Hi Swistle!
I’m an avid reader of yours, but not actually pregnant yet so I understand this question may be low priority. I send this with the hope that it will catch your interest, as I can’t find a similar discussion online, plus you and your readers are my favorite.
I have been trying to brainstorm a certain type of girls name. I’m drawn to them whenever I hear them, but they are hard to find because sometimes they are generated by a creative mind.
Basically they are medium-long, typically classic/traditional (at the very least recognizable), names that naturally (ish) shorten to a nickname that does not sound like a typical/traditional name. Obviously the categorization of typical/traditional is subjective in this case.
Examples:
Prudence –> Prue
Clementine –> Clem
Annalise –> Dise (prounounced Dees)
____ –> Len
____–> TruMore often than not I love the nickname, and either don’t know a full form or don’t love it. Prudence/Clementine are a little more obscure than I’m looking for in the root name. I’m desperate for more names that fall into this category so I can find the perfect mix where I like both forms. Also welcome to suggestions for long form of Len and Tru.
Emily
I am not sure I yet have my finger on what we’re looking for, but I am interested to try, and I have high hopes for the comments section. Is this at all the sort of thing you mean?
Alexandria – Lex, Xan, Andy, Dearie
Adelaide – Lady, Del
Anastasia – Taze
Bernadette – Bernie/Bennie
Camilla – Mills
Charlotte – Chaz
Charlotte – Chip
Clementine – Minty
Eleanor/Eleanora – Len
Elizabeth – Bet
Elizabeth – Bo
Evangeline – Van
Felicity – Flip
Gertrude – Tru
Helena – Len
Josephine – Fee
Katherine – Kit
Lenore/Lenora – Len
Madeleine – Del, Len
Meredith – Red
Penelope – Pip
Philippa – Pip
Rebecca – Bex
Roberta – Birdie
Savannah – Van
Susanna – Zan
Temperance – Perry, Ren
Valentina – Len
One way to get a nickname that is unconventional and yet easy to explain is to use initials. Let’s say your child’s surname started with a U; then you could name her Temperance Roberta U. and call her Tru. Or if her surname will not start with U., you could name her Temperance Roberta Ursula Smith, or do some fancy footwork with Temperance Ruth.
It’s too much to hope for, but it’s even possible the surname will lend itself to something many people try to avoid, which is having a first name the merges with the surname. Let’s say the surname were Rupert, and you named your daughter Juliet: many parents would avoid this combination because of the way the -t of Juliet blends with the Ru- of Rupert, but it would be a plus for anyone looking for the nickname Tru. Again, I realize this is a very unlikely scenario. But perhaps something to consider when looking for co-parents of future children. “Pardon me, cute stuff, but before I give you my number would you mind telling me your surname? And do you have a pen and paper so I can play with some combinations?”
Another way is to brazen it out. We have seen many, many parents on this blog who would like to use a nickname but can’t find or don’t like any long forms, and while you COULD for example name her Verity and then call her Tru as a clever joke, at a certain point I think there’d be less of an issue just saying, “This is Elizabeth Smith; we call her Tru.” Follow-up questions could be answered with “It was a baby nickname that just stuck” or “It just kind of happened!” or “Oh, it’s a long and boring story!”
Another option is to use the nickname you want as a middle name, and then use the middle name as one of her nicknames. Elizabeth Tru Smith, called Tru. Margaret Len Smith, called Len. “It’s her middle name” is a nice, simple explanation.
Name update:
Hi Swistle, I was encouraged by your reply to my comment to send in an update on an old, formerly hypothetical, opposite sex baby name update!
Last year we had a beautiful baby boy who we named August Oak, and we call him Gus 99% of the time. We love his name for it’s double barrelled nature-ness, it’s soft nickname, and the Oak is in honour of his great-grandma who didn’t quite get to meet him. I love the name August so much, and am sad that we don’t use it more! If he had been a girl, he would have been Ruby Joan (NN to be used abundantly: Rue). Thank you to you and all the readers for your helpful comments that did indeed pave the way for us to zero in on a girl’s name many years later!
Emily
A friends daughter is Evelyn Claire and they call her “Eclair!” It’s adorable and I wish I’d thought of it first!
Oh my, that is ridiculously adorable! *adds to list*
My husband’s cousin does the same- Elizabeth Claire in their case. It’s such a cute nickname!
Oh, I love these. I know a Helena who goes by Leni (pronounced Laney), and a Ryllis. I’ve always assumed Ryllis is short for Amaryllis, but I’m not sure.
