Calling Our Son by the Name We Want...

I think if you clearly explain that instead of choosing a name for him you honored him and his birth mother by keeping his given name of JIMMY and you would love for him to be reminded of her love for him in his name so please use his full name when speaking to or of him.

T. I understand where you are coming from. We named our second child Stephen after my dad, My dad goes by Steve but he is older and that is his choice. I have several neighbors that try to call my son steve, or stevie. My son only responds to stephen and this had made several of the people frustrated. I then say try calling him Steephen that is his name. When we were trying to pick a name for our third child we ended up going to Logan instead of Geoffrey because Iwould want him called Geoffrey not Geoff, or Jeff. Jeffy.... I feel that the name we choose for our children is a gift.. it is the one thing just for them that It took so much time and effort to choose for them. Make it clear what you would like your son to be called and when he gets older he will make his own choice. I guess I get this from Mom she named me D. and she never let anyone call me Danny she would aways say I named her D., please call her that. I hope this helps.

People are always going to call him something 'for short' or that they think is 'cute'. My advice...get used to it! There are going to be so many other positive things to concentrate on as your little one gets older, you'll look back and giggle that you thought so much about this topic!

If you are bent on him being called Jimmy...speak up!

~L.

I say go ahead, sound snotty, LOL, but I'm a loud mouth when it comes to standing up for what I want (usually). I wouldnt intenionally try to sound snotty, but I would definetly say something like "Actually, I'd like him to hear his name as Jimmy until he decides it to be different when he's older" and if they take it snotty, I wouldnt worry about it.
I think as long as your intentions are good, its not out to criticize them, they will most likely understand.

When I had my son, I named him Dylan and my uncles started to nick-name him Dil-doe. Umm, Not OK. I came un-glued, they now call him Dylan and no other nick name.
GL.

I agree, stand your ground and who cares if they think you are snotty. Our dd#2 is Carrington. Everyone insist on calling her Carrie (bad name association for us). At a family gathering right after she was born my hubbys aunt said we were acting ridiculous and caused a big fuss but we said too bad! They all got over it! And the topic never came up again.

Good luck. I have two sons and my mother-in-law will call them everything but their given name. A couple of examples are "Jonathon" when my son's name is John. The other "Roscoe" for a son's whose name is Rocco. I think it's something we just can't control and need to let it go.

I have to agree with Tamara W below. I think people who choose to call a person by shortened name are being rude and inconsiderate unless that is how that person is introduced.
My DH's name is Patrick, and that is the name he prefers. It drives him crazy when people call him Pat. Why? Because that's not his name!! People should not just assume that it's ok to use another name. If your child should decide he would like to go by Jim when he is older that is fine if it's his decision. But for the time being I would gently correct these people, and let them know that you are calling him Jimmy, not Jim.

we have all kinds of different names for our kids
(cooper is sometimes called coop,, or buddy or bud). isabella grace was supposed to be called bella grace. but she is called just bella for the most part. i figure as long as i and they have these family members in our/their lives we are blessed and lucky. and i could care less what they call them . as long as they are treating them with respect and kindness and love them. there are so many people in the world who don't have family, or family that is calling them things like idiot, stupid, a$$hole, B!tch, Ba$____@____.com, etc.

maybe this is where your other family members are coming from and don't see your point. i can see both sides,, but you have to ask yourself , is it worth it? are you willing to 'die' on that mountain top? pick your battles. makes less stress for you in the long run don't you think?
good luck.. and if you do decide to pick that as a battle you feel you have to fight,, remember, what goes around comes around. i've been on both sides... can be pretty humbling when it comes back around.

I know what you're saying. We named our daughter Abigail, and the problem we have is with our own family spelling Abby correctly. We have gotten cards, gifts, etc., with Abi, Aba and other on it. We spell it Abby if we go short, but for the most part we call her Abigail. I think sometimes people just shorten and try to cuten names when people are babies. They probably aren't meaning to be rude by it, but it does get annoying. Hang in there!

If you decide to say something, the sooner the better--if they call him "Jim" for too long, it will become habit.

I have to agree with some of the other moms. I don't see it as a big deal, none of my kids are called by thier given names, everyone in the family shortens and calls them something different, My youngest is called pickles by his older brother and will answer him with that name (he is 17 months and his given name is Aiden). In reality even you guys as his parents aren't calling him by the name he was given. I guess that isn't what you wanted to hear... sorry :).

I have dealt with this for years. My son's name is Michael and that's what I want him called or Mic, and my husband's name is Mike--yet we still get many people calling him Mike.

After nicely telling people, you either have to ignore it, or come straight out and tell them that is not what you are calling him.

I also have people call me "Tammy", even after I have introduced myself as T.! I think they are being rude, so in my opinion I do correct them! My neighbors have even called me on the phone and said "Can I speak with Tammy?", and I say "This is T.."

Iritating isn't it?

GL:)

My son's name is Kenneth (named for one of his grandfathers) and we decided early on that we'd never call him "Kenny" (a person we knew from a club). It just takes persistence and consistency - Kenneth is six now and corrects people on his own!

Hi T.,
Maybe I'm in the minority here but I don't think it's a big deal. Why did you name him James if you wanted to call him Jimmy? I'm not trying to be snotty but my husband and I didn't want our kids names to be shortened so we named them Noah and Owen. That's what people call them.
Chris

I would just tell people that his name is Jimmy (or James if you want) and that's it. You and joke about it but still be firm. Maybe even have your husband say something to the family members. Then you won't have that "snotty" mom feeling. :) I have a younger sister named Katelyn and when she was born the name Katie was very popular and often used as a shortened version of Katelyn. My mom made it very clear right from the beginning that she was not to be called Katie. Kate was okay, but not Katie, and our family respected that. Just be clear and explain that you did not name your child Jim. You named him James with the intention to call him Jimmy and that is final. :) Good luck!