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I Love the Name, but Hate the Nickname
Filed under: Baby Names
Dear Name Lady:
We love the name Edmund for our son but we strongly dislike Eddie/Ned (I still don't understand where people get Ned from Edmund). We can bear people once in a while asking, "How's little Eddie?" but it is not our intention for him to be called anything other than Edmund on a regular basis, unless we develop a cool nickname from his first and middle name. At this point, the middle name will either be Phillip or Charles. Any suggestions on things to help avoid Eddie/develop a cool nickname?
- Edwhat
It's time for a gut check. Do you love the name Edmund more than you loathe Ed and Ned? You have to be honest with yourself about this, because I can't promise you'll be able to keep Ed at bay. Sure, you might be able to keep your in-laws and preschool teachers on the straight Edmund path, but there's one person who can scuttle your best-laid plans: your son.
By third grade or so, most kids start thinking about how they want to be known. A lot of boys with very formal names try to shed them, often with the help and urging of their buddies. Distraught parents have surprisingly little say in the matter. (Just ask the proud mother of a young Cornelius who suddenly finds herself with a Corny.) Barring intervention, some Eddie time may be in your future.
You're right that starting off with a different, cool nickname can help prevent this. An Alexander called Xander, for instance, seldom turns into an Alex. The trick is that Edmund doesn't give you a lot of natural options, and Phillip and Charles make for tough combos (Nedchuck?) You can always use your son's initials, or take a nickname like Flip or Chaz straight from the middle name. Or you could dream up one of those jazz-musician nicknames that never have anything to do with any names at all -- Boots or Doc or Spike.
The farther you get from Edmund, though, the more you have to question the choice. It's easy to be both Alexander and Xander, but with Edmund and Spike it becomes an either/or. If your son chooses 100% Spike, you've lost your beloved Edmund altogether.
That leaves you with two surefire alternatives. You can choose another name with more appealing nicknames or you can name him Edmund, call him Edmund and accept that at some times in some places he may choose Ed. Hey, at least it's not Corny.
Did you think about nicknames when you chose a name? Share your experiences! And if you have your own question to Ask the Name Lady, drop her a line!
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ReaderComments (Page 5 of 8)
11-27-2009 @ 3:44PM
Melissa said...My sister was choosing names for my nephew, with the first name being Galen. I pointed out to her how quickly horrible little children in the school yard would twist that name, and suggested she just call him by his middle name, which is the only name anyone ever knew, thereby avoiding the mean twists on Galen.
Also, kids do hit an age when they know what they want to be called. My son's initials are TGR, and daycare ladies called him Tiger once, and he immediately said, "My name is Tyler". He did the same thing when someone called him Ty. He knows who he is.
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11-27-2009 @ 3:46PM
Woody Thomas said...If you have ever seen the film "Edmond" starring William H. Macy, you may want to reconsider giving a child that name
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11-27-2009 @ 5:20PM
Lynne said...My name was intended to be Lynn a family name.. but a nurse at the hospital insisted that since I was female my name had to have an e on the end, so I was named Lynne.. Which lead to being called Lynneeeee LynneeeAnn Lynneeee the Pooh.. well you get the idea. No wonder that by my teens I was just called "STAR" once my younger brother explained my nickname by just commenting "she can go supernova in .1 sec."
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11-27-2009 @ 3:52PM
Melissa said...I grew up on the border, where Edmund is Edmundo, which is shortened to Mundo, which is more macho sounding. Guess your last name would change whether it would work or not.
My daughter's name is Kendall, and I call her Keni. She's fine with me calling her that, but hates when her friends hear me call her that and then they try to pick it up. She tells them, "Only my mom gets to call me that."
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11-27-2009 @ 3:58PM
mnm said...When my mother was a little girl, she had trouble pronouncing her Uncle Thomas's name and called him Topie. His named forever changed after that and everyone began calling him Topie.
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11-27-2009 @ 4:16PM
Mommy2009 said...Name your baby whatever you want- and for a little while you will be able to decide what people call him. In the end though, it will be up to your son what he is addressed as.