I’m Victoria, nn Tori and, while I realize that Tori is not so uncommon now, growing up in the south no one had heard of it, even when they knew my name was VicTORIa (which is how my sassy 11 year old self would pronounce my name to the slower individuals I encountered). The story behind my nickname is that my mother is Vickie (just Vickie) and she thought Victoria was just too long for a small baby. I always enjoyed having a not-so-common name in a sea of Jennifers and Heathers (class of 1997), so I love your question and the thought behind it. My first thought is that any of the -lyn, -lynn, -lynne, -lin, -line names could give you a nickname of Len (Carolyn, Katelyn, Rosalyn, etc.) but since I don’t think that is really what you going for I just wanted to mention it. Trudy could be called Tru, of course, Trudy is just a diminutive of Gertrude that Swistle already suggested. I can’t really think of another ‘Tru,’ but thought I’d share a couple unusual nicknames for girls I’ve come across.
Tabitha nn Bea/Beata (my daughter when we lived in an area with a large Spanish-speaking population)Adalyn nn Al (my niece, nn given by my brother-in-law’s dad & my sister hates it)
Kimberly nn Berly
Gabrielle nn Bri (not such an unusual nn, but not the expected Gabby)
Jordan nn Dan/Dani
Mary Ann nn Mickie
Nicole/Nicolette nn Cole
Stacy/Anastasia nn Ace
Hillary nn Larry
Reagan nn Gunner
Hope this helps :)
So, I’m a Kim who went by Berley for a while (there was a Kimber at my school, and I still think that’s a great nn,) and as a stocky, sturdy girl- the burly connection did not last long. Kimber, however – that is the nickname that got away.
As an not-very-girlie Ashley, I’ve always been a little sad I never found a way to make Asher stick :) I did do “Allie” for a while, which came from a joke my friends in middle school started with “A-ley” ..which was then spelled “Allie” for simplicity. That DID stick through college, and some folks still call me that 10 years out!
Love this category of names and agree that it is difficult to search for.
Margaret — Mars (love this)
Any of the “bel/belle” names — Bell
Ellen — Len
Olivia — Ollie
Tru is a tough one. I agree with Swistle that some combination of initials would be the easiest route:
Theresa Ruth
Tabitha Ruby
Talia Ruth
Tessa Rumi
There’s always Trudy or straight up True, but not quite what you’re looking for, I’m sure.
Ooh, I actually know a Ta(h)lia Ruth!
Cleo for Clementine
Lola or Rory for Caroline (or just Caro)
Elsie (LC) for anything with the initials L.C.
I think this is one where you have to get truly creative and do something no one has done before (that you know of). Literally just make it up.
There’s always Aurora or Lorelai called Rory.
I’ve known two Elizabeths who were Biz.
Maybe Caroline called Caro.
Gabrielle called Brie
Gwendolyn called Wendy or Wen or I guess even Dolly
Not quite the same, but I know an Emily called Milly and one called Lily.
These are hard!
Oh, I once taught a Lorraine called Rainey, which I thought was cute. Again, maybe not quite the same category.
I thought of Elizabeth, nn Busy. The actress, Busy Philips, is an example.
The other day I ran across an Elizabeth who introduced herself as Eli. In all of the lists of Elizabeth’s million nicknames, I had never heard that one before.
Elena=Len
Vera (pronounced Veer-ah or Var-ah [like Sarah]) means truth. So Tru could be a potential nickname.
I also like the combination of a first name starting with T with the middle name Ruth to get Tru as suggested above. I.e., Teresa Ruth
Elise=Eli
Emilia=Emi
Margaret=Pearl
Aurelia=Ari
Here are a couple I know.
Mary Elizabeth nn Emmi (ME)
Kaitlyn Sierra nn Kasi
I went through my list of “names I like” and came up with kicky nicknames for as many as possible. This is what I got (some I’ve heard elsewhere):
Phoebe: Fifi, Bebe
Octavia: Tav, Tavi
Drusilla: Dru, Tru
Ivy: Vee
Miriam: Mim, Mimi
Henrietta: Honey (that’s a stretch, but I adore Honey as a nickname)
Bianca: Bicky, Bicca
Ophelia: Fee, Fifi
April: Ril, Rilla
Meadow, Maureen: Mo
Penelope: Poppy
Anais: Naia (ai pronounced as a long i)
Berenice: Nikay, (pronounced NEE-kay, after the Greek pronunciation of the last two syllables)
Nadine: Dena
Sigrid, Sydney: Sid
Monica: Nic
Judith: Jude (read this one recently in a book from the 50s)
Beatrice: Bix
Caroline: Caro
Delphine: Feen, Elfie
Margaret: Mags
There, that runs the gamut from inexplicable Victorian to field-hockey fervor.
