The Baby Name Wizard

So interesting! I've certainly noticed this trend and we have followed it. My husband's entire family is known ONLY by their nicknames. I can't bring myself to call him Joshua, although it's his given name. So instead of using the names they were given and the names they gave their children, they ARE their nicknames. I didn't really want that for my children. I wanted them to choose to be called by their nicknames if they like, and allow their nicknames to be used more intimately, instead of plastered all over their schoolwork, essentially becoming their identity in place of their given name.My daughter is named one of your "up and coming" predictions, although we have never met another little girl her age with the same name (although we've met multiple Savannahs, a name quite similar). Our family nickname for her is actually a funny, slightly-odd part of her name; not something she would go by with classmates, friends, and teachers. She is known to everyone by her full name. Our son doesn't really have a nickname available for his name, and we're fine with that!Our parents seemed a little bothered that we didn't automatically start calling our daughter by a nickname derivation of her name on the day she was born. A few of them tried to call her a nickname for a while, but she has *become* her full name. I'm happy about that. :)Yes, we know William, Magdalena, Rebecca, Jonathan, Christopher, Michael, Peter, Anthony, and Dominic (all under age 5), all who go by their full names. Don't you think Bill/Billy, Maggie, Becky, John/Johnny, Chris, Mike/Mikey, Pete, Tony, and Dom/Nick/Nicky sound a little old-school? (Maggie and Nick are occasionally used in the families we know, but not predominately).Cool blog! I'll be visiting more in the future.~Lindsey

Hi, living in England as I do some of the names you mention are much more common here. However the use of nicknames seems more haphazard. I work with 7-10 year olds who are making decisions to change the names they use. Elizabeth decided this year to be Liz Jonathan became Jon while Mims reasopted her full name of Miriam.My own daughter has been Bethany upto age 4, Beth age 4-7, Bethany or Bethy age 7- 11 and now age 16 can be Bethany, Beth, Bethy, Betbee, or Beebee all according to which group she is with. The only name she dislikes Bethan! I think these preschoolers will soon acquire nicknames once they are at school after all William, Thomas and Nicholas are far too long for shouting in the playground.

My son Leon has been called Leelee since he was born - he's still too young to argue. His mum has always used Rosie - not Rosemary. I'm stuck with Darren (i hate daz as a nickname).regardsDarrenO

I'm an Abby, not Abigail. Any name you pick will eventually earn a nickname. I get called Abs. If I had been named Abigail I would simply have more nickname options,that's all.

I wonder if this "new formality" has something to do with the increasing conservatism of our country, as well as an eschewing of traditional democratic blue-collar ideals for blue blooded want-to-be-ness. Another piece of the puzzle...

The only people who call me Nathan are creditors and my Mom. While my wife will enjoy saying every syllable of the new arrival's full name, I prefer having a monosyllabic, very dad like, bark to get the old attention.

I had a baby girl on Jan.13th. I put A LOT of thought into her name. I did this because I knew at some point it would turn into a shorter version. Name: Aubree ---Hopefully her "nickname" will be Bree.....only time will tell. So far she has only been called Aubree (or some mistake it for Audrey)

My given name is Donovan. And I've always been known as Donovan. Never as Donny.My son is named Jacob. And, from the day he was born, I've "enforced" with relatives that he is never to be called "Jake". Jacob ... what a beautiful formal name.

I like that children today use their full name instead of a shortened version or a nickname. My name is Lucia (pronounced Lu-see-ya), and oddly enough, I have never been called "Lucy" nor have I ever wished it. I've always introduced myself by my full name. It could also be that my parents always referred to me as just that. I am not a fan of nicknames because they tend to stick with kids as they grow, no matter how hard they try to shake it later. A child by the name of Rebecca can be called "Becky" as a kid, but how unfortunate for her to still be referred to as that in the career world. To be honest, I find any name that ends in "y" sounds cute as a child, but unprofessional as an adult.

my dad's legal name is "Ricky." his siblings are Debbie, Wendy, Billy and Robby (those are the names that appear on their birth certificates.) makes it hard at weddings and job interviews!

