Nicknames | Imamother

Seraph

Tue, Jul 03 2007, 6:36 am

Do you plan on calling your kids by a nickname, suchas shortening a longer name for a little kid? Or do you hold like the people that it isn't good for the neshama, and you should call a kid by a whole name, and not a partial name?

Marion

Tue, Jul 03 2007, 6:48 am

Well...we actually use DS's full name. Although, if DH isn't around I only use his first name...I think it depends on the nickname. There's one that some of my older relatives use...and I hate it and have asked them to please start. Then there's another one that is basically his initials, and yes, sometimes we use that. Especially in e-mail, because his name is just long!

Seraph

Tue, Jul 03 2007, 6:52 am

Marion wrote:

Well...we actually use DS's full name.

Doesn't that get to be a mouthful? Especially when a kid is first learning to talk- it takes them forever to learn their name, no?

I know a kid named immanuel avraham, and the parents dont beleive in nicknames...
Imagine a 2 year old breaking his teeth trying to say his own name, and even when he manages it, who's to say his friends will manage?

shalhevet

Tue, Jul 03 2007, 6:55 am

We also hold that you use the whole name - no nicknames!

Our kids got used to using two names and it didn't cause any particular problems (is Batsheva any easier to say than Sara Nechama?) But I had enough so our last two ds only have one name, because where we live not many people use two names (it's mostly chutznikim who do).

Marion

Tue, Jul 03 2007, 9:49 am

breslov wrote:

Marion wrote:

Well...we actually use DS's full name.

I would be perfectly happy just to call him by his first name...but his 2nd name is very important to DH and it's not worth the shalom bayit issues not to use it when he's around.

RachelEve14

Tue, Jul 17 2007, 12:12 am

Our rav holds one name, so our kids have 1 name each. I have five (three Hebrew, two English) and he had to ask how to do the ketuba. I did have a dream I named Rivka Rivka Bracha (before she was named) and he said it means she'll be a bracha but it doesn't mean I have to name her Bracha (we knew she was going to be Rivka my grandmother had just passed). If one of my children had two names I would use both all the time.

I have friends who give 2 names and always call their children both names at the Shabbos table. I think it's a nice minhog.

Ruchel

Tue, Jul 17 2007, 9:24 am

RachelEve14 wrote:

Our rav holds one name, so our kids have 1 name each. I have five (three Hebrew, two English) and he had to ask how to do the ketuba.

how come? here they just ask you what's your Jewish name(s) and they use it like that, no mention of secular name unless you ask them to mention it too, like Rivka called Rebecca or Yehoudit called Jacqueline...

shopaholic

Tue, Jul 17 2007, 9:33 am

Officially, like in school, my kids are called by their full name (which for 2 is 1 name each & for the 3rd, its 2 names that naturally go together.

At home, we have nicknames, but not like Chanie for Chana, it would be Chan-Chan, lets say.

greenfire

Tue, Jul 17 2007, 9:56 am

we tried ... it didn't stick ... for 1 her second name is not used anymore - and for another it comes and goes ... but any nicknames are just a once in a while thing - their names are proper ...

shalhevet

Tue, Jul 17 2007, 11:23 am

Ruchel wrote:

RachelEve14 wrote:

Our rav holds one name, so our kids have 1 name each. I have five (three Hebrew, two English) and he had to ask how to do the ketuba.

There are halachic opinions that all your names have to be on the ketuva. I had a big problem too. The two names I was given in shul (1 Yid, 1 Heb) are never used. I am known by my "English" name which is actually Hebrew. I have another "English" name on my birth certificate which is also Hebrew. Shaking

Say my Jewish name is Gittel Tzipporah and my "English" name is Tova Tzila (totally made-up examples).
So, after lots and lots of rabbinic consultation, it was decided that my ketuva should say Gittel Tzipporah d'mikrei Tova.

Ruchel

Tue, Jul 17 2007, 11:30 am

^^^oy vey

I personally don't think it's good to give a Hebrew or "Jewish" (Tova, Simon...) as secular/English name if you give a different Jewish name (Yitzhok for Simon or something). Too confusing.

The rav asked me my name, I said Frenchname1 Frenchname2 Rahel. He said what's your Jewish name, I said Rahel, so that was it. Another rav asked me if I wanted my usual name Frenchname1 on the ketuba, I said no need. My parents have the same on their ketuba, no usual name.

It's interesting how opinions differ.

supermom

Thu, Jul 19 2007, 3:07 pm

shalhevet wrote:

One of my kids has a nickname. All my others we call by their name but my oldest with two names we call her by her first. Confused? ANyway Sara Nechama is a big of a tounge twister then Batsheva.

miriamnechama

Sun, Jul 22 2007, 3:04 am

breslov wrote:

Marion wrote:

Well...we actually use DS's full name.

yes it can be a mouthful, well dh holds but boh names though I have 2 names, miriamnecham but only go by miriam, I got used to it though tries sometimes to use bot. he also has 2 names also a mouthful so we just go by one. but the kids we use both name and sometimes the oungest a nickname.
ei moshe nissan in but that we tried moishy it didn't go, but sometimes it's just moish. it also de[ends on the child, he's just no moishy but his full name. the second nosson eliyahu, also has both and is also a mothful, sometimes it's noseele and sils just call him natan. I really don't care either way, he knows his name and that's it.

ps every one tells me what goes on here nissan and nosson??!!

greenfire

Sun, Jul 22 2007, 3:40 am

believe it or not ... any name used over and over becomes a habit and an easy mouthful ... should you decide to go that route ... I know many people who use their full and proper name and because they always do it is not such a tircha ...