I still go by a “kiddy” nickname version of my name because a) I’m comfortable with it and b) I like how it separates friends from acquaintances. If I hear someone call me by my “real” name, I automatically psyche up to deal with someone who doesn’t really know me. I realize that might be a little strange, but I guess it dates back to childhood, where if I heard my real name I knew I was in trouble…
I still call my little brother “Mikey”. No-one else does, not even my parents. I don’t do it on purpose, I just can’t flip the mental switch in my head to make him “Mike”.
He’s 36, married with three kids, and has a PhD.
He hates it.
That’s what I thought the OP was about. I know a few “juniors” who have always gone by their “kid names” to avoid confusion. Bobby’s father is named Robert. Bobby is the younger man, although he sometimes goes by “Bob”.
But yeah, Bowser, Stinky and Chuck (for a guy whose first name is actually Theodore) is a bit weird for men over 40.
I don’t see any real problem with it. Of course, here in the South, it seems to be more common- Freudian Slit’s list was predominantly Southerners.
I can think of many, many short-form names that people I know go by. Dave, Chuck, Dan, Bart, Andy, Brad, Bobby, Steve, Charlie, Pete, Jack, Jenny, Jess, Em, Liz, etc…
I guess it depends on the particular nickname and the person in question. There are people who are definitely Charlies or Chucks, and not Charleses, just like there are people who are Liz-es and not Elizabeths.
(as for me, you can’t really shorten my name much, so I haven’t had any diminutive names)
Nicknames are kind of dumb once you’re out of college, unless for some reason, it’s a really distinguishing thing.
That’s what I was gonna say, I think it might be a regional thing. I know scads of Jimmys, Bobbys, Jaimies, etc.
Hey, scanning my company name list, what about “Larry”? Is that considered a “kid’s name”? Or “Harry”? Where’s the line?
I think she’s talking about the diminutive versions of these – Davy, Chucky, Danny, Stevie, Petey, Lizzy, etc.
And for that, I blame the parents. Cyndi or Myndy is a silly name for a future CEO.
Name them an adult name and then let the kid play with their name–Elizabeth can be any number of variations that are cute for a little girl: Betsy, Lizzie, Zibby etc. But she always has the option of Elizabeth.
As for grown men who prefer Jimmy etc–IMO, it’s unattractive. I was 15 when Jimmy Carter became President and even then I frowned on his diminutive. In the grand scheme of things, it’s really no big deal, but none of my kids are called “Y” or “i” ending names. My name was never shortened either–I prefer the more formal.
It might be worth pointing out that, at least where family is concerned, the person might not have a lot of choice as to whether he or she can successfully lose the nickname.
My brother is Boo. 37-year-old professional man, and he is Boo, Booey, the Booster, The Boo-inator and, yes, Uncle Boo Boo. He’s a pretty good sport about it, but the truth is that we all have called him Boo for so many years that it’s hard to not do it.
I’d like to think that if he truly loathed it, we would have stopped doing it. But when there’s familial history and bonds of affection and the nickname isn’t “Toadface” or something equally objectionable, I think a lot of people let family and close friends call them what they’ve always called them, even if it’s not what the person might personally prefer.
I seemed to be tradition in the NHL when I was a kid: Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe. We sure didn’t think any less of these guys, and still don’t.
But do his co-workers and corporate clients also call him Boo? Family terms of endearment are a little different. I got confused once at my uncle’s when he had the day off (for our visit) and a co-worker called asking for “John”. It’s been so long since I heard anyone use his real name.
My name can be shortened, but never was, so personally I guess I use my “adult” name. When naming my kids, I chose names that either were not able to be shortened or would still be “adult” (this is in regards to my son’s 1st middle name – which he uses the abbreviation). It really was a concious decision on my part.
There are a few people who are (INeversoHO) cursed with “kid” names on their birth certificates – my grand-nephew being one. His mother, being (again, IMeversoHO) way the hell too young to have kids named him Billy. Not William, not Bill, but Billy. GAH!
