Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.
We specifically chose Alexander (well, it was also a family name) because it lent itself to so many nicknames. Our plan was to call him Alex (other family members had gone by Al or Alec, so it was close, but different). He’s a Xander. It was fairly obvious by about 6 months that this was no Alex, but a Xander. My dad continued to call him Alex, and that became a special name that his Papa calls him. Once he started school, everyone assumed he was Alex, but he chose to go by Alexander instead. Now at home and with family and close friends, he’s Xander; my dad still calls him Alex; most of his friends call him Alexander; but occasionally he goes by Al. At least he’s never gone by AJ (his initials that I didn’t even think of at the time–I did first and last initial and all three, but not first and middle).
Our daughter is Evangeline for many of the same reasons. We love most of the nicknames, and it gives her options. We debated between Eva and Evie for her family nickname, and she’s definitely an Evie (long E at the beginning). But she has options of Eve, Eva, Lina, Lena, Ang, Angie, or even Vangie (we met one the other day). I personally think that’s part of the fun of the names–seeing what they end up choosing to go by.
My husband is a James that goes by Gryphon (his parents and younger sister refuse to call him anything but James). I’m a Sharalyn who went by Shari most of my life, but once I added an alliterative last name by marriage, I started introducing myself by Sharalyn Sh——. That extra syllable with consonants helps break up the alliteration. So we can both tell at what point in our lives we met people depending on what they call us! 🙂
How about Margaret? That’s gives the option of Maggie, Mags, Margie, Marg (eww but w/e), Daisy (since the French word for daisy is marguerite), Peggy, Gret/Greta, you could probably even stretch Molly into there! Nathaniel for a boy – Nate, Nat, Nathan, Neal.
I’m planning to name my baby Margaret, and people are already referring to her as Maggie! One reason I adore Margaret is because it has a ton of great nicknames, so I hope everyone doesn’t just permanently default to the most common one (which I do like, at least). My mom made the mistake of assuming she could name my brother Jeffrey and everyone would always call him that. She wasn’t counting on him self-identifying as (gasp!) Jeff. So I’ve come to peace with the formal name of Margaret, even knowing that battling the nn Maggie may be impossible, especially when she’s old enough to express her own preferences.
This is such a lovely post, Abby! And it’s exactly what makes me hesitate about the name Magdalena. I love Magdalena and we would call her Lena, but what if she wanted to be Magda or Maggie? No thanks. I think your experience (although it’s a family name, so beside the point in your case) is a good example of the dangers in using a name if you really dislike a particular nickname for it.
I think the issue can be alleviated a bit if the child is taught why a certain nickname is not okay. My brother is Mohammed and he was taught why Mo was an unacceptable nickname and to not let other kids call him Mo. Now that he’s an adult he’s internalized it and doesn’t let people call him Mo, even though it happens more often than you’d think. Perhaps your Aly will grow up and identify more with his Polish heritage and thus choose Aly or Aleksy for himself in claiming his identity.
Another reason I’m glad I’ve always been just Sarah 🙂
I’m Allison. I came home from kindergarden and wanted to be called Alli. Everyone calls me Alli except my mother. “Your name is Allison.” Only once I got married did I warm to the combination of my full first and last name. When picking names for my children now, I always keep that in mind. If we had had a girl, we really liked Carrington, but did not want a Carrie. So, that one was out.
I think the way nicknames evolve for an individual is so fascinating. I’m Danielle to my friends, but my family and extended relatives all call me Dani. I recall briefly trying to make Dani stick with my friends in middle school but it never caught on. Now, I like that just my family calls me by my nickname; it makes it seem more special. I would love to be an Elle, though. But now that I’m in my mid-20s I feel like it’s too late to try and make a new nickname stick.
I love both your childrens’ names. Alexander is such a strong classic! I do know plenty of men who by Aly, whether it is short for Alexander or Alistair, but ultimately, I guess children will chose their own nicknames. You may want to name your daughter Rebecca and call her Reba, but then your daughter decides one day “nah, I am Becky.” That is why I never really worry about nicknames, unless it has the potential of having a really horrid nickname. I usually find that it is the bearer who comes up with their own nicknames and not the parent.
Wonderful article, Abby! Your final comments are so apt.
Roseanna’s still two and still Roseanna at home; I cringe as I wait for the [inevitable?] day when she becomes Rosie to most of the world. We’ll see. Right now she has difficulty saying her name, so when asked to introduce herself she’s “Zanna”. I usually only correct people if they check with me whether they heard correctly. She has had a couple of people call her Rosie (which I usually try to gently correct) and also Rosa or Rosebud (fine with me). I’ve even been asked if we would consider calling her Annie for short! I fully expect her to go through stages of nicknaming preferences and only hope that we’ve given her a name she feels she can work with no matter her age or style!