We have a Beatrix we call Bix! The nn is totally what cemented that name for me.
Beatrix and Bix are both awesome! :)
I worked with a Beatrix who went by Beattie (she pronounced it as Bee-dee).
Well, for Tru I think of Gertrude & Trudy. You could perhaps also do something like Verity called Tru (Verity means truth). I might also look at rhyming names. Ruth-Rue, rhymes with Tru.
Len is a little easier I think. Lenore/Lenora, Eleanor, Ellen/Helen/Helena, Madeline.
You might like the Baby Name Wizard website. Their “baby name finder” tool will let you search for names that contain specific letter sequences. You could use it to type in various combinations that will sound like the nickname you want, and then you’ll get a list of names that contains those sequences.
If we had a daughter we were going to name her Valencia, nn Lenci! Len works well too :)
I also like Paulina, nn Pau (like Pow!)
I knew a girl named Nika (Nee-kuh), short for a Veronica.
I named my youngest Annika (Ann-ick-uh), planning to call her Nika too. (Unfortunately right after she was born a family member said that was a dumb name since her name isn’t pronounced with the same sounds, so it never stuck. :( )
My sister’s name is Nica, pronounced the same way. Her full name is Nicola.
Amelia-> Mimi, Mia
Beatrice -> Tris
Ellen -> Len, El, Ellie
Georgia -> GIgi
Genevieve – > Genny, Vivi
Gretchen -> Ren/Wren
Louise -> LuLu
Magdalena -> Len, Lena
Virginia -> Gini
Harriett -> Hattie
Penelope -> Nell/Nellie
Lenora -> Len, Nora
Truman/Truitt -> Tru
This is a great category! I know an Elizabeth called Biff and I’ve played with the idea of using Neva as a short form of Guinevere. It could work for Genevieve too, which is also shortened to Vieve (pronounced Veev) by a family member. Ro or Roz works for the Rose names. Vieve’s sister is Eleanora called Nell.
I love the name Bennie for a girl but dislike longer options…
I love Suzannah –> Zanna, Verity –> Vera (or True), and Penelope –> Poppy or Nell
As mentioned, Madeleine could become “Len” or I know one who goes by “Lane.”
Catherine/Kathryn/Katherine has lots of possibilities: Ryn, Rina, Wren, Trina, Thera, Theri, Kassie/Cassie.
Depending on the last and middle names, Margaret A, could yield Mac or Mat or Mal.
Just two examples of “brazening it out” to say that it can work. I know a very professional woman (think lawyer) whose name is very similar to Buffy and her given name has absolutely no relation to that. And she uses the nickname professionally too!
And I knew a girl growing up whose first name was NOT Isabella but she goes by Bella as that is what her family called her (beautiful in Italian).
I am currently reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio (only 3/4 through but would recommend). The main character’s sister name is Olivia nn Via which I found to be unexpected and lovely!
I have a student who goes by Miki for Michaela. I love the Miki spelling (she uses a variant spelling of the original name that includes a k).
Oh so interesting! I’m glad you posted! Swistle, you came up with some great ones!
I’ll add:
Juliet – Jhett or Jet or Jules, you could even go as far as Etta
Theodora – Thea. Love. But could potentially also get Tru if you stretched it!
Otelia or Ottilie or Ottilia – Thea. Tia. Of course more obvious Teely or Tilly.
Veronica. – Rooney. Love this. (Like Rooney Mara the actress). So spunky. But could also get Vera. Love. Nico. Love. Actually you can pull a ton of nn off of Veronica. I love this Veronica is a classic name yet it in itself is uncommon PLUS so many cool nicknames!!
I know someone named Madeleine called leine (pronounced Len)
My coworker has a daughter Charlotte who goes by Chet because that’s how she pronounced her name as a baby. It’s surprisingly cute! Coworker’s younger daughter is Fiona nn Fin, intentionally chosen to go with the Charlotte/Chet theme.
I also know a Arthur Charles Jr. who is called Archie and once babysat for a Zachary Edward called Zed. Not sure if that’s what you are talking about but those names made impressions on me.
I love this! I think I know what you mean…
Alice — Ace
Juliet — Jet, Juliette — Jett
Wilhelmina — Min or Minnie
Tallulah — Lou
Astoria — Story
Francesca — Chess
Margaret — Gray
Ottilie — Till
Alexandra — Xan
Magnolia — Noel
Also, my neighbors have 2 kids: Eloise and Barlow (boy), who go by Lollie and Bo, which is kind of similar!
