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nickname help for baby

EmilyGF

By EmilyGF,
in The Chat Board

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Nickname for baby  

107 members have voted

  1. 1. What should Elizabeth Grace go by?

    • Beth
      23
    • Elspeth (hubby said this is growing on him?)
      7
    • Lizzie
      28
    • Bess
      13
    • Zibby
      8
    • Betsy
      17
    • Other
      36

  2. 2. If she goes by anything with "liz" in it (including Elizabeth), she will end up "Liz" as an adult.

    • Yes
      41
    • No
      66

Recommended Posts

freesia

freesia

Posted
Posted

I like Beth the best of all.

 

I don't think Elizabeth would end up Liz, but Lizzie probably will. If you want to call her Elizabeth, go ahead. (Or you might call her Elizabeth and then a nn sometimes if you want to steer away from a different nn. We did this with one of our children--so, even though he uses his full name, his preferred nn is the one we chose, while he doesn't like the other one)

 

congratualation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the name Elizabeth Grace. My oldest dd's mn is Grace and we called her Firstname Grace for about 5 years (and still sometimes do--but that's kind of the opposite of a nickname).

  • Like 1
Tiberia

Tiberia

Posted
Posted (edited)

We have an Elizabeth. We called her "Punky" for her first year, then started calling her "Elizabeth." When she was old enough to make a decision about her name, she tried out "Ellie" and "Lizzie" as nicknames. Neither seemed seemed right for her, so she prefers "Elizabeth" and "Liz" now. There are lots of possibilities with the name, and she might enjoy something else when she's older. "Eliza" and "Liza" are kind of fun, too. 

 

Cute name! Congratulations!

Edited by Tiberia
  • Like 5
Tsuga

Tsuga

Posted
Posted (edited)

We just had a baby girl and named her Elizabeth Grace. What should her nickname be?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Emily

 

What a beautiful name--it's almost a shame not to call her Elizabeth Grace all the time, don't you think? "Here, Elizabeth Grace, take the nipple. There you go."

 

But if you must... I vote for Elspeth, because one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met was named Elspeth!

Edited by Tsuga
  • Like 7
Daria

Daria

Posted
Posted

Congratulations. In my experience nicknames evolve and whatever she starts out as

 

I might try for Zibby, Ella, Liza or Beth, because those are my favorites, but who knows if it would stick?

  • Like 2
barnwife

barnwife

Posted
Posted

Congrats! Elizabeth Grace is a beautiful name. As for nicknames, I'd wait and see what emerges naturally. Actually, I'd call her by both first and middle name a lot. (I call all 3 of ours by both their first and middle names probably 70% of the time. Heck, I often throw their unrelated to their given name nickname in there and add our last name. For one kid, that's 14 syllables.)

My favorite nn is one that wasn't an option: Libby.

 

  • Like 2
freesia

freesia

Posted
Posted

Congratulations. In my experience nicknames evolve and whatever she starts out as

 

I might try for Zibby, Ella, Liza or Beth, because those are my favorites, but who knows if it would stick?

I forgot that Ella could be a nn for Elizabeth. I vote for that.
  • Like 1
freesia

freesia

Posted
Posted

Congrats! Elizabeth Grace is a beautiful name. As for nicknames, I'd wait and see what emerges naturally. Actually, I'd call her by both first and middle name a lot. (I call all 3 of ours by both their first and middle names probably 70% of the time. Heck, I often throw their unrelated to their given name nickname in there and add our last name. For one kid, that's 14 syllables.)

 

My favorite nn is one that wasn't an option: Libby.

I do this too. My toddlers answered to all kinds of combinations of names. I once counted that my third had something like 19 variations of names and nicknames--some related to his name, some not. I decided he was brilliant to recognize them all. LOL

 

Maybe I should blame all school problems on the amount of energy they had to expend as toddlers remembering their names. who can learn to spell? That brain space is taken!

 

Enough about me. . . Carrying on with finding sweet Elizabeth Grace a nickname or 20.

 

 

Elizabeth, Libby, Betsy and Bess

All went together to find a bird's nest.

They found a nest with five eggs in it,

Each took one and left four in it.

