad and depressing name to give a child. I used to work with a man named Case, who named his son Justin. And thought it was hilarious. I felt sorry for the kid. > [@bump](#): > > Choosing the diminutive seems to rob the kid of choice- either as a kid or later in life- maybe they grow up and choose to be Alexander when they grew up as an Alex. My brother was given the long form of his name, but growing up we in the family always called him by the diminutive (and still do). At work, though, he always went by the long version. When my younger sister went to work in the same department, she naturally called him by the nickname that she’d called him her whole life. She said that people in the department started calling him by the nickname, too. I’ll have to ask him if he cared. I doubt it – he always was and always has been very easygoing. > [@needscoffee](#): > > My name has no shorter or longer version. Me, too. My three other siblings all had nicknames. Sometimes my mom used the diminutive of my middle name – or the Hungarian diminutive for it – but otherwise I never had a nickname. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/130 "2023-12-11T19:27:46Z")
California has rules about legal names: they can consist only of letters, hyphens, and apostrophes. And even that gets complaints. > [@themapleleaf](#): > > I am firmly against the idea that it’s a parent’s right to name their child whatever they want. But aren’t the alternatives worse? Personally, I don’t want some bureaucrat, priest, or other busybody to tell me what to name my children. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/131 "2023-12-11T19:28:24Z")
My kid had a teacher Shannon Rochester. Her husband’s nickname was Rocky Rochester. Kinda a famous carpenter in the area. Of course she named her daughter Stoney and her son was Boulder. Ok. Whatevs. She became pregnant sometime that year. I was worried/hoping this baby would be Gravel. Alas, he was named Ridge. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/132 "2023-12-11T19:34:03Z")
What’s the short version of X and Y? /? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/133 "2023-12-11T19:42:15Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ve never favored Juniors, naming for aunts, uncles, etc. My dad was a junior, and he _hated_ it. Didn’t help that his dad divorced his mom. Gave my dad more bad feelings about his name. My aunt – dad’s sister – told us when we were kids that she’d tease our dad when _they_ were kids by calling him “junior.” > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I’ve always hated the idea of naming children after their parents I was named after my grandfather, but he lived 2000 miles away, so I wasn’t always confronted with it. My younger sister was named after the boat that grandfather took to America. I always told her it was a good thing our mom liked her dad more than her mom because the name of the boat our grandmother came to America on was _Roland_. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/134 "2023-12-11T19:58:43Z")
No silly. x and y. Of course. (Hey, they shorter on my screen)you’ll always be lil’x to me now ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/135 "2023-12-11T20:05:03Z")
If it was for a service to be rendered, you should’ve screamed into the phone: “Little Bill, that’s what I want, a little bill!” ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/136 "2023-12-11T20:18:39Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > He went by Bob My mother Barbara was ‘Aunt Bob’ to all our cousins [who had three Uncle Dicks and four Aunt Bettys]; she named me Robert but raised me as Bobby, which I loathed. There were eight Bob’s in my high school algebra class, and I quickly took my surname initial and styled myself Vbob. It’s stuck for fifty years to my delight. When pronouns became a thing, I decided I’m vi, vim, vis. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/137 "2023-12-11T21:06:56Z")
No that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m getting at is that the long form is the most versatile. Yeah, a named-Ben could choose to be a Benjamin, but that’s considered weird. I just don’t get why a parent wouldn’t go for the long form for the versatility aspect alone. I mean I’ve known multiple people who went/go by the diminutive as kids and among close friends and family, but who use the long form professionally. I suppose it’s because going by William has more gravitas than Billy does, or so they believe. Of course anyone can go by whatever name they choose. But in practice, people are generally going to go with their name and it’s diminutives, and not expand to the long form if they have a diminutive given name. So when that’s taken into account, I don’t get why a parent wouldn’t use the long form. Then again I don’t see why some parents are so insistent on unique names, spellings or anything like that. At best nobody cares, but more often people consider it to be weird and wonder what the parents were thinking. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/138 "2023-12-11T21:12:08Z")
You don’t? I certainly considered nicknames and diminutives when choosing my kids’ names with my wife. Then again I subscribe to the idea that it’s their name and not about what I like, at least not in some kind of self centered way. So choosing names that give my kids options for what they can choose to call themselves was a consideration. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/139 "2023-12-11T21:17:59Z")
> [@bump](#): > > You don’t? I certainly considered nicknames and diminutives when choosing my kids’ names with my wife. Of course a parent considers those. But if a parent really likes the name “Alex” but for some reason hates the name “Alexander”, it would be unreasonable for them to name the kid that just so the kid will have options. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2023, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382/140 "2023-12-11T21:31:02Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I just don’t get why a parent wouldn’t go for the long form for the versatility aspect alone I’ve been involved in naming two humans, and versatility never occurred to me as something to consider. > [@bump](#): > > Then again I don’t see why some parents are so insistent on unique names, spellings or anything like that. At best nobody cares, but more often people consider it to be weird and wonder what the parents were thinking My daughters have unique names. One is not terribly unique, you can find it in some baby name books, for example. But rare. The other is very unusual for a name, but not hard to spell or pronounce. People compliment her all the time on her name, but maybe they’re just being nice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-who-name-their-child-just-the-diminutive-short-form-of-a-given-name/994382.md?page=8)