As for friends, there are a few friends of mine who have chosen to go by the “adult” version of their names and it’s just fine by me. Bobby is now Robert, Johnny is now John, fine by me. There is only one that I just cannot wrap my head around – he is an ex-bf. When we met and started dating, he went by Richie. Later, I started calling him Rich, but he now goes by Richard, and I just cannot say it, it sounds funny. As much as I like to respect what other people wish to be called, it just sounds too weird for me to call him Richard. It doesn’t suit him.
I never had a kid name as my given name is really to short to shorten. I only refer to my son with his kid name if I am typing something out that includes his father of the same name.
My daughter still uses her kid name because she prefers it over her given name.
Maybe its me but I think people seem more uptight if they go buy their given name and not a shortened version but I guess it is probably how they were referred to as a child.
We have a Robert, Rob, Bob and a Bobby here at work and even though they all have the same given name they go by different variances. It always struck me as kind of strange what makes up those differences.
I know when my brother got in his teens he hated if you called him Danny. He wanted to go by Dan.
My son on the other hand will go by Joe or Joey. He does not show a preference to either one and even Joseph does not seem to make him to cringe.
Now my second ex husband hated to be called James. He went by Jim or Jimmy. His sister and I are the only one that could get away with calling him James and even then it was a push.
Well, a couple of his coworkers do, to give him a bad time, after I called him Boo in front of them. (Oops.) But generally: No. I’m just saying that it might be a little over-simplistic to assume that adults who answer to kid names do some completely voluntarily, because it might be that they haven’t been able to shake their kid names, even though they may have wanted to.
Yes, my oldest niece had a bit of a speech quirk when she was about three, L’s came out as T’s. That’s how I got the nickname Aunt Titty. It was awkward, to say the least, in public. Next it was Diddy.(Puff Daddy doesn’t have anything on me.). The kids mainly call me by my real name now, but the adults have adopted Diddy as my nickname.
Thinking about it in this thread, we get a lot of -y names where I work, Danny, Billy, Bobby, Harry, Larry, Jerry.
I have slipped and named my daughter an -ie name, but her real name is the formal version.
As for childhood names, we have a player that goes by “Twitch.” He has Tourette’s. I guess he hasn’t been able to shake that one (but what a great nickname! now if it was Twitchy, I’d have a problem)
And yes, we have the call sign guy, he has his call sign name on his hat, on his shirts, on his tattoo’s, on his jackets.
I’m one of those. I’ll accept Rob from friends if they insist but I introduced myself as Robert and that is the name I prefer. I hate Robby, Bob, or Bobby and refuse to answer to any of them except for customers at work who automatically shorten it and it will waste too much time correcting them and I’d probably get in trouble for doing so, anyway.
Still annoys the hell out of me, though.
Mine kid’s name? Muffin. Not the sort of name for letterhead use.
#1 son’s name is Robert. He prefers Rob, but he was never Robby or Bobby. Blech.
#2 son is Johnathan–shortened to John. When he was a rugrat we called him Johnnycakes, but no longer.
Daughter is Laura-she loathes Laurie, and goes by Laura.
My nickname is not very obviously derived from my real name. In fact, when my husband-to-be and his parents first saw my real name in our wedding announcement, they thought it was an error! They are foreign-born, though, so they had some excuse.
I stopped using it in business situations a while back. I started work in a department in which someone else had the nickname as a real, given name, and I was told I would have to use something else, lest we all be too confused. So I started using the real one, and just never stopped. Now, only people who are really long-time friends or family will use the nickname. It amuses me when people who are NOT really as close as they think they are use my given name as an intimation of friendship.
On another note, I have a cousin whose given name is “Richard.” When we were all children, he was “Dicky.” Then, at some point, we were very seriously corrected by both the young man AND his parents: “It’s RICHARD.” I still think of him as “Dicky.” It just seems to fit, somehow. 
Sorry…didn’t mean to insult anyone! I didn’t mean it was weird/bad, just one of those things that might be a more unusual personal preference.