What some (dumb) people do today that baffles me is actually NAME their children nicknames instead of full names. For example, "Sue" rather than Susan, or "Joe" instead of Joseph. I just don't get it~ why not just name the baby the full name, and then call him/her by the nickname that you prefer? Eventually they may WANT a grown-up name and by naming them the full version, you are giving them a choice.
One more thing- for all you parents out there naming your sons Gavin or Brayden or Aiden or Jaden, you are naming them the trendiest, most over-used cutesy names of the decade!! I am a teacher and we have soooooooooo many variations of those ridiculous names in the classroom. Parents need to realize that one day their little babies are going to grow up- and they will have outdated names that make them sound like little kids still. Just as "Tiffany" and "Jennifer" and "Tracy" and "Lisa" are such tacky 80's names, so will be all those "Aiden"-ish names in 20 years. Yuck!
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11-27-2009 @ 4:31PM
Laurie said...Don't name your baby Edmund. Seriously. It won't make him happy. What is the problem with a cool nickname like "Eddie", anyway? I teach English to foreigners, and one of my executive clients has a son named Eduardo. The kids in his first grade class took to calling him Edweirdo. I told him to just call him Eddie.
That is a cool name, and the kid loves it. Problem solved.
My formal name is Laura, and my friends and family have always called me Laurie. I go by either, really. Professionally, I am known as Laura. I like both names, really.
There is no way someone can prevent such a cumbersome name as Edmund from being changed by his friends. It's like saying,
"Ed, man." Since the writer is already having problems with the name, toss it out the window, find a better name that you like and that you will be comfortable with. This name is causing too much trouble already and you already said you don't like the nickname, Eddie, so choose something else, for goodness sake.
Just discard that hackneyed name Edmund, I sense trouble aready.
Also, best wishes for you and your new baby
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11-27-2009 @ 4:57PM
G.Mountford said...Edmunds parents should know they can't win when choosing
names for their son. My wife and I decided we would choose
a name for our first son which wouldn't be abbreviated. We chose
the name Mark. When his grandfather first met him and held
mark in his arms, he said " Hello there MARKY "
You just can't win.
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11-27-2009 @ 4:55PM
Victoria said...That's one thing that's frustrating about names.. the nick names.. My name is Victoria and alot of people a hear that and automatically call my Vicki. I hate it. Vicki is a fine name.. but its not MY name. I often go by Tori (since it's actually in my name) so people don't end up calling me Vicki. The best way I've handled being called Vicki in the most polite way I can is just to tell them "My name is Victoria, not Vicki. Please do not call me that" That's the best way to deal with people that just assume nicknames for people.
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11-27-2009 @ 5:03PM
Anselm said...My brother is named Edmund Joseph Berrigan, and he has had many nicknames, though none that he sought out in particular. Some call him Ed, and many call him Eddie, but the best nickname far and away (he'd agree) is Mundo, which our friend Brandon calls him. Brandon, who speaks many languages, likes to call him Mundo because he finds Eddie to be very worldly.
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11-27-2009 @ 5:16PM
Cyndi said...When we named our son Andrew, we always expected his nickname to be Andy. However, when he was in either 1st or 2nd grade and asked his name, he replied Andrew to everyone, he would not answer to anything but. His teachers, friends, etc. would call him by Andy and he always told them that was not his name. So, I believe the child does choose what he wants to be know by. My son is now 21 and still wont answer to anything but Andrew.
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11-27-2009 @ 5:26PM
justwondering said...I was born Anne Marie, but I am 36 and still go by Annie. I work at a school and we have 7 Jaden,Jaydyn, Jadon, Jaedin's.
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11-27-2009 @ 5:25PM
Heather said...I gave my sons the names Preston Robert Scott, James Kaylab, and Kelby Nicholas and Preston goes by preston but i told him he could go by what ever he wanted. Kaylab wont answer to anything but Kaylab or monkey doodle (came about from him loving to climb on anything and everything) and Kelby wont answer to anything but Kelby Lee or Crash ( due to the fact he was clumsy when he was smaller) When they grow up they may be called anything they want or choose isnt that what "independence" is? My daughter is LeeAnna Rayne and we call her Rayne or even princess Pink or tink. dont know what she will choose but if you want a child that will be happy and not choose nicknames go with something they will be happy with as they get older, hopefully my children will be happy with the uniqueness of their names. who knows but by the time they grow up this world will be in a bigger mess and wont have to worry about who calls you what.