  • Like 2
ScoutTN

ScoutTN

Posted
Posted

Congratulations!   :party:

 

Hooray for Elizabeth Grace! 

 

I like Betsy and Bess, but I also like using the full name and let the nickname come from her personality and her life experience.

  • Like 1
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

I like Libby. But I don't love nicknames on the whole and I think Elizabeth is perfectly beautiful in full.

  • Like 2
JustEm

JustEm

Posted
Posted

Other. Let it come up naturally. My Percival is Herfy and Persephone is Sephy because younger cousins and siblings couldn't say their names correctly. I'm sure those nicknames will change but I hope they do naturally or the individual child chooses to change it.

  • Like 7
Tsuga

Tsuga

Posted
Posted

OMG, Herfy, that is the best nickname ever. Someday we will be at Seattle Center in the fountain and I'm going to hear someone yell "HERFY, GET YOUR SHOES FROM IN THERE!" and I am going to be like, "That is hjffkj!!!!"

  • Like 8
happypamama

happypamama

Posted
Posted

Congratulations on the new baby!  I LOVE the name Elizabeth Grace; the exact combo has been on my list for a girl.

 

I do think she could just be Elizabeth with no problem, and I think she would find Liz hard to avoid as an adult if she starts as Liz, and especially with Lizzie.  I think for a name like Elizabeth which has several nicknames, you have to be proactive about what short form you want.  I have an Andrew, and I was determined that if he would be known as Andy, it would be HIS choice, so we actively introduced him as Andrew, and that's how people know him.  

 

Of those nicknames, I voted for Beth, Betsy, or Bess.  But they're all pretty!

  • Like 2
theelfqueen

theelfqueen

Posted
Posted

I like Bessie and Betsy!

 

My grandmothers were Bessie and  Betty :)

 

My best friend was Betsy growing up. Somehow she settled on Z as her nickname that most people call her as an adult. I, too called her Z for many years but happened to be rereading Pride and Prejudice while writing to her daily when she was in Basic Training and took to calling her Lizzie. ;)

 

  • Like 1
EmilyGF

EmilyGF

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I appreciate the thoughts!

 

A family at our church has daughters with two of our daughter's names and calls their Elizabeth Libby - which would make me feel awkward. 

 

My sister (who is an absolute sweetheart) goes by Beth, though she spells her name Elisabeth, so our little one wasn't exactly named after her.

 

And a cousin is Ella, so that probably rules that out. 

 

We were purposeful with another daughter's nickname - we gave her a "grownup" name, but have called her a nickname from day 1, so I'm OK with imposing a certain nickname on a little one. :-) Though I'm trying to prevent my other little one from having his name shortened.

  • Like 1
freesia

freesia

Posted
Posted

I appreciate the thoughts!

 

A family at our church has daughters with two of our daughter's names and calls their Elizabeth Libby - which would make me feel awkward.

 

My sister (who is an absolute sweetheart) goes by Beth, though she spells her name Elisabeth, so our little one wasn't exactly named after her.

 

And a cousin is Ella, so that probably rules that out.

 

We were purposeful with another daughter's nickname - we gave her a "grownup" name, but have called her a nickname from day 1, so I'm OK with imposing a certain nickname on a little one. :-) Though I'm trying to prevent my other little one from having his name shortened.

You teminded me that I also know Elizabeth's who went by Elise and Lisa.
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

My friend has an Elizabeth Jane who goes by Libby. That's by far my fave.

Reefgazer

Reefgazer

Posted
Posted

I voted other.  If you wanted her to be called something else (the diminutive of Elizabeth), I would have just named her something else (the diminutive of Elizabeth that you liked).  I know that sounds smart-ass, but it's not intended to be.

theelfqueen

theelfqueen

Posted
Posted (edited)

I voted other.  If you wanted her to be called something else (the diminutive of Elizabeth), I would have just named her something else (the diminutive of Elizabeth that you liked).  I know that sounds smart-ass, but it's not intended to be.

 

See, my first name is a nickname, and I HATE that. People would say 'is that short for...' and I wanted desperately to be able to say yes, because I wanted to be FANCY and formal and grown up. Having a nickname for a name felt "kiddie" to me. As a preteen and a teen I despised it. Eventually I ditched my first name for my middle name because I hated my first name so much. I haven't answered to my first name, from anyone other than my immediate family, since high school.