Jamey started preschool in January, and he’s loving it so far. He’s not a big communicator, but he does self-indentify as Jamey, not James. No one in school has teased him or raised an eyebrow about it, as far as I know. The secretary at school keeps trying to call him Jimmy, which he shoots down just as fast as I do. “No! I Jamey!” It does my heart good.
Oooh, and the class list! Lower middle class Denver suburb:
The stars for kids who speak Spanish at home. I thought the mix was interesting. Katia’s mom has an Eastern European accent, but I’m not sure where they’re from.
Thanks for sharing. I’ve always loved the name Alexander. I’m partial to the nn Xander, but Aly and Aleksy are so lovely. At least you still get to call him Aly at home 🙂 I’ve had plenty of experience with ever-changing nicknames. Since my name is quite unusual (or other people think it is), and many people struggle to pronounce it correctly, I’ve always accepted the nicknames. Zeffy came about after one of my professors, after nearly a year of teaching me, still hadn’t quite grasped my real name and decided to just call me the one name he could remember. It caught on and all my university friends started to use it. I didn’t really mind, mainly because he was a dear, because it was better than having him point at me, and because I’ve had weirder nns, such as Bluey when I was in primary school. My parents, on the other hand, always use my full name, as does my entire family. I have always introduced myself by my full name, but people like to change it. I’ve given up, lol.
Love your blog! I adore Aleksy and Aly as a nickname. A small part of me hopes Alex will go back to Aly as it’s unique, especially for an Alexander. 😀
I’ve had a long history with my name, especially in the nickname department. While I’m thrilled to not be a Katherine (never liked that name, just too frilly for my taste), Kathleen has given my father, brother, and friends an opportunity to experiment with nicknames. At first, I was Kathweenie, then that was shortened to Weenie, and occasionally my brother would call me KFC (a play on my initials) or just Kentucky Fried Kitty. I unwillingly remained Weenie for a long time until I went to a residential school for the deaf, which gave me the opportunity to start anew. Thus I became known as Kat. But friends would call me Kit Kat, Batty Kat, and of course, KFC. Now, I kind of like Weenie and wish I’d stuck to it. 🙂
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If you’ve been reading for a while, you might know that I refer to my firstborn as Aly, short for 
We specifically chose Alexander (well, it was also a family name) because it lent itself to so many nicknames. Our plan was to call him Alex (other family members had gone by Al or Alec, so it was close, but different). He’s a Xander. It was fairly obvious by about 6 months that this was no Alex, but a Xander. My dad continued to call him Alex, and that became a special name that his Papa calls him. Once he started school, everyone assumed he was Alex, but he chose to go by Alexander instead. Now at home and with family and close friends, he’s Xander; my dad still calls him Alex; most of his friends call him Alexander; but occasionally he goes by Al. At least he’s never gone by AJ (his initials that I didn’t even think of at the time–I did first and last initial and all three, but not first and middle).
Our daughter is Evangeline for many of the same reasons. We love most of the nicknames, and it gives her options. We debated between Eva and Evie for her family nickname, and she’s definitely an Evie (long E at the beginning). But she has options of Eve, Eva, Lina, Lena, Ang, Angie, or even Vangie (we met one the other day). I personally think that’s part of the fun of the names–seeing what they end up choosing to go by.
My husband is a James that goes by Gryphon (his parents and younger sister refuse to call him anything but James). I’m a Sharalyn who went by Shari most of my life, but once I added an alliterative last name by marriage, I started introducing myself by Sharalyn Sh——. That extra syllable with consonants helps break up the alliteration. So we can both tell at what point in our lives we met people depending on what they call us! 🙂
We’re still trying to figure out what sibling name would fit in with those two names! 🙂
How about Margaret? That’s gives the option of Maggie, Mags, Margie, Marg (eww but w/e), Daisy (since the French word for daisy is marguerite), Peggy, Gret/Greta, you could probably even stretch Molly into there! Nathaniel for a boy – Nate, Nat, Nathan, Neal.
I’m planning to name my baby Margaret, and people are already referring to her as Maggie! One reason I adore Margaret is because it has a ton of great nicknames, so I hope everyone doesn’t just permanently default to the most common one (which I do like, at least). My mom made the mistake of assuming she could name my brother Jeffrey and everyone would always call him that. She wasn’t counting on him self-identifying as (gasp!) Jeff. So I’ve come to peace with the formal name of Margaret, even knowing that battling the nn Maggie may be impossible, especially when she’s old enough to express her own preferences.
This is such a lovely post, Abby! And it’s exactly what makes me hesitate about the name Magdalena. I love Magdalena and we would call her Lena, but what if she wanted to be Magda or Maggie? No thanks. I think your experience (although it’s a family name, so beside the point in your case) is a good example of the dangers in using a name if you really dislike a particular nickname for it.
