Here’s a lighthearted autistic rant from a certified Speckie about why parents are compelled to shorten names from their birth certificate original.
In particular is the name Sophia.
I can’t begin to tell you the number of times I’ve encountered the name “Sophie,” only to find out that the full name of the girl or woman is Sophia.
People name their baby Sophia, because – as I’m sure they’d tell anyone – “It’s a beautiful name.”
Another reason could be that Sophia is the name of a grandmother or a parent’s aunt.
Sometimes, people give their kids a name because it’s a character in a cherished book.
But regardless of the reason, they’d surely tell you that “Sophia” is a lovely name.
So why, very early on (and I’m sure even during infancy) in their daughter’s life, do they start calling her Sophie?
Sophia and Sophie don’t sound all that alike. I mean, they kind of do, but they don’t sound as alike as, for instance, Sophia and Sothia, for example.
Why don’t they just continue calling their baby the name they proudly put on the birth certificate: Sophia?
Why does seemingly every Sophia out there become a Sophie?
The same can be said of many other names, such as:
- Jacob to Jake
- Ironically, most Jasons are still called Jasons instead of Jase.
- Delilah, Dakota, Deondra, Deanna, Denise and Delores all become Dee.
- Madelyn to Maddie
- Abigail to Abby
- Isabelle to Izzy or Belle
- Valerie to Val
- Joshua to Josh
- Ironically, we never hear Justin getting shortened to Jus. It’s always “Justin.”
In fact, nearly every name of at least two syllables has a very often-used shortened version, also called a diminutive.
In addition, nearly every parent of a child with a name of two or more syllables starts calling them a shortened version very early on in their life.
Perhaps the full version — which they know doggone well they’re not going to use in everyday life — is put on the birth certificate so that they have a name to call their child when the child misbehaves.
For example, “SopheeUH, I told you to clean up your room before we go to the park! SopheeUH, get in here right now and pick up all your things!”
If Sophia is autistic, she might come into the room, pick her items up from the floor and then drop them and leave.
I just had to say that; we Autists often take things too literally.
But anyways, humor aside, you get the drift: The full name is commonly used when the parent is angry at the child.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t use the full and “beautiful” name in everyday speak to that child or when mentioning the child to someone else, such as, “Sophia’s working on her science fair project.”
- Is “Sophia” or “Jacob” too difficult to pronounce?
- Are Abigail, Delilah, Deondra, Madelyn and Isabella tongue twisters?
Now, I’m sure there are cases in which McKenzie herself one day decides that being called Kenz is cool, and directs people to call her this, even though her parents have always called her McKenzie.
And Robert himself may truly prefer Bert even though his parents have always called him Robert.
But let’s face it: In the vast majority of cases, it’s the parents who start using the diminutive, even within a week of the baby’s birth.
What’s really ridiculous is when a name that’s only two syllables gets shortened to one. I don’t mean Thomas to Tom, Steven to Steve or Jazmine to Jazz.
I mean schmaltzy shorts, such as:
- Hannah to Han
- Carrie to Care
- Marnie to Mar
- Jake to Jay
- Abby to Abs
- Rose to Ro
- Lorra to Lor
A foreman at work once started calling me Lor. What – “Lorra” was too difficult for him to pronounce?
What was he trying to prove? He and I were NOT the least of buddies or on social terms. Not the least. We never small-talked or joked with each other. And no, he did NOT have a crush on me. No way.
After hearing “Lor” several times I requested he call me by my actual name: Lorra. (And he did).
I noticed he’d been shortening other peoples’ names as well. Why?
As I look back, I realize this man might’ve been on the Spectrum. He was odd, and though middle age was living with his mother and had never married.
And that’s all okay! I’m autistic, middle age and have never been married.
But I’m not going to give unauthorized shorts to people’s names in an attempt to connect with them, which might have been this man’s reasoning to call people by schmaltzy shorts of their names, like Cheek for Chico. Good Lord.
I’m sure that somewhere out there is a lot more than one parent who’s begun calling their daughter “Sof,” a sappy diminutive of Sophie, pronounced like soap with an F.
Just like Delores can become Del, and then eventually D.
This happens all the time with all sorts of names. And often, it’s the friends of the individual who one day begin using a sappy diminutive, and often just the first letter of their name.
I know a Delilah whose parents began calling her Lilah as she got older, and then after several years, began calling her “D.” Weird.
- Why not just stay with what’s on the birth certificate?
- What am I missing here?
By the way, what name has the most known diminutives? By “known” I mean conventional or commonly used.
Second question: What common abbreviation has the most root names?
So for the first question, an example would be Christina, which spawns Christy, Chrissy, Chris and Tina.
The abbreviations have to be legit, meaning, we can’t just make them up to come up with the most. For instance, “Ti” and “Na” don’t count for Christina.
As for shorts with possible root names, an example would be Mel. Root origins could be Melanie, Melody, Melissa, Melinda and Melvina.
I’m pretty sure that the name with the most possible (and legitimate) shorts is Elizabeth: Ellie, Eliza, Liza, Liz, Lizzy, Beth, Betsy, Betty and Libby.
And I’m pretty sure that the diminutive with the most possible roots is Allie: Alicia, Alyssa, Allison, Alexa, Alexia, Alexis, Alexandra, Alexandria, Aliyah, Alice, Allegra, Alberta, Althea, and there’s several more, but I’ll stop here.
I’ve been using “traditional” spellings for the names in this article, even though I’ve had a lifelong hyperfixation on the many different ways that a female name can be phonetically spelled (e.g., Sopheah looks way cooler than Sophia).
But I kept the spellings traditional for better ease at understanding my perspective about abbreviations or nicknames for root names.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my very unconventional perspective on this topic!
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness, where she was also a group fitness instructor, she trained clients of all ages for fat loss and maintaining it, muscle and strength building, fitness, and improved cardiovascular and overall health. She has a clinical diagnosis of ASD.
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