Our little girl is named Susannah. We waffled for months because I didn't want her to be a little Suzy. Just not our style. So we call her Anna - but I assumed everyone knew her name is really Susannah. Then my brother hears me call her Susannah the other day and say, "Why did you call her that? That's not her name!" Oy! I guess we should have stuck with Susannah and let her choose to be an Anna if she wants to.

For the record, I am a liberal and come from a long line of Democrats, some who were rich and some who were poor. We have never used nicknames in anything other than an intimate setting. My grandparents refused to name my mother Elizabeth because they were afraid she'd be called Lizzy, like her namesake aunt, and they didn't like nicknames. Elizabeth became my mother's favorite name, so I got it. While I've toyed with nicknames here and there (in first grade, I was famous for signing a different name to my papers every week), I remain Elizabeth in public, and even most of the time with my family. My boyfriend, brother, and best friends call me by pet names, and my father has always taken the liberty to call me Lib. I can't stand when people call me Liz (usually people who don't know me and just assume I'll use a nickname) and it drives me batty when my father writes it down ("It's just shorter!" he says. "But it's not my name!" I tell him.)As for my boyfriend's family, all go by nicknames and actually, Vicki is my boyf's mom's given name.My father's family, including my grandparents, all go by nicknames, though they have full given names.My mother's family, on the other hand, all go by their full names, except for my oldest aunt, Sharyn. She has sort of separated herself from our family and insists that everyone call her Shary, even though my grandmother refuses, since her given name is Sharyn.

I am a Jennifer (yes, yes, I know...I have a Jason as a brother too!), but I have always been known by my full name, except for the use of Jen by a select few. Jenny has never been part of the equation, except for my grandparents, my dad, and my high school basketball coach. My name is my name, and I'll shorten it only if I want to. We are expecting a son early this fall, and are leaning towards names that can't be truncated. How about Campbell for a boy?

I agree with the person that said that any name ending in "y" sounds cute as a child but not that cute as an adult. My name was made up by my dad (Sarynna), and I have plenty of nicknames. My mom's family is bad for that; they have several nicknames for one particular person, depending who's talking to him.My husband and I are trying to find names that don't have a preferred "y" nickname, but can have nicknames that don't sound too childish (or even the "boy" sounding nicknames for girls)... It is a tough job!This blog is very very cool and I really like the software for the baby name popularity!

What a bunch of snobs

Very interesting! Personally, as a Stephanie I hatehatehate Steph. The slightly softer sounding Stephie and Nie are acceptable, but rarely used unfortunately.

My Mom named me Barbara in the mid-50s, so that everyone could call me Babs. No one in my life every called me that--including my mother. My 30-something nieces have 5 kids, and not one kid has a nickname: Christopher, Samantha, Sophia, James, Stephen. When I call them Chris, Sam, Jamie, Stevie, or Soph, their Mothers glare at me. I remember a school yard full of Toms and Cathys and Bills and Barbs in the 1960s when I was playing dodge ball with the other baby boomers.

I agree with Stephanie -- I hate Steph. I was supposed to have been named Stephanie after my grandfather Stephen, but my dad thought our last name was too long. I was always slightly glad I wasn't named that because of the Steph or (sorry, Stephanie) Stephie nicknames, and when I mentioned it to my mother, she said, "Oh, I had you pegged for a Stevie right from the get-go." I was ready to go out and change my name THAT DAY. My name is Susan, and I was called Susy when I was a kid, but I was never called Sue, at least not more than once by any given person. For some reason, I can't stand being called Sue, even though Susy doesn't bother me and even Susy-Q doesn't bother me. I always tell people the first word in suicide is Sue.Susan

I have no problem with giving nicknames to our children (though our son is Isaac, which is not conducive to any nickname, except maybe Ike and we haven't chosen a name for the baby which is due in 2 weeks) but my husband seems to be against nicknames. My own name is Elaine, but I have always been called Lainie. I have tried to change and go by Elaine at various times, especially in the workplace, but I always end up changing my mind and asking people to call me Lainie. I just can't see myself as an Elaine--too formal and stuffy for me.

