my husband and I have had MANY back and forths about this as we think of names for our little girl due in March. He has an aunt whose name was Annie Kate. I told him that I liked that but our daughter's true name would be Anne Katherine- even if we called her Annie Kate. BUT he did not like the name Anne Katherine! so funny!

(we found a name that we both liked and when she is old enough to decide what SHE likes, our daughter can either use the proper name or the nickname and both sound good!)

Having a nickname was always such a hastle in school. I never went by my given name because I had a step-sister with the same name as me.

I think that parents are chosing names that they like, but they have to think about their children also! If you decided to spell your kids name in a funny way, he/she is always going to have to spell it out like 10 times for everyone. If you use a strange name, like alot of these celebrities do, your kid will be scarred as a child by all the other kids making fun of him/her. Just go with a nickname!!!

Are they passe? No. The poll answers don't really fit though, they ask how I feel about naming my own kids. I think either way is fine, like Amy Poehler naming her son Archie without using Archibald, or Naomi Watts with Alexander being called Sasha.

I go by a shortened version of my name and have never had a problem with it in school or otherwise. I just told my teachers the first week and so it went. Same goes for my oldest son who goes by a nickname. My younger son goes by his full name but recently decided he wants a shorter name because his is too long to write. *lol* And my daughter will get to make her choice as well, right now we alternate between her full name and a nickname.

growing up my best friend's name was Katie. Just katie, not katherine or kaitlyn or anything like that. I prefer proper names but I don't dislike nicknames, especially if the proper name could have a lot of nicknames, like Richard, and you want to be sure he's called Richie instead of Rick, Ricky, Dick or whatever else.

As long as you think about your child and know that they will have to go around with the name for the rest of their life it's OK with me. Katie is one think, but Zuma is Laughs for a life time.

Even if you spell your child's name the traditional way, they often have to spell it all their lives. I do and so will my son, and probably my daughter. It's never bothered me to have to spell it or correct pronunciation, no matter how many times I've had to do it.

Then again, even if you name your child what you thought was an easy name, people can be really stupid. You have no idea how many times I've been asked how to spell Vincent.

My son's name is Gabriel and you won't believe how many times I have had to correct his teachers who call him "Gabrielle". I feel like throwing a textbook at them everytime they call him by the female name. Didn't think that a simple name would cause a problem.

I don't mind naming a child a nick name. I don't even see Jack as a nickname, nor Sunny actually. I do however hate creative spelling, which in my book are just names spelled the wrong way.

My name is Ginger and people often ask if it's a nickname for Virginia... it's not bothersome, though. I also have a friend whose name is Jenny.

We're thinking of naming a future son Sam

But what if his daughter isn't 'sunny'? what if she's moody and has a problem living up to her super optimistic name? Sunny comes with too much expectation from the child to be a certain person she may not be. I think more traditional names give the child more freedom to decide who she really is, so I wouldn't consider naming my child something so flippant. I have a lovely name picked out for my future daughter and a nick name as well, in case she wants one, I wanted a nick name around middle school but my mom was always insistent on using my full name, and now I'm rather glad my suggestion didn't catch on.

Some nicknames (like Katie or Jenny IMO) sound a little young, so I could totally understand naming your child the proper name even if you planned to call her by the nickname in those situations. Then if they want to go by the proper name when they got older, they would have the option.

lol Greggie about having to spell Vincent! that is not a weird name!

I love the name Victoria with the nickname being Tory. I can't stand the nickname Vicky (no offense lol). My mom has always warned me that even if I called her Tory that other people might call her Vicky or she might like it herself. Well luckily (I guess) I won't have to deal with that because my guy doesn't like Victoria and even if he did we wouldn't use it because her initials would be VD.
So now I want to use Emerson with the nickname Emmy when she's little. Although that means her initials would be ED. Oh well LOL

Emerson/Emmy is pretty kikidawn!

I was almost named something like Summer or Karma, but my Grandmother insisted I get a proper name. So I have a proper name, spelled differently. I wouldn't have minded either variation. Summer wouldn't have matched my personality or coloring, but it is when I was born. As a kid you don't get personalized stickers or whatever off the shelf-I guess that was the only drag. Now with computers and labels kids don't care about that anymore!

My real name is Kristina, and I have had to spell it my whole life. My husband has to spell his name and so does my sister and my mother, none of us have hard to pronounce or to spell names. But in such a multicultural society our names aren't "normal" to everyone else and that requires spelling. It doesnt' matter what your name is anymore, expect to spell it and expect someone to have an opinion on it.

My sister called her daughter Katie, and her nickname is Kate as she has gotten older. and my 90 year old grandmothers real name (not nickname) is Jennie.

