Recently, I’ve noticed a couple of different nicknames that jumped out at me as pretty cool and went on my consideration list for a future child or story character. Only when considering them together did I realize they all rhyme — honest-to-goodness, I had not realized that until seeing them together. Weird! I often see themes emerge in parents’ naming discussions and decisions that they sometimes are not aware of (like, they haven’t realized that all the names on their short list have an obvious long a sound: Kate, Mae, Aiden, Nathan, and Peyton), and was interested to see that happen to my own self. These were the nicknames:
Caddy: I’d seen this as a nickname for Caroline. Cute! I love the name Caroline, but don’t care for the more obvious/traditional nicknames of Carrie or Caro. Caddy is totally my style.
Taddy: I know two little boys with this nickname, both with the given name Thaddeus. It is a-dorable for a little boy, and Tad has totally grown on me for a teenager/man. Nevermind that I think Thaddeus is just the coolest.
Natty: I have a new-ish friend Natalie who goes by Natty. Natalia’s been on my list for a long time, but I never knew what nickname I’d want to use — I was aware of Natty but it never appealed to me, until knowing the Natty I now know. I think it’s really sweet.
Batt(y): I read that Batt is a traditional nickname for Bartholomew, and since Bartholomew is right up my alley (see Thaddeus above) but I could never see being okay with Bart as the nickname, I was really excited to see Batt. My mind continued along, picturing a baby Bartholomew-called-Batt and imagining Batt turning into Batty once in a while, as names of babies often do, and I was a little swoony about cute that was … but then, I remembered that “batty” isn’t really a great thing to be called. Batt is still cool.
What about you? Have you recognized any themes in your name taste? Maybe you love names starting with a certain letter? Or containing a certain sound? Or of a certain length?
Sancta Nomina 
Yes, I too am a Catholic name nerd and have found unexpected themes in my naming. We have two so far (a boy and a girl – so we’ve gotten to try our hand at each gender), and apparently I have a “thing” for the “th” sound… Thaddeus (amen!), Mathias, Tabitha, and Timothy,Theodore/Theodora were all on my list for #1. Guess what his final name was? Nathaniel! (middle name “James”.. and yep, he goes by the full Nathaniel).
Baby girl was harder to name, and we stumbled upon another theme in not just my taste, but in our shared taste.. the “an” sound. Dh wanted to name DD just “Anne,” but I couldn’t bring myself to have a NathANiel and an Anne together. I also noticed we were in danger or rhyming nicknames (I had pondered Katherine/ “Kate” for short… there’s that “th” again… but then realized we could end up with a “Nate” and “Kate”- eek). My top vote was Eliza… a total departure from all these themes… but Dh nixed it. So what was the final decision? Julianne (Clare as her middle name). So we managed to get the “an” and about 5 saints squished in there. 🙂 (Also, St. Anne interceded for DD during a major crisis in the pregnancy… so I couldn’t walk away from her completely :)).
You have a neat blog… looking forward to following! (Sorry for the crazy-long comment!)
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Isn’t that funny! I love Thaddeus and Mathias, both on my list! And I’m swooning over your kids’ names! Nathaniel and Julianne are gorgeous. I don’t mind long comments one little bit!
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I thought this post was going to be a (much needed) discussion on the correct nickname for St. Patrick. Too many people call it St. Patty’s Day which kills me, especially now that I have a Patrick who we call Paddy!
As far as the actual discussion, 🙂 I realized that I have a Miriam and now a William who we call Liam. Apparently we like that “iam” sound, but I don’t think it’s very noticeable as I’m about to have our eighth, there are a lot of names!
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Ah Theresa, you’re so right! St. Patty’s Day drives me right up the wall too! Paddy’s adorable, how nice! Funny about Miriam and William/Liam … I was just thinking today I also like Jess, Tess, and Cass … one of the many benefits of large families is not having to worry too much about this kind of stuff, because all the other names balance it out!
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[…] amazing but maybe somewhat heavy-for-everyday-use names here at Sancta Nomina. Solanus. Cornelius. Bartholomew. Quadragesimus. Amazing names for amazing people; names that call to mind feats of faith, lives […]
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[…] Caroline nicked Caddy or Cassie (or Catherine) Yes, another not-so-unusual given name idea, but I saw Caddy as a nickname for Caroline a while ago and thought it was brilliant. I love Callie too, but thought it was too close to Ellie. […]
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