Our daugther is named Catherine, and while I like Kate/Cate, (I hate Cathy) Catherine (like Elizabeth, William, etc.) are such beautiful names, why shorten them??

I have a nickname i have been trying to get rid for a long time. ( given to me by my older brother ) Now 30 I still cant get them to stop. So when I had my 2 boys vowed I would give them short names and hope the nicknames wouldnt come.Mario and Lucas.

my name is Peggie and most everybodoy calls me Peg. I like it much better. I have a cousin named Frank but everybody calls him Franky and his sister's name is Kathryn. Her dad doesn't like the name Katy, Kate, Kat, etc. We all call her Katy anyway. When my mom had my little sister, Laura, my uncle wanted to come up with a nickname that would be annoying to my mom. He chose Lulu. We all love it, unfortunetly for him.

I married a "Jim" who would have preferred to called James but can't go back as he would appear to be pretnetious. On Christmas cards I always put James becasue it looks so much more lovely than Jim. I am Nicole and am only known as Nicky to a few friends from my junior high years (a time in my life where we tried to make every name sound cute (Page became Paigie and Anne Annie, etc.). My older daughter is named Catherine and thank goodness, most people abide by our wish to call her by her full given name (I too could tolertae Cate but not Cathy). I have a second daughter, Juliette, and we intend for her to go by her full name as well (although I as her mother sometimes call her Jules). I think it is a bit presumptious when people shorten Catherine to Cathy or Julitte to Julie and I always feel a little awkward correcting them but that is not what they were named. By the way my dog is Abigail but we call her Abbey which is fine nickname but not as beautiful as Abigail.

I like nicknames, and I like the idea of having different (nick)names for different environments. I'm Katie to my family and everyone I knew prior to college, Kathleen to everyone I've met since, Kate to a few random people who never caught the "-ie," and Kathy to several people who originally misheard Kathleen and were never corrected. I've been known by Kat and by my middle name, as well, and a roommate who only ever calls people by the first syllable of their names calls me Kath. I didn't decide to start going by Kathleen necessarily because it sounds more formal, or because I like it better, but rather just for a change - college seemed like a good time to assume a new identity. My mother is Laurie to family and her childhood friends, and Laura to everyone she met through school or work. I have numerous relatives who have similar distinctions. I don't like one version more than any other (though I did always swear I'd never go by Kathy - never assume that people will pick up on what you want to be called without being told!) but I don't like being called Katie when I should be Kathleen or vice versa (as happens sometimes when a friend from home visits me at school). It can confuse people, but that's part of what I like about it. :-XIf I were to have children right now, they would likely have long, formal, traditional names with traditional nick names - I like being able to choose, and I intend to give my kids the same option.

I like nicknames, and I like the idea of having different (nick)names for different environments. I'm Katie to my family and everyone I knew prior to college, Kathleen to everyone I've met since, Kate to a few random people who never caught the "-ie," and Kathy to several people who originally misheard Kathleen and were never corrected. I've been known by Kat and by my middle name, as well, and a roommate who only ever calls people by the first syllable of their names calls me Kath. I didn't decide to start going by Kathleen necessarily because it sounds more formal, or because I like it better, but rather just for a change - college seemed like a good time to assume a new identity. My mother is Laurie to family and her childhood friends, and Laura to everyone she met through school or work. I have numerous relatives who have similar distinctions. I don't like one version more than any other (though I did always swear I'd never go by Kathy - never assume that people will pick up on what you want to be called without being told!) but I don't like being called Katie when I should be Kathleen or vice versa (as happens sometimes when a friend from home visits me at school). It can confuse people, but that's part of what I like about it. :-XIf I were to have children right now, they would likely have long, formal, traditional names with traditional nick names - I like being able to choose, and I intend to give my kids the same option.

In choosing names for our sons we wanted names that couldn't be messed with. Our first born was Mark and the second Gregory, with Greg being an acceptable short form.Imagine my chagrin when their teachers at school called them Markie and Greggie!!! I soon disabused them of that habit!

