Two Friends Disagree on Baby Names
Over the holiday weekend, I was hanging out with a friend and the merits of the name Nathaniel came up. I said I thought it was a cute name and my friend said she didn’t like it. She liked the names Nate or Nathan, but thought Nathaniel was too stuffy. We discussed whether someone who insisted on being called Nathaniel instead of Nate was 
taking himself too seriously. I didn’t think so, but my friend thought maybe he was.
In reflection, I see her point. Nathaniel is certainly more formal than Nate. Nate is easy. It rolls off the tongue. Nathaniel is a bit of a mouthful. Plus, Nate is a perfectly cute name. However, I think there are a lot of good reasons to prefer going by a full name instead of a nickname. Maybe you know a bunch of other Nates and using Nathaniel sets you apart. Maybe you really like being formal. Maybe a distinguished name suits your career—Nathaniel would certainly look nice on a business card. I know plenty of people with commonly nicknamed names who prefer to go by the full name—Katherine, Elizabeth, Benjamin instead of Liz, Kate or Ben.
There’s no right answer here, of course, but discussing the merits of particular baby names is always fun. And the debate still rages…when I texted my friend to let her know that our conversation was making my blog, she responded with, “Remember, cool kids go by Nate.”
WARNING: Consider this fair warning to all my family and friends – if you engage me in a baby name debate, it might end up in my blog J I got permission to use the quote though.
Do You Like Formal Names or Casual Names?
Do you prefer to go by a full name instead of a nickname? Are you looking for baby names with cute nicknames? Maybe you’re even bypassing the full name and using the nickname as the given name, like Beth or Charlie. Tell me all about it. You can email me or leave a comment. When you leave your first comment, you’ll need to take a couple seconds to “register.” It’s a way to prevent spammers from clogging up comment sections with off-topic advertisements. Once you do register though, you won’t have to worry about it again and can leave all the comments you want.
Happy naming,
♥ Amanda
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BABY NAMES MADE EASY: THE COMPLETE REVERSE-DICTIONARY OF BABY NAMES