 

So, I'm firmly on the other side of that fence! I say -- always give the full name and then they have the choice of the more formal name or the diminutive as they prefer as they grow.

Edited by theelfqueen
  • Like 6
carriede

carriede

Posted
Posted

If DS2 was a girl, his name would have been Elizabeth Rose. I liked Ellie, but DH said it just reminded him of elephants... We were both okay with Lizzie though.

 

If you're not sure, I'd just wait to see what comes up instead of forcing something.

 

As an adult, I think the only names that would be Liz are Liz and Lizzie. If someone told me their name was Elizabeth or Eliza, I would call her that name, not make up my own.

 

Love the name, btw! And congratulations!

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

I voted other. If you wanted her to be called something else (the diminutive of Elizabeth), I would have just named her something else (the diminutive of Elizabeth that you liked). I know that sounds smart-ass, but it's not intended to be.

I know parents who chose a given name with the full intention of using only the nickname, and their reasoning makes sense to me. In every case, they wanted to child to have a mature option, a formal option, if the child "needs" to sound professional. They don't want the kid to be forever Becca or Jay if at some point they want to project a more grown-up image: Rebecca, James.

 

We were thinking this way, too, when we were considering Maggie/Margaret for a girl. I would not make the birth-certificate name "Maggie." (We didn't have another girl, so it never mattered. But I still think that is an excellant name. :))

  • Like 2
marbel

marbel

Posted
Posted

I agree with those who say to call her Elizabeth and see what happens.

 

My daughter has a name that can have several different nicknames.  I knew what I wanted to call her, but somehow it never worked for her.  Instead, she ended up with several nicknames, none of which is even close to what I'd expected.  

 

I do know an Elizabeth who was called Betsy and by  middle school, hated that "baby name."  She became Liz, which horrified her mother.

Luckymama

Luckymama

Posted
Posted

I vote for Elizabeth at first until you get to know her better.

 

My dd has very adult first and middle names (she's named after my grandmother and her older sister, both who never had girls). Her nickname, and the name she uses almost exclusively, is derived from her middle name.

 

And huge congratulations! I am so happy for your family :party:

kentuckymom

kentuckymom

Posted
Posted

I voted for Beth, because my name is Elizabeth (big reveal :)) and I've been called Beth from day 1. At age 40, I really like the name, though I've sometimes wondered why my parents didn't just name me Beth and be done with it. I did consider changing in college, but by then I was so used to being Beth that's how I introduced myself the first week and then it was all over. I did have a roommate who successfully went from Mandy to Amanda in college. It took about a decade for her family to make the switch, but no one calls her Mandy anymore. 

 

My advice, despite my vote, is to do as many pp have suggested and call her Elizabeth until a nickname naturally emerges - or doesn't. Even though I now really like my nickname, I have rebelled against foisting nicknames on babies. That's why I gave my kids names that are hard to make nicknames of.

  • Like 1
plansrme

plansrme

Posted
Posted

Libby Grace. I know you have Libbys in your circle of friends, but I still like a version of Libby. (Disclosure: I have a Libby, and we always intended to call her that. We should have just named her Libby instead of Elizabeth. I have two acquaintances who named their girls "Libby" and admit to getting the idea from us.)

I also like Lizzie; it is easy to shorten to Liz or Liza when she is older.

EmilyGF

EmilyGF

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Libby Grace. I know you have Libbys in your circle of friends, but I still like a version of Libby. (Disclosure: I have a Libby, and we always intended to call her that. We should have just named her Libby instead of Elizabeth. I have two acquaintances who named their girls "Libby" and admit to getting the idea from us.)

I also like Lizzie; it is easy to shorten to Liz or Liza when she is older.

I like Lizzie a lot. :-) But not so much a fan of Liz, for some reason. I think I like Lizzie because of the Pride and Prejudice connection. One of my other daughter's is tangentially named for the main character in Wives and Daughters. 

 

If Lizzie morphed into Liza, that'd be lovely. Or even Liza Grace.

 

My middle name is Grace, and I went by my middle name during my college years, so I realize names are fluid and I am fine with my child changing up names over time.

 

Emily

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