In choosing names for our sons we wanted names that couldn't be messed with. Our first born was Mark and the second Gregory, with Greg being an acceptable short form.Imagine my chagrin when their teachers at school called them Markie and Greggie!!! I soon disabused them of that habit!

Nicknames are inevitable, for the most part.I am a Lindsay who became Linds, Lin, Lin Lin, ZeeZee (though admittedly that was simply because my little brother could not pronounce my name), etc.My brother is Evan, which becomes Ev or Evy. No one's ever tried Van or Vannie, though that might be interesting.My sisters Margaret and Sabrina are known to everyone as Maggie and Brini, though even those get shortened/changed (Mag, Magpie, Rini, Brina), and sometimes their middle names (Rose and Rayne, respectively) are added.My best friend is Jessica, and she is often called Jess or Sicca. Only her closest friends and family are allowed the priveledge of calling her Jessi, and only I can call her "Jess'ca."But it does go the other way- I know a Jacquelyn who's always Jacquelyn, a Thomas who's always Thomas, and a few others who fit that category.But then again, nicknames aren't always from your given names. My boyfriend, John, despises being tagged as "Johnny" or, even worse, "Jonathan," because that's not his name....yet, he's known more as "Dodge" than anything else.

my little monkey is names Tyson, before he was born we thought that we would call him Ty for short, but no, he is Tyse for short. If you ask him his name he says Tyson, and the next time he will say Tyse, he is only 2, and such a cutie...

I hate nn's and hope that if I am ever the mother of a Josiah and/or an Ariel, I will be able to convince people to call them by their full names.I'm a 19-year-old Melissa, and I have no designated nn's. Occasionally people that are very close to me will call me Mel, but for the most part, I AM Melissa. Apparently, when I was about three years old, someone tried to call me Missy and I threw a bit of a foot-stamping tantrum as I explained, "I'm NOT Missy--I'm Melissa!"The full versions of names are always much more beautiful than cutesy nn's contrived for convenience. I'm a big fan of this new trend!

My infant daughter Sarah has been called "Bubba"since birth (which I hate, but can't stop myself from calling her). Any suggestions?

Nicknames are THE thing on my dad's side of the family, as poor Benjamin Robert found out. Going through life as Benji Bob has to be a trial. However, in my immediate family we're all full names. My family calls me Michelle, my sister Laura, and my brothers are Jeremy, Phillip, and Nathan. It wasn't until we hit High School that the nicknames came down. Suddenly I was Mickey, Michi, or Jet, Jeremy was Jay, Phillip was Phil, Philly, or Sparky, and Nathan was Nate, or Nate the Great. Occasionally for the sake of simplicity I'll write out Phil, Nat, or Jay, but for the most part we don't acknowledge the existance of our nicknames at home. If I ever have children, I sincerely hope that they don't go by nicknames unless they're of the Jet/Sparky variety. If I wanted a Chris (bleh) I'd name a child Chris, not Christopher.

Wanting to avoid nicknames and "enforce" full, formal names is fairly pretentious, if not in fact totally worthless. Once all of the precious little Jacobs and Williams get to school, they'll get abbreviated by the other kids without your help. If you prefer the longer form, fine, but don't get your underwear in a wad over it. It's your kid's name, not yours. (My son Robert is "Robby" at home...he can change it to "Rob" or "Robert" or whatever when he's older, if he wants.)

To the person whose infant Sarah is called Bubba right now, don't worry. Our Laura was called 'Fred', damned if I know why, for about six months after she was born and then it disappeared just as fast as it arrived. I think once they have more of a definite personality little children get named properly.BTW, I think nicknames are friendlier and I loathe 'Kathy' too, one reason why I didn't name my daughter Katherine, a name I love. Long names used in everyday life always seem to me to be pretentious, and an attempt to make the owner more important than they are.A name is a tag to be identified by so something easy to say certainly helps in this busy world.

