Photo credit: Wikipedia
I love an unexpected nickname.
My daughter has one. Many of the names on my shortlists for possible baby #3 have them, too. My son almost had one, but he’s decided it isn’t for him, thanks very much.
Yes, they can be inconvenient – there can be confusion on school rosters and at the pediatrician’s office. There may be gossip and eye-rolling. (They named her what – but they’re calling her that?)  And if you’re not a nickname person, well, there’s no way you’re going to go for this idea.
But even if nicknames aren’t your thing, this makes for a fun exercise: take a more elaborate name, drop a few letters to arrive at another possible given name, while retaining the same first and last letter.
They can solve problems, too – if you prefer your names short and sweet, but are trying to honor a loved one with a lengthy appellation, this technique could work. And if you hate, hate, hate your name and all of the obvious nicknames, well … maybe this will help you think out of the box about options.
One possible hurdle: a few of these contract to some great possibilities, if you’re willing to completely forget spelling. Those are marked with a *, and could possibly create more headaches than those that remain faithful to the original spelling. Or not. Our daughter has the least intuitive of nicknames ever, and it hasn’t posed a (significant) problem in four years.
So whether you’re a nickname fan or not, try your hand at inventing new contracted names!
Anastasia – Asia
Arcadia – Adia, Aria
Barrett – Bett, Bette*
Beatrix – Bix
Brigitta – Britta
Brooklyn – Bryn
Calisto – Clio
Elodie – Edie
Estella – Ella
Galina – Gala
Giovanna – Gia, Gianna
Juliet – Jet, Jett
Julietta – Jetta
Lenora – Lena, Lora
Margaret – Maret
Marianna – Mara, Mia, Mina
Mariette – Maret, Marit, Miette
Matilda – Mila, Milla
Monica – Mica, Mona
Nicola – Nica
Noella – Nola
Rebecca – Reba
Rosemary – Romy, Rory
Serena – Sera
Tatiana – Tania
Teresa – Tera, Tessa, Tressa
Theodora – Thea, Theda, Thora
Valencia – Via
Veronica, Victoria – Vica
Veronika, Viktoria – Vika
Victoria – Vira
Victoria – Vita
What do you think of contracted names? Can you come up with others to add to this list?
Here’s a bunch!
Scarlett – Lottie, Carly, Callie*
Selena – Elle, Lena, Selah*
Evangeline – Eve, Angie, Angel, Angela, Lena, Elle, Annie
Penelope – Penny, Peppy*, Nell*, Ellie, Lo*
Victoria – Vicky, Tori, Ria*, Vika
Abigail – Abby, Gail, Ali
Lorelei – Lori, Lola, Elle, Rory*
Temperance – Tempy, Em, Peri*, Annie
Georgina – Georgie, Gigi*, Gina, Ginny
Alexandra – Alex, Alexa, Lexi, Lexia, Andi, Annie, Ally
Matilda – Mattie, Mia, Millie, Milda, Mila*
Isabella – Isla*, Izzie, Bella, Abi
Elis(/z)abeth – Elle, Lisa, Liza, Beth, Elsie, Libi, Eliza, Bessie, Bethel, Lizzie
Susannah – Sue, Suzie, Anna, Sookie*, Hanna
Amelia – Amy, Millie, Mia, Lia, Mel, Elle
Brittany – Brie, Britta*, Tania, Annie
Miriam – Miri, Mara*, Minnie, Mia, Amie
Lorraine – Lore, Lori, Raine*
Alana – Ally, Lana, Lainey, Ana
Katherine – Kate, Kathy, Erin, Thea, Ria, Rina, Kat, Kitty, Hero*?
Charlotte – Charly, Ari, Lottie, Carly, Cara
Gabrielle – Gabby, Abi, Brie, Brielle, Ellie
Margaret – Marie, Marg, Ari, Mara, Mia, Maya*
Louisa – Lou, Lisa, Lulu, Lia
Eleanor – Ellie, Len, Lea, Nora, Ellen, Nelly*
Ophelia – Elle, Lia, Fifi, Fay*
Madeleine – Maddie, Addie, Adele, Dell*, Elle, Elaine, Lainey
Obviously some of these aren’t very unusual!
All my girls have shortened versions of their three syllable names that we use on a daily basis, the youngest of which was born on Tuesday. She’s Romy for the moment, full name Hermione but it’s possible that her shortened name may change as she grows up.
Congratulations on little Romy!
Hermione! Oh, I love it – congratulations! And Romy is a great short form …
Margareta nn Meta.
Love it!
One of the names high on my shortlist of #2 had been a girl was Rosemary, with a nickname of Romy or Rory. I love cute contractions.
On my and my husband’s list is
Minerva- Mina
Wilhelmina> Mina, Willa
Amelia > Milly
Adriane > Rayna
Margaret > Marta
Conrad > Cord
Nicholas > Nils
Noelle > Nell
And one in honor of yesterday’s NOTD John > Hans.
I remember in the movie _Practical Magic_, one of the characters’ names was “Bridget” but went by the nickname “Jet” which I always loved.
Theresa “Tessa” and Penelope “Poppy” are both among my top three names for a girl. I think they are gorgeous. I also liked Penelope “Peppy” for a while (and Pepita).
Others I like:
Rosalie “Rosie”
Cassidy “Cady”
Aurora “Aura”
Esperanza “Enza”
Bertram “Bram”
Durante “Dante”
Hawthorn “Han”
Persephone “Penny” also works, though I might prefer Ephie/Effie.
Abraham “Bram” is one of my favorites, but Bertram is pretty awesome as well!
Ginny for Giovanna, Georgina or Georgiana.
Garret for Margaret (kind of???)
Opal for Ophelia (also kind of???)
Asia as a nickname for Anastasia is kind of fantastic! One you didn’t mention is Vera for Veronica, which I adore. I’ve also recently become a fan of Rory for Gregory. (Although it doesn’t start with a G, I think it still counts as a contracted name.
I have a Rosemarie who goes by Romy and a Genevieve who goes by Neve. We also just met a little girl named Miriam who goes by Miki.
I’v wondered recently if you could get away with Cal as a nn for Charles. For the girls I’v thought Mara for Margaret would be awesome, along with Eve for Genevieve, and possibly Jewel for Jemimiah (jem=gem=jewel) but that might be to much of a stretch
I know a baby Victoria with the nickname Vita. 🙂 I like it so much better than Vicky or Tori.
Georgiana = Gina, Gia