Our friends have an 8 year old named Timothy and the mom has a strong dislike of the nickname Tim. She has never allowed anyone to call him Tim or Timmy and quickly corrects people if they don't use his full name. Timothy is now at an age where he wants to be known as Tim but isn't allowed to use it...at least around his mom!
Will you try to prevent a nickname from being used or will you let your child decide?
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
No I won't prevent it but I won't use it. My sons name is James. I don't particularly care for Jim but if he wants to use it that's up to him. I don't really think I will stop calling him James 
he might be 30 years old and I may still call him my baby, sweetie, honey. James will just be one of the things his mother calls him.
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
I'll let my children decide. I can see having an aversion to nicknames, but...that's part of choosing the name. There were many names we LOVED but ultimately decided against because we weren't a huge fan of the nicknames. So we chose her name (Olivia) knowing she could choose or be called anything such as Liv, Livy etc.
cantaloupe / 6610 posts
I'll probably XNay names I don't like! DH had a few beers on our babymoon (okay, he was wasted) and started calling her Harpy, instead of Harper, and fingernails on a chalkboard would have sounded better to my ears than "Harpy." Needless to say, that got banned QUICK.
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
@sorrycharlie: Love Olivia and the nicknames!!! It is currently on the top of our list but my friend says I can't use it if I have a girl...ha! Not listening to her...
pomegranate / 3053 posts
I would just not use it b/c you can't tell people to not use a nickname. My son's name is Nicholas and I really dislike using "Nick" or "Nicky" for some odd reason. I do love the name Nicholas and we call him Nico for short. What I do is call him by our preferred nickname in hopes people will get it. LOL! I'm sure his friends will call him "Nick" at some point and there's nothing we can do about it.
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
@autumnlove: LOL oh gosh, use it! We got lots of comments (before people even knew her name!) about how awful popular names are. When we then said, "oh..that's LO's name!" the look on their face was priceless! Your friend will get over it 
Plus, what if that woman never has a girl? She'll have reserved a name for no reason!
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@autumnlove: I think Olivia is in the top ten female names these days? She can't really call dibs on it!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
@mrbee: I know! She says she wants dibs within her circle of closest friends!
cantaloupe / 6610 posts
@autumnlove: I didn't know Olivia was one of the names that friend "claimed!" I cannot imagine hogging certain very popular names when I was not even pregnant yet! Our boy name is near and dear to my heart and totally not common, and I'd be REALLY sad if someone beat me to it in my circle/family, but that's life. I may never even have a son!!!
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@autumnlove: sometimes I feel like modern life is just too complicated!
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
My BIL used to ask his teachers and friends to call him Scotty-watty-doo-dah. No joke, and they actually did. As long as it's not a nickname like that, I'm ok with it. Even if it is a nickname like that I'll probably be ok with it
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
I purposely wouldn't choose a name that had a nickname I really disliked-- especially Timothy/Tim. It's inevitable that people will shorten it when it's a long name, I think. When we talk about names, we always talk about nicknames along with it.
@erwoo: I think when you use your preferred nickname, you can change what people call him, like you are, but if you only called him Nicholas, I bet a lot of people would start on the Nick.
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
This is a concern of ours as we really like the name Catherine but don't like most of the nicknames. If other people started using nicknames I would have no problem saying "actually we call her Catherine". But if the child wants to use a nickname I think you have to just go with it.
pomegranate / 3414 posts
DD's name has a nickname that I love yet we call her by her full name (DH actually corrects people who use the nickname). I don't plan on using a nickname with DS although there are several. However, I don't know that I would prevent DD or DS from wanting to be called by a nickname if the choose; I picked their names knowing the nicknames existed and that it was possible that they would be called such.
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
@jholler25: Yes, she also claimed John/Jonathan....who can claim JOHN?! Haha!
bananas / 9227 posts
I heard my ex-MIL is starting to call my LO Mimi. Her name is Emily, so it's not a common nickname and because of a girl in Jr. HS, I really dislike that name! I won't forbid it, but I'll do what I can to discourage ppl from using it.
grapefruit / 4823 posts
DS name is Grayson and DH wants to call him Gray...i can't stand it so i personally won't use, nor will i encourage anyone else to use it lol but if he wants people to call him Gray when he's older, that's fine, i won't though.
pineapple / 12526 posts
I won't prevent it, but I wont use it. Our DD is Charlotte and DH HATES the nn Charlie. I think it's pretty inevitable that people will call her that since they already do.
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
@autumnlove: The name John used to be in the top 10 or higher, but these days it's down to #27!
