Can I name DS Nathaniel with nickname Neil?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I personally am a little irritated by the nicknames that are totally different from the first names. My son has a friend with that situation, and it took me a while to figure out how to contact him for parties, play-dates, etc., because he was listed in the directory and class lists by his given name, which my son had never heard of. He kept insisting there was a boy named X in his class, and I was like, well, I have no idea who he is.

I imagine that people have similar problems with things like resumes, background checks, mail, airline tickets, etc. (Small similar example, which is that I know someone who uses a slightly different name for professional purposes. She had an airplane ticket bought for her for a conference by the sponsoring organization, and she wasn't able to board the plane because the ticket did not match the name on her driver's license.)

Clearly you can do whatever you want. But I think that the purpose of a name is to know what to call someone. And if you're not going to call them that, then why name them that?

Birth certificate or bust!

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks, ppl. I’m off Neil. Nate is fine. Sometimes these ideas just pop in my head.

[Anonymous]

Neil IS a formal name. It's not a nickname like Kathy. So if you name your DS Neil, that's perfectly acceptable name.

Wow, I've never heard of a girl named Neil, and I would view that as ridiculous. However, I had never heard of a girl named Taylor years ago. That was traditionally a boy's name. So if you really think there is a trend toward feminizing the name, I would not name the boy Neil.

[Anonymous]

Good choice OP. Nate is a great nickname!

[Anonymous]

Is Neal and Neil pronounced the same? I've also never met a girl named Neil.

[Anonymous]

I think Neil is an awesome name. If we’d had a boy, that was my #1 choice.

Didn’t anyone watch white collar? Neil Caffrey was so suave.

[Anonymous]

I've got a Nathaniel nicknamed Nate. People love to say Nate, and it's a friendly, solid-sounding name.

[Anonymous]

Nathaniel, Nathan, Nate, Neil—these are all really bad names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Neil is becoming popular with girls. I think it's just a few families. I think it's like Evan, or James, or Wesley or August. A solidly male name that a few people, for whatever reason, give to their daughters.

I think Neil is OK, and Nathaniel is fantastic, so i'd never use Neil as a nickname for Nathaniel, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't. However, I don't really follow your reasoning for not just naming him Neil.

np. This is the name I disagree with as being solely male. I think August is a name that could be boy or girl. While traditionally June has been a month for girls I don't see why boys could be named June, although in our culture it is only seen acceptable to name girls that were boy's names rather than the other way around. Mark Zuckerberg named his daughter August!

What makes "August" more masculine that James?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never heard of any girl called/named, Neil.

DD8 has a girl named Neil in her class at school.

And I went to high school with a girl named Gregory. Just because there’s one out there doesn’t mean it’s a trend—probably a family thing.

I know a boy named Jonathan who goes by Nathan—that seems to work well.

[Anonymous]

Go for Neil if you like it! It’s a solid name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks, ppl. I’m off Neil. Nate is fine. Sometimes these ideas just pop in my head.

Nate is a much nicer name than Neil. Good choice.

[Anonymous]

I think Nate or Nat are best NNs

[Anonymous]

Does not work. Nate or Nathan as nicknames for Nathaniel work. If you like Neil (I don't) name him Neil Nathaniel or Nathaniel Neil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Neil is becoming popular with girls. I think it's just a few families. I think it's like Evan, or James, or Wesley or August. A solidly male name that a few people, for whatever reason, give to their daughters.

I think Neil is OK, and Nathaniel is fantastic, so i'd never use Neil as a nickname for Nathaniel, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't. However, I don't really follow your reasoning for not just naming him Neil.

np. This is the name I disagree with as being solely male. I think August is a name that could be boy or girl. While traditionally June has been a month for girls I don't see why boys could be named June, although in our culture it is only seen acceptable to name girls that were boy's names rather than the other way around. Mark Zuckerberg named his daughter August!

What makes "August" more masculine that James?

Augustus Caesar was very masculine!