A woman has taken to Mumsnet to ask for advice after her husband decided he no longer wanted to use their son’s nickname, and instead, preferred to use his full name
Picking out a baby’s name is no walk in the park – it’s a tag they’re lumbered with for life. Imagine finally agreeing on the perfect name for your little one, only for your partner to later snub it as “babyish”.
That’s the dilemma one mum found herself in after her hubby did a 180 in his opinion on their son’s nickname. They settled on Daniel for their boy, planning to call him Danny for short. Recently, the top 100 baby names in the UK were revealed, with some popular names taking a nosedive. But as the tot grew up, her partner gave the thumbs down to Danny, branding it too infantile, and started to push for everyone to use his full name.
Baffled, the mum aired her woes on Mumsnet, sharing that Daniel, now two, had been known by both names since he was born.
She pointed out nobody had ever been told to stick to “the full Daniel,” with relatives and his nursery happily using Danny.
The mum explained: “Now my husband is saying that he always agreed that he could be Danny when little but would be Daniel when older. He feels Danny is babyish. I do remember when discussing names we liked the idea he would have the option of a nickname or full name but I do not remember ever agreeing on this.”
Her assumption was that Daniel would naturally pick the name he fancied as he got older, and they’d honour his pick.
“His speech is nowhere near good enough to communicate that yet. He is also only two, still in nappies and in my eyes is definitely still very little,” she remarked, revealing her husband’s insistence on informing the nursery that his name is Daniel, arguing against the use of a nickname.
She voiced her worries her husband’s intention to make a formal announcement to her family about using only ‘Daniel’ could lead to an “argument” due to existing “past tension”.
On the parenting site, one person advised her husband to “lighten up”, while others weighed in with comments such as: “It seems like a very strange thing to get het up about. Is he ok? You can’t control what people call him, it’s very common to call someone Danny and there’s nothing wrong with that. You can’t stop him from making his announcement but no one has to obey him.”
Another added: “‘When he’s older’ is not yet. You need to assert yourself to your husband and tell him that you don’t agree. He doesn’t get to unilaterally decide this.”
One Mumsnet user pointed out the futility of the father’s demand: “He is being ridiculous. It is also pointless. I have really never come across a child named Daniel whose peers did not call him Dan or Danny. Your DS [darling son] will work this out himself as he gets older. It is also odd to try and impose this now after others have already been using a nickname. Your DH [darling husband] should call him Daniel himself and that should suffice.”