Wow! I am the Emily behind the original question and I am so overwhelmed with these awesome responses! Swistle and commenters alike have all been right in the ball park. I do continue to find myself loving the nicknames and feeling so-so about the full name ( flip! Ren! Van! Mills!) but this has unearthed combos with two winners as well.
I love Margaret–> Mars, Caroline–> Caro, and the T_______ Ruth concept for Tru.
I am so happy others have enjoyed this topic, I am excited to employ some creativity and come up with more.
I once met an Amanda nn Anda, which floored me as I’d never heard that combination before and I loved it so much more than Mandy.
Apologies for any duplicates, and some are more common than others
Angela / Angelina / Evangeline = Jilly or Jelly depending on pronunciation
Catherine / Catriona / Kathleen / Kaitlyn = Cat / Kat
Victoria = Ria
Vitruvia (don’t know if this is even a name) = Tru
Marigold = Goldie
Letitia = Lettie
Charlotte = Lottie
Bridget = Bridie
Constance = Connie or Stan or Tansy
Sarah-Marie = Sammie
Veronica = Ron, Nic
Penelope = Pen
Rosalind etc = Roz
Azalea = Zale
Delphine, Delphina = Del, Fee
My favorite nn for Veronica is Vern…super cute and spunky. Plus maybe a better/more contemporary way to get to Vern than LaVerne.
Truly as the full name, nn Tru? I love that it sounds like a modern version of Julie.
A similar surname name I love is my mother’s maiden name, Tooley. After I heard that the actress Rooney Mara’s first name is from her mother’s surname I’ve been obsessed with Irish surname names. No good nn for it that I know of yet, unfortunately
Also love Evander (although I think it’s traditionally a male name) nn Van
Alexandra nn Lux
Tutu?
Tutu…as a possible nn to Tooley
We call our Felicity “Fliss” and also considered Liss/Lissy
Morgana/Morgan nn Moe
Katherine nn Rinn
Bernedette nn Birdy
Margaret – Rett
Theresa – Reese, Terra
Amelia – Mills, Mela
Ruby – Roo
Charlotte – Lottie
Anna – Nan
Rebecca – Beck, Reba
I know sisters named Meredith and Courtney, nn Mimi and Coco.
I know a Morgan – Mo and a Veronica – Vern (love this one).
Josephine –> Posy
Beatrice –> Betty, Bix
Katherine –> Kit
Florence –> Ren
Honora –> Annie, Nora
Vera –> Tru
Katarina –> Eka
Isabella –> Ella, Izzy
Francesca –> Chess
Matilda –> Tilly
Suzannah –> Sunny
Cecilia –> Sissy
Amelia –> Mia
Henrietta –> Hettie, Hennie, Hedda
Margaret –> Minni
Elizabeth –> Bessie
Dorothy –> Dot
Irene –> Ren
Jemima –> Birdie (a stretch)
Gwendolyn nn Winnie?
I know two Maureens, one called Mo the other Reenie. I also love some of the long lost nick names: Molly for Mary, Daisy for Margaret.
Any interest in the same type of list for Boys?
Robert- Bo
Christopher- Kit, Topher
John- Jack
Remington- Remy
I’m not as good as the other commenters
Surprised no one has suggested Trudell. It is a surname name, but is recognizable, and readily nicknames to Tru or Dell, both very neat.
My favorite way to get to Len is Ellen. Beautiful, underused, classic. My next favorite way to get to Len would be Helen. Maybe I like these equally……
Josephine – Poppy
Lavinia – Liv
Margaret – Pegeen, Peg, Midge
Elizabeth – Buffy
Here are a few personal examples:
I know an Elizabeth called “Bit” or “Bits”…stemming from her not being able to pronounce Elizabeth as a baby. Similar to the Charlotte/Chet scenario listed above. She would pronounce her name “Dibits”, which then transformed into “Bit” or “Bits”.
There are Elizabeths that I know who also go by Biz or Eli (ee-lie, not ell-ee).
I also now a Gwenyth who goes by “Winnie” which I think is adorable and different from the typical “Gwen”
I know a Josephine who goes by “Fini” pronounced like fee-nee (could also be spelled Phini)
I know a Bridget who goes by “Bridy” (Bride-ee) not to be confused with Birdy (Bird-ee)
Last, I know a Francesca who is called “Chessie”
I guess I know a few “different” nicknames that aren’t too “out there” =]
I had a great-aunt Genevieve who went by Gev
I have friends who have a daughter Loren and they call her Mia!!! And it’s not weird at all! Go with the nickname you love.
i’d add Fliss from Felicity-so cute–and Flip from Philippa. zan or Zanna or Zanny from Alexandra. From Lauren, Laurel, Lorelei etc, Lulu. From Beatrice, Bethany, etc, Boo. I know a Tallesin, goes by Tallie. Thalia–Tallie.