I think the issue can be alleviated a bit if the child is taught why a certain nickname is not okay. My brother is Mohammed and he was taught why Mo was an unacceptable nickname and to not let other kids call him Mo. Now that he’s an adult he’s internalized it and doesn’t let people call him Mo, even though it happens more often than you’d think. Perhaps your Aly will grow up and identify more with his Polish heritage and thus choose Aly or Aleksy for himself in claiming his identity.
Another reason I’m glad I’ve always been just Sarah 🙂
I’m Allison. I came home from kindergarden and wanted to be called Alli. Everyone calls me Alli except my mother. “Your name is Allison.” Only once I got married did I warm to the combination of my full first and last name. When picking names for my children now, I always keep that in mind. If we had had a girl, we really liked Carrington, but did not want a Carrie. So, that one was out.
I think the way nicknames evolve for an individual is so fascinating. I’m Danielle to my friends, but my family and extended relatives all call me Dani. I recall briefly trying to make Dani stick with my friends in middle school but it never caught on. Now, I like that just my family calls me by my nickname; it makes it seem more special. I would love to be an Elle, though. But now that I’m in my mid-20s I feel like it’s too late to try and make a new nickname stick.
I love both your childrens’ names. Alexander is such a strong classic! I do know plenty of men who by Aly, whether it is short for Alexander or Alistair, but ultimately, I guess children will chose their own nicknames. You may want to name your daughter Rebecca and call her Reba, but then your daughter decides one day “nah, I am Becky.” That is why I never really worry about nicknames, unless it has the potential of having a really horrid nickname. I usually find that it is the bearer who comes up with their own nicknames and not the parent.
Wonderful article, Abby! Your final comments are so apt.
Roseanna’s still two and still Roseanna at home; I cringe as I wait for the [inevitable?] day when she becomes Rosie to most of the world. We’ll see. Right now she has difficulty saying her name, so when asked to introduce herself she’s “Zanna”. I usually only correct people if they check with me whether they heard correctly. She has had a couple of people call her Rosie (which I usually try to gently correct) and also Rosa or Rosebud (fine with me). I’ve even been asked if we would consider calling her Annie for short! I fully expect her to go through stages of nicknaming preferences and only hope that we’ve given her a name she feels she can work with no matter her age or style!
Yup, I’m a Katherine who goes by Kayt!
Jamey started preschool in January, and he’s loving it so far. He’s not a big communicator, but he does self-indentify as Jamey, not James. No one in school has teased him or raised an eyebrow about it, as far as I know. The secretary at school keeps trying to call him Jimmy, which he shoots down just as fast as I do. “No! I Jamey!” It does my heart good.
Oooh, and the class list! Lower middle class Denver suburb:
Isaiah x2
Eli*
Morgen (b)
Max*
Jesus*
Kaleb
Davin (b)
Aedan
Joshua*
Katia
Ryleigh
Gracie
Aubrey (g)
Ashley*
The stars for kids who speak Spanish at home. I thought the mix was interesting. Katia’s mom has an Eastern European accent, but I’m not sure where they’re from.
Thanks for sharing. I’ve always loved the name Alexander. I’m partial to the nn Xander, but Aly and Aleksy are so lovely. At least you still get to call him Aly at home 🙂 I’ve had plenty of experience with ever-changing nicknames. Since my name is quite unusual (or other people think it is), and many people struggle to pronounce it correctly, I’ve always accepted the nicknames. Zeffy came about after one of my professors, after nearly a year of teaching me, still hadn’t quite grasped my real name and decided to just call me the one name he could remember. It caught on and all my university friends started to use it. I didn’t really mind, mainly because he was a dear, because it was better than having him point at me, and because I’ve had weirder nns, such as Bluey when I was in primary school. My parents, on the other hand, always use my full name, as does my entire family. I have always introduced myself by my full name, but people like to change it. I’ve given up, lol.
Love your blog! I adore Aleksy and Aly as a nickname. A small part of me hopes Alex will go back to Aly as it’s unique, especially for an Alexander. 😀
I’ve had a long history with my name, especially in the nickname department. While I’m thrilled to not be a Katherine (never liked that name, just too frilly for my taste), Kathleen has given my father, brother, and friends an opportunity to experiment with nicknames. At first, I was Kathweenie, then that was shortened to Weenie, and occasionally my brother would call me KFC (a play on my initials) or just Kentucky Fried Kitty. I unwillingly remained Weenie for a long time until I went to a residential school for the deaf, which gave me the opportunity to start anew. Thus I became known as Kat. But friends would call me Kit Kat, Batty Kat, and of course, KFC. Now, I kind of like Weenie and wish I’d stuck to it. 🙂