There are some names that just scream old more than names scream young.

kikidawn, I've got the same issue with initials - I like the name Bridget, but I would never give a child the initials B.O!

I prefer proper names - I think they're more versatile - but some names that we consider proper names today started as nicknames. (Lisa comes from Elizabeth, for example.) So it's all relative.

I'm a Mary whose ALWAYS gone by Molly. When I was 10 I almost got it legally changed but cried on my way to the courthouse about losing my identity. At this point, it doesn't get in my way as much as I used to, but people are still pretty surprised when they find out.

Oh, and I'm married to a Kjell...so I can't really complain about having a tough name

I love nicknames, but think everyone should have a proper name. The name you give a child is permanent and although many names are cute on a child, they are almost ridiculous for an adult. I had a friend named Tiffy, and she never felt good about being in an adult workplace with a name like that, she thought she was never taken seriously.

My name too is Kristina - but my parents decided to call me Tina because I had an aunt Kristine who went by Kris. I used to wish they had just named me Tina, but Kristina is a more proper name I guess. THEN to complete the vicious circle, we named our son John but call him Jack. We liked the name John because it's found in the Bible - and we love the name Jack - Yes I know he will suffer from an identity crisis in his younger school years - but that is what we liked.

Sunny will always remind me of "Bosom Buddies".

Everytime Tom Hanks saw Donna Dixon (whom he was crushing on) he'd sing...
"Sunny, Sunny, Sunny..."

My full name is Francesca but I have gone by Franki ever since I can remember....people either mispronounce Francesca (it is pronounced Fran-chess-ka but I have heard SOO many variations, lol!) or just don't even attempt it...Franki is way easier, and I think it's pretty cute

I really think it depends on the name, the child...etc. I do love my full name, but Franki is easier for day to day...so in a way, I love proper names, but if someone is named Annie and that's their real name, then I think that's awesome. I think an old Grandma Annie would be adorable!

My parents almost named me Miracle but went with Jessica so in high school anytime someone shouted the name randomly in the halls about 8 girls turned around to respond, along with other reason I shortened to Jess. My grandpa's name was Jess. My Aunt named Jessie, I had an ex call me Jessie and I hated it. Also, Our boys names are Landen and Carter and we thought we'd avoided the nickname thing but somehow my inlaws still shorten to "Land" and "Cart" I mean.. it's ONE SYLLABLE MORE. Sorry to ramble. I'm not even sure if I answered the question.

Thanks lawchick!
My middle name is Dawn and my daughter will have the same middle name (regardless of what her first name winds up being). My sign on name is my nickname as a kid (and even now). My name is Crystal Dawn. My mom has always called me Kiki Dawn. So when I told her what I want to name my daughter (Emerson). She decided that she would call her Emmy Dawn. lol
Oh and my mom pronounces kiki like this: kick-ee --- so Emmy Dawn actually rhymes with Kiki Dawn.

Emmy Dawn is absolutely adorable.

My name is Katrina, but the family called me Trina. It sort of evolved from my parents and my siblings, but I went by Katrina to teachers/work. My friends that came home with me eventually called me Trina as well. Anytime someone tried to call me Kat, i snipped that in the bud asap. I cant stand it.

that being said, my name was NEVER right at school, and i ALWAYS had to spell it. Katrina may not be as common as Jessica, but its not an odd name, its definitley a known name. Every single new year at school, i ended up in the office getting all my school stuff redone becuase theyd typed Kristina, Kristine, or Katrine on it. Katrine, really now.. thats not even a name.

I think you should name your kid whatever you wish, whether its considered a nickname of another name, in keeping with respect to how that individual is going to be treated later. There was a kid here in oklahoma named ABCDE ...

Aw thank you Greggie
I love it!

I like the nickname Jack but I would name my son John. I also like the name Kate but I would name my daughter Katherine. I would just prefer to use the proper name.

I think it's so odd to see how people will see a name that I always thought would be natural to say, and then they just butcher the hell out of it:) I can almost count on 2 hands the number of times in my life that people actually said my name correctly the first time when reading it.

Usually it's either WAY off, or they try to pronounce it a few times before getting through it (it's only 5 letters!!) and then by the 2nd/3rd try, they give up and just say [Miss] Paris...my last name lol!

I think proper names are better, then just use a nickname, although I don't have problems with people who are named Pat/Patty for Patricia or Jenny for Jennifer.

I have 2 names, and when I was in elementary school I would write both names, but I stopped when I was in high school because most students just use their nicknames, so I started using just one name. Now people call me Mars, a shortened version of my first name.

This made me think of that one woman who gave her daughter like 100 names? and they had to staple together a bunch of birth certificates? I can't find it anywhere on the internet but, why would you ever do that to someone? Imagine having to write out 100 names on anything official.