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
I imagine that not allowing your child the nickname he/she wants is just going to backfire. That's asking for some rebellion! You can't really force him not to be called that.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
I struggle with this. My MOTHER has started calling my daughter Meg instead of Megan. I called her Megan because I love the name Megan. Someday if SHE decides she wants to be called Meg, I'll be ok with it but I do not like my mother calling her Meg. I correct her every.single.time. May be catty but I want my daughter to know what her name is and not to be confused by people calling her different things.
pomelo / 5178 posts
I don't like the nickname for my son's name but if he chose to go by it when he egts older I would repect that choice and call him by that nickname. But right now he can't talk so I call him by his full name which is a much better name.
grapefruit / 4056 posts
I think when you chose a name with common short forms you are choosing to accept your child being called the short forms. If you don't like the short forms you should choose another name.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
@erwoo: that's my brother's name and my mom hated Nick as well. We called him "Nicka" and "Coco" haha. Now we call him Nicholas all the time and he doesn't care for the nn either, but people just naturally shorten it anyway.
My son's name is Jacobi, and I purposefully picked it for the nn Cobi which is what we call him 90% of the time. But some of my uncles/cousins insist on called him "Jake" which I really don't like!! I don't get it either because Jacobi doesn't even have the Jake sound in it. Anyway, I think they get it and just do it to annoy me now.
I guess it he actually wants to be called Jake when he's older that's fine - but I think Cobi is a sweet nickname that even an older boy would love.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
@autumnlove: lol she's insane!! I second what mrbee said - you can't claim a popular name!
clementine / 990 posts
My mom named me Jennifer, called me Jenny and despised Jen, but I don't remember her ever actively discouraging anyone from calling me Jen. Same for my sister, Jessica - no one ever called her Jess until HS or so.
I hate it when I introduce myself as Jennifer, and a nano-second later that person calls me Jen. I'm not a huge fan of being called Jen, but Jenny is hard to carry off as an adult. So we specifically gave our baby a name that isn't common or commonly shortened (Hadley). We call her Hads, but I don't know if that's as intuitive as Jennifer = Jen, Elizabeth = Liz, etc.
cantaloupe / 6164 posts
we specifically chose to nix names where we didn't like the nicknames. one of my favorite names ever is katherine, but i don't care for the nickname katie (i think it's because every year in school i had like 5 katies in my class), while hubs doesn't like kate. the names we chose don't really have much nickname potential, so we can call them all the silly things we want, but their friends will call them by their given name.
pomegranate / 3053 posts
@Coco Bee: Your brother has such a cool name! Never thought of "Nicka" or "Coco" but they're both better than being called "Nikky!" It sounds like a girl's nickname. I love the name Jacobi! Never heard of it until now.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
@erwoo: ugh yeah Nikky is a girl's name! Coco came about because that's what my lil sister called him! He still uses Nicka, but changed the spelling to Nikka.
Aww thanks! I love his name too!
pomegranate / 3980 posts
Absolutely, I don't really care what they want to be called unless it is inappropriate.
pomelo / 5331 posts
I don't see how I could stop it! But I wouldn't use it myself, probably.
pomegranate / 3643 posts
This is a really good point. I always say I don't want to have a name where I don't like the nickname (Like Robert - Rob) and people always say "oh, you just choose what you want the kid to be called" but there is a point where it's out of your control.
My name is Jacqueline but my dad started calling me Jackie from day 1, which my mom didn't like. I'm not a big fan of either, so what can you do?!
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
You have no control over what happens once school starts. My mom wanted for me to be Elizabeth, but as soon as I started daycare I was Lizzy and then Liz (which stuck). LO has a zillion nicknames already so I have no problem with her getting nicknames.
nectarine / 2797 posts
DD is Eleanor, we call her Eleanor and Nora. I don't really like the nn Ellie, but if she wants to go by that when she's older she can, nothing we can do!
pomegranate / 3032 posts
i would def eliminate a name if i didnt like the nickname. my hubs is a jonathan and goes by Jon most of my family didnt realize he wasnt a John until our wedding invites went out.
We both like and agreed on the name William Thomas if we have a boy. I like the nn Will he likes Liam. and we both agree that we dont quite get Bill or Billy and hate Willy.
squash / 13199 posts
Yeah I dont see why she would name him Timothy if she hates timmy or tim because its pretty inevitable but someone out there will try to call him that.
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
We are ok with most anything but don't want to encourage calling her by her initials (DJ - its just too 80's Full House for me). We don't want that nick name to be engrained before she even has a chance to pick her own nick name. If she later on wants to be called DJ thats fine but we will always call her by her first and/or first-middle name.
olive / 52 posts
I was very concerned about this when choosing a name. We picked a name that doesn't have a common nickname and is already short, so hopefully it doesn't happen. If people try to call her by a nickname, I will correct them. My husband is Peter and when people try to call him Pete, I correct them. DH's family is already trying to nickname my unborn daughter, and I have made it clear that we are a no nickname household. I had to make this clear when they tried to nickname me when DH and I started dating. I clearly selected a specific name for my daughter for a reason and someone else who didn't bring this child into the world doesn't get to change it to something they'd rather call her.
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