Nathan/Nathaniel

[Deleted]

I like Nathan but my husband likes Nathaniel. I think we would still call him Nate or Nathan but my husband thinks Nathaniel flows into our favorite middle name which starts with J. Thoughts? Stupid to put a name on a birth certificate and never call him that?

[billyhorrible]

1) I like Nathan, I love Nathaniel
2) As far as "a name on the birth certificate you'll never use," I don't know that you can say that, this early in the game.

My parents named me "Elizabeth" (not my name, but something similar) intending on only calling me "Liz." I was "Liz" my whole life...until I graduated from law school. Now I really appreciate having my full name be "Elizabeth" from a professional aspect. I don't know that men have the same hangups (I've worked for a Dick, Andy, Gabe, Dan, etc. ) but it's nice for him to have the option (this goes for Nathan too)

Conversely, we named my son "Robert" intending to call him "Robbie" as a child. Fast forward 5 years and I never call him "Robbie" I always use "Robert."

[Deleted]

That's what I love about both names. He can make the name more adult as he grows up. And I suppose if he prefers Nathaniel he can say so! I had a friend in college who introduced himself to me as "Tommy" as a freshman and by senior year was introducing himself as "Tom" or "Thomas."

[honeylemon]

I love Nathaniel. I'd use the full name.

My name actually is Elizabeth and my parents called me a version of it as a child. I go by Elizabeth now and I'm extremely happy I have that option.

[honeylemon]

Oh, and I have a cousin named Nathaniel who goes by his full name as an adult.

[seamonster]

Nathan is far superior to Nathaniel. You can use Nathan as a nickname for Nathaniel, but I would just use the name you plan to use as it is a formal name. If you go with Nate either one is fine.

[Widget123]

I prefer Nathan or Nathaniel as the given name, either or. No to Nate as the given name.

[Deleted]

Nathaniel gives you all the best options.

[icedtea]

I prefer Nathaniel to Nathan. Either one can be Nate or Nathan and then he has options when he's older too.

[normadix]

Dec 1, 2016 9:29:51 GMT -5 icedtea said:

I prefer Nathaniel to Nathan. Either one can be Nate or Nathan and then he has options when he's older too.

This
And it was almost DS2's name but it just sounded bad with our last name.