I don't think that a name ending in -y or -ee is childish, I think this is too stereotypical thinking.These names are all formal names:Audrey, Chloe, Ivy, Julie, Holly, Lily, Lucy, Sophie, Sylvie, ZoeAnd for boys: Brady, Bradley, Harvey, Henry, Rory, WesleyI don't use a nn for my daughter. Why choose a beautiful name and then hide it behind a nn?I and my dh use the full name, her grandparents, teachers and other grown-ups use the full name. Whenever the name is written or used with the surname, her full first name is used. She uses a nn only with her friends.

I am a Jennifer... I was always introduced as Jennifer, that is my preference as well it is how my Mother wanted it to be. She said if she had wanted to call me Jennie she would have named me Jennie. I believe if a parent wants to call their child Beth, don't name her Elizabeth, legally name her Beth, same goes for any other name. I do however still have a nickname that my Father gave me from when I was very little, it is Iffer, not a nickname that I used, just a name my Dad uses with affection when talking to his girl...

my 2 year old daughter Megan has been called "Mimi" by her twin sister since both started speaking several months ago. Now Megan insists with all the force of her 2 year old self that people call her Mimi ("No me Megan. Me Mimi!") I am torn about this, as I love the name we chose for her and am neutral to negative about Mimi. I'm not sure where we'll go with this...

My dad has this awful habit of shortening and lengthening people's names to the opposite of what they want. My siblings and I have always used our nicknames - Jen, Steph and Will. He insists on calling us Jennifer, Stephanie and William.

Worse than that, he insists on calling my friend Vicky by the name Victoria - her given name on her birth certificate is actually Vicky!

Another friend is always known as Rebecca so naturally he calls her Becks.

Any clues why he would do this?!

My 27 year old daughter was named Amy Louisa--by 10 years old she renamed herself Ally and now since 20 has used Louisa as her name. I let her do what she wanted and have made the transitions even though people say why? I say, a name is really what the person feels fits them--not what the parent feels fits them. Let it happen, listen to them, and give responsibility to your child. Now she'll have a girl shortly and as I see her struggle with the name, I say, she'll tell you what she eventually feels is her name!

My wife and I are conservative Republicans and we are very fond of nicknames. We named our son Robert but we call him Bobby or Bob. We named our daughter Mary and call her Mare some of the time. I think parents who insist that their kids be called by the formal version of the name might as well insist that their child should be called Mr. Smith or Ms. Jones. To me, it sounds silly to address a kid--especially one under the age of twelve--as Robert instead of Bobby or Joseph instead of Joe. My brother was always Steve, even though his full name is Stephen, my sister was always Katie even though that's short for Katherine. In my location, it is extremely popular to use the formal version of a given name rather than a nickname. I was pleasantly surprised, in fact, to find that one of my son's classmates goes by Jimmy instead of James! That's the way it should be. No? Well, perhaps not, but my preference is the nickname.

Very interesting blog. I am expecting a boy.
Now I have to decide to call him by nickname or not. I picked the name Istvan for him. It is the Hungarian version of Stephen.
How does Isty sound to you? Or would you just stick to Istvan, since full version of given name is the new trend?
Thanks.

Istvan and Isty are both a little difficult for English-speakers, so you may want to pick a simple nickname before someone else gives him one that you don't like. Izzy is the first thing that comes to mind. ?? Perhaps another variation of Stephen would work.

there is no nick names for Katie

There is no nicknames for people called frankie, im a girl and the only one people use is frank and i hate that cause it sounds boyish.
Any ideas?

My parents gave me the name of Kenna in 1956 and it has always been a problem for me growing up to get people to pronouce it corrrectly. I have three beautiful children and I named them, Anna, Benjamin and Samuel. Just becauase I did not want them to have to deal with what I did.

My parents gave me the name of Kenna in 1956 and it has always been a problem for me growing up to get people to pronouce it corrrectly. I have three beautiful children and I named them, Anna, Benjamin and Samuel. Just becauase I did not want them to have to deal with what I did.

Frankie, what about Fran/Frannie?