Nicknames as Proper Names
Tuesday 11th of February 2014 | Category: Opinion | Written by: Anne-Marie CThis month's 'village news magazine' had last year's list of birth, deaths and marriages in. Technically it's lists of baptisms and funerals rather than births and deaths, so the lists are quite short, but there was a trend in names that I noticed.
I'm in danger of channelling Katie Hopkins here, but I don't quite understand the trend of naming children with what I see as nicknames. I assume names like Alfie, Ellie, Robbie, or Lizzie are short for something else, rather than the names on birth certificates.
Both my daughters have longer names that can be abbreviated in all sorts of ways so they can choose what they want to be called but still use their registered names. My eldest likes her full name, my youngest has always been known as her nickname (which ends in -ie) to the extent that some people don't know her real name.
I just don't get nicknames being registered as full names. But... Harry and Jack used to be nicknames for Henry and John, and now they're names in their own right. Times change, names change. You don't get many Ediths or Beryls on the births lists these days, only on the funeral lists.
In a hundred years, the funeral list will probably be full of Robbies and Lizzies, and someone will be wondering what happened to those names, and why are children being lumbered with Robert and Elisabeth these days...
Unlike Katie Hopkins, I won't be judging parents and children by their names, but I will probably put my foot in it again asking what Robbie is short for, when it's not actually 'short for' anything at all. Is it just me that assumes names ending in -ie are nicknames rather than registered names? Or am I just old fashioned? Please leave a comment and let me know!
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