I know of a couple of little ones with names in this category –
Ramona -> Mo
Florence -> Ren
My own middle name is Ruth, so I’m intrigued by the idea of a T first name with Ruth to get to Tru. Tessa Ruth?
And Susannah/Susan -> Zuzu!
There was a mention of this classic nickname on Appellation Mountain not too long ago. I keep coming back to it.
I knew an Elizabeth who went by Zabby as in Eli-zab-eth
It’s always been one of my favorites.
Cosette called cozy
Penelope called pixie
Augusta called gus
I know an Adelaide who goes by Dee (you could also get Del, or Lady). I also know an Alexandria who goes by Dri (pronounced dree) and a Lorraine who goes by Rain or Lola.
Other ideas:
Maureen, Ramona, Monique, Monica, Morgan – Mo
Rowena, Rose etc – Ro
Antonia – Tone, Tones
Julia, Juliet – Jules
Marissa, Larissa – Riss
Camilla, Cameron – Cam
Linnea – Len
Florence – Flo
Sophia – Phi, Phia, Fifi
I don’t really get how Bo comes from Elizabeth, but I like Biz. I know Elizabeth’s who go by Bitsy, Liz, Beth, Liza, Lizza, Libby, Lily, and Zab.
Oh, I also know a Madeleine who sometimes goes by MEL, because it’s her initials.
Araminta nn Minty
October nn Toby
Josephine nn Joey
Alexandra nn Andie
Rebecca nn Bex
Christina nn Cricket
Elizabeth nn Birdie
Lydia nn Liddy
Definitely Araminta > Minty. I love that one and it popped to mind when I saw Minty in Swistle’s list.
I have heard Monty as a nickname for Monica before too!
I know a Carmella who his by Carm.
This is fun! We’re very, very strongly considering Helen for our baby girl due in May, and we’ll definitely call her Len/Lennie if that’s the name we choose.
We also considered Catherine Amelia (Cam) or Catherine Cecilia (Cece) and Rosalind Elise (Reese). For a future baby, I like Josephine Alice (Jack). A family name on my husband’s side is Bliss–we’ve considered Elizabeth with Bliss as a nickname.
I wish I could come up with a name or name combo that would result in Dean for a little girl. I think that would be so funny and charming. Gardenia? Hmm.
Claudine!
Geraldine –> Dean.
Nadine –> Dean
Any first name that has a Dee sound followed by Ann.
Deidre Ann –> Dean
Melody Ann –> Dean
Heidi Ann –> Dean
Cassidy Ann –> Dean
Jody, Edie, Indy, Cady, De’Andrea, Cindy, Wendy, etc.
Ha, this is genius!
I know a Margaret whose family calls her Grits. Unexpected, but kinda fun.
We have a Norah Elizabeth who we call Nori. I also recently met a Lenore who goes by Nori.
I know a girl named Sydney Alice and she goes by Sal. I also know twins named Aaron and Aidan who go by Aro (pronounced like arrow) and Dan (personally I think those are amazing nicknames) because the boys didn’t like having names so similar to each other.
Honestly, a name is what you make of it and nicknames can derive from so many things.
Elodie to Eddie
Leonora to Len
What about the names for nn. Tru
– female –
Trudence
Trudgard
Trudhild – Trudhilde
Altrud – Altruda
Bertrud – Betruda
Edeltrud – Edeltruda
Elftrud – Elftruda
Engeltrud – Engeltruda
Ermintrud
Hiltrud
Miltrud
Waltrud
Petrushka : Russian female form of Peter
– male –
Trudbert
Trudmar
Trudwin
Truman
Petrushko : Russian vorm of Peter
Not sure if this is what you had in mind, but today at the grocery store the college-aged girl who checked me out was named Chip. I asked her if it was short for anything and she said her full name is Charlotte. So there you go! Charlotte=Chip
Anyone have a good name that could lead to Remy for a boy? Don’t like the gun association with Remington (though I LOVE this name…ugh!) and not crazy about Remus with our last name (though the Harry Potter association is quite pleasing).
Almost five years later, you’re probably not still wondering, but Jeremy is a good name that can lead to Remy.
I once met a little girl at a kid birthday party named “Margot” whose parents called her Gogo. I thought that was pretty adorable.
I like Esperanza with nickname Spero/Sparrow. I especially like that Esperanza means “hope” and Spero means “I hope”!
My name is Lauren – I get a whole bunch of different nicknames: Loz, Lozzie, Laur, Lo, Lola… The list goes on! Haha