Annoying name shortening trend

My name is Kathleen but I am called Kathy, Kathleen or Kate/Katy depending where in the country, or world, I am.
Kathleen was only ever family and my mother detested it to be shortened going so far as to tell others not to do it.
Kathy came about when I moved to London aged 18 and everyone started calling me Kath, which I hated but I don't mind Kathy.
Now where I live I'm Kate, except for my lovely postman who decades later, although he knows I am Kate, calls me Kath!
My mother was Aggie until she was about 60 and started requesting to be called Agnes. Amazingly, all her friends of 50 odd years did. Her middle name was Caroline and when I asked why she didn't choose to be called that when she was younger as it was a prettier name said she didn't like it.

BTW did you also have nicknames- we all did at school- sometimes based on the shortened version, or on parents nicknames, events, likes, dislikes... etc.

I associated my name with a not very happy childhood, so just junked it altogether when I was sixteen, and have been my present name happily ever after!

I didn't like shortened names either. I tried to pick names that wouldn't be shortened. Daughter is Selina. She gets called Sels!!!!

I worked with a headmaster who like to shorten all the staff' names to show he was on friendly terms with them: Margaret was Mags, Russel; was Rus, ones he couldn't shorten were lengthened: Frank was Frankie, Sue was Sussie, Even Tony became Tone.
He always called me Kate - perhaps he didn't like me!

why is it annoying, necessarily? If it is for you, say so, I made the mistake to call a neighbours son Tim instead of Timothy- and it was clear she did not like it. So I never did it again.

It so personal.

BrandyGran

Once trying to put a new member of our sewing class at ease I asked her name. She told me it was Winifred. I then asked ,again trying to be friendly, if she was ever called Winnie. She took a step back and said"Why would I want to be called Winnie when I have told you my name is Winifred "!
She turned out to be great fun and I now totally respect what she did.

My Mum was Winifred, no other names. The friend she lived with while working in London called her "Pooh" as in Winnie-the-!

When my brother was born 61 years ago and my gran was told the name chosen, she didn't like it because she said it would get shortened. She was the only one in the family who ever called him the shortened name she'd objected too.

I think whatever name you have or give your child , somewhere along the way it will get shortened from or lengthened.
Can’t see a problem unless the actual person really objects.
Our DGS who is 18 is often called simply by his initial.
All our family have ‘pet names’
of some sort.
Youngest DGS couldn’t say one of his devoted aunties names and always calls her Bob.

yggdrasil

I managed to foil anyone shortening my name by ignoring them. My sister is called Sheena, they can't mess with that my mother thought. She was known as Shee to all her friends, andthat was in the 50s!

My Mum thought my sister's name (Julie)couldn't be shortened. "Ju" anyone?

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

When you meet someone firstly, they call you Mr or Mrs so and so. When they get to know you better, they shorten the name.
My neighbour calls me b !!

I don't mind nicknames, what I don't like is when the shortened version is actually on the birth certificate. Like Terry instead of Terence. Or one famous one - Archie!

Greta,i think that is a brilliant theory.

I think it's totally up to the person the name belongs to. I always thought the full version of my name meant I was in trouble about something!

We spent time choosing names that couldn’t easily be shortened but DS - Alisdair is now Al or his surname with a ‘y’ added on the end and DD - Shona is now Shonz which started when she was in Australia- hey ho! I still love them

My granddaughter (5) said her mummy had 2 mummy's, myself (Jo or JoJo) and another one called Joanna! To add to her confusion her brother calls me GG.

At primary school we had a Geoffna & Gordna; very odd nicknames for Geoffrey and Gordon. I also worked with someone who got his usual name from being known as "young Eck" as a child. Eck being his father's nickname & nothing to do with him at all.

Lots of parents use pet names for their children and lots of husbands and wives have pet names for each other.

This is fine as long as the person addressed by a pet name is content with it.

When I was six, I asked my mother not to use my pet name in front of my school friends, and she agreed not to, as she could see they might tease me.

I have all my life just refused to answer if people used a form of my name that I didn't care for.

On one or two occasions I have felt ridiculous calling an adult woman "Baby" or "Pusskins" or some such nursery name, but if that is how these people want to be addressed then it really isn't any business of mine.

Prince William was called 'Wills' as a child - it's not a new thing and if the royals do it it must be OK!

My name had often been shortened to Babs but a friend at school used to call me Bappy!! Husband calls me B which is now used by kids partners - find it quite affectionate. Get slightly annoyed at comical women being called Barbara -as in Royal Family! There also used to be an advert for tough kitchen roll - used by ‘Barbara and Maureen’ - have good friend called Maureen?‍♀️

I only ever use the short form of my name (3letters) I much prefer it
My sons name can’t be shortened, my youngest daughters name only has three letters anyway but my eldest is shortened by me and people that are very close friends but not by herself

Only one of my 7 grandkids has a name that can be shortened and that one that can be shortened is what most are given as the actual name anyway

There are some names I hate being shortened like Alexandra to Alex or Lexi, Victoria to Vicky, Rebecca to Becky. My name is a long name so I do not like it being shortened. It is Christina and I hate it being shortened to Tina.

While growing up I knew my mother's older siblings as;
Puggy, Peenie, Pinie, Pelly, Piz and Bun. They were actually , as I later discovered, Margaret, Jean, Georgina, Helen, Elizabeth and Daniel. They'd been 'created ' when they were children, and they were their lifelong names within the family.

I used to call our youngest son 'Toddler', which was soon shortened to Tod. Many of his friends still call him this, although at 56yrs old its a long time since he toddled.

I only got called my proper name by my late Dad, I've been various diminutions of Margaret since adulthood but can't abide being called Mags!!