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11-27-2009 @ 5:39PM
Kris said...My children, Thomas and Victoria, go by just that, Thomas and Victoria. I do NOT let anybody cally my kids 'Vicky, Tommy, etc.' I thought very carefully what I wanted to name my children when I was pregnant with them. If I had wanted them to be called Tommy or Vicky, I'd have put that on their birth certificates.
People, if someone introduces themselves as a full name, such as Thomas or Victoria, they are trying to politely tell you what they want to be called. Respect that. YOU might think Vicky (or Tori, or Toria or whatever variant) is cute, but the person introducing themselves as Victoria does NOT. Respect that.
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11-27-2009 @ 6:11PM
Mary Woodruff said...II am 71 yrs old. When I was born, I had dark hair, and my older sister thought I looked like an Indian Papoose. My other sister could not pronounce Papoose, instead she said, "Pous". My name then became "Pousie". Real name is Mary, but I am known and and answer to Pousie. My siblings are; Robert aka Bob; Ralph aka Tut; Dorothy aka Sis; James aka Jimmy or Shamus; Thomas aka Pat; Susan aka Susie; Margaret aka Peggy. My granddaughter is Kathleen aka Peaches. We have many, many relatives with nicknames. Butchie,Bubba etc.
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11-27-2009 @ 6:17PM
nana7 said...I don't understand why people see a name tag with name on it and call you by a nick name.. I'm rebecca and Granddaughter is Becki.. My grandson is Robert and he will tell people his name is Robert. He doesn't mind being called Rob, but that is it.. A name means a lot, it's who you are..
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11-27-2009 @ 6:45PM
geronimo said...You want to name your boy Edmund , but don't like Ed/Ned or Eddie as nicknames? You two are too stupid to have kids! Put this boy up for adoption before you cause him irreversible mental damage.
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11-27-2009 @ 6:57PM
Trudy said...My mom wanted to name me after one of my grandmothers, Matilda or Gertrude. Yeah. So she didn't like Matilda, really? but my grandmother Gertrude, whom everyone called Gert, said if you name her Gertrude I will never speak to you again. So my parents, clever as they are, named me Trudy. (Did they not hear her!?) I went to Catholic grammar and high school where you had to have a saints first name so they put Gertrude on all my official transcripts. UGH Needless to say I hated my name growing up. It is growing on me more as I age but it did cause me to name my kids very common names, Lauren, Michael, Kaitlyn (Katie) and David.
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11-27-2009 @ 7:10PM
Kaylan said...My name is Kaylan, and I got stuck with the nick name 'Kay' because people couldnt tell my name was Kaylan not Kaitlyn, but I have refused being called Kay, I just have to spell out my name for people when I meet them.
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11-27-2009 @ 7:17PM
Janet Black said...When I got pregnant at 40. we allready had one child that was 19, her name was always Jess. Still is. But I was pregnant with a boy and my husband forbid me to name the baby after him. After telling him I was Naming him after his father, to this day, he says it was in that pregnant voice. Don't mess with a pregnant woman! I named him after Richard, who has always been Richard, Nothing else, ever!!! The catch and there is ALWAYS a catch, I had to call him by his middle name. So there would never be a chance that there would be a nickname. So his name is Richard Duncan Black IV, dad's the 3rd. So he's Duncan for 5 years and what happens kindergarten comes along, and he has to go but his name on his birth certificate. There calling Richard and he doesn't have a clue who their talking to. I had to go to the School Board and get permission for them to call him Duncan. How FOOLISH!! So today now even in school he's Duncan, The safe name, and last week a little boy calls him Donkey, Folks, no name is safe. Kids will find a way.. He got in his face and said my name is DUNCAN! The kid shut up, Hey, maybe he used my pregnant voice??? LOL
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