This one...concerns his name.
My son's full name is Zachariah Matthew Lastname*. When we chose his name, we chose is knowing that it was a bit different but recognizable. Plus the potential for a nickname was very common.
We knew by picking the name Zachariah it would get shortened to Zac. And it has. Even when he was a baby, most people that heard his name instantly asked "So do you call him Zac?" Yes, we did. Most people do. I, more than anyone, call him Zachariah. But I still call him Zac often as well. Probably 50/50 given name/nickname. With other people it's more like 80/20 nickname/given name or maybe more like 90/10 really.
I don't mind that people call him Zac, I really don't. But I do love the name Zachariah. That's probably why I've been calling him by that more and more.
Earlier this week Zachariah had a profound thought. I don't know where it came from or why, but he shared with me.
"Mom, when I was a baby, I was Zac. Now I'm bigger, and I'm Zachariah."
Me: "Oh, so you'd like to be called Zachariah now?"
Z: "Uh huh!"
So, it's been decreed. He wants to be called Zachariah all the time now. I'm fine with that, we'll just have to "retrain" everyone else.
I already had him inform my mom of the change on the phone, because she rarely calls him Zachariah and instead prefers the shortened Zac. She asked him "But can't I call you Zac? I like calling you that." His answer? "No, I'm Zachariah."
I love it. I'm fine with it. In fact I might even prefer it. That has changed over the years for me, but that's OK. I love his given name (I wouldn't have chosen it for him if I didn't). And I love that he wants to use it all the time now.
My only dilemma...I didn't think he'd be this opinionated about it until he was older.
I always figured at some point in his life, he'd decide he always wanted to be called Zachariah or Zac. I just thought it would be when he was 10 years old or older.
Is 3 too young to be telling us things like that? I don't know.
For now we'll go with it. I'll have to teach him to tell people he'd prefer Zachariah, so that they won't offend him. Ha. And I wonder if some day he'll change his mind again.
(On another funny note, this is too good to not tell. Zachariah says "rued" instead of "ruined". Like..."Mom, did you just rue that paper." Or..."Dad rued it, Mom!" Don't know why, but that totally cracks me up. We try correcting him, but he keeps saying it.)
*Not really our last name....I hope you realized that.
Posts
10 comments:
Katherine always preferred her full name and corrected anyone who called her "Kate" or "Katie" from a very young age. I'll be interested to see if/when Eli ever prefers Elias.
Addy went through a stage of only wanting to be called Adelay. It only lasted a few weeks, though, and then she sort of forgot about it.
We call Eli "Elias" more and more as he gets older and it seems to fit better. He's started referring to himself sometimes as "Erias," so maybe he'll end up liking that better eventually. But like you, since both their names are a tad unusual, I wanted them to at least have the OPTION of a short, more common nickname to go by if that's what they preferred.
We have a Clayton that we call Clay (actually most of the close relations/friends call him Clay-Clay because he was so much like Jack-Jack in The Incredibles). He started Kindergarten this year and we had a long talk about what he wanted to be called. He picked Clay but I have seen him write Clayton on several of his school papers. When I ask him about it he just says that sometimes he feels like Clayton.
We have a lot of things we say like the kids did when they were little. I love the "rue" for ruin...and sometimes you may very well rue something that gets ruined!!
I have so many nicknames for my kids. Sara's name is Sara D'Nae (pronounced duhnay)
I call her NANIE, Poopsie (when she was smaller), Old Lady (because she moves slooooooow), and Nanester.
TC's name is Tony Carl and he goes by Tony at school but not at home because that is Hubs' name. So at home he is brother or TC or whatever nickname I feel like calling him (sugar cheeks or something like that!) He is probably sooooooo confused!
We chose Adam because we figured it wouldn't get nicknamed. I started calling him Addy the day he was born and I use that with him most of the time when we're at home. When we're out and about and with others I call him Adam, don't want to confuse people, but I do slip up.
Well, they all call him Adam at school and he doesn't like it. He prefers Addy. My husband, of course, refuses to allow that so he's decided it's ok to be Addy just at home.
Now Elizabeth has all sorts of possibilities but Adam refuses to let us call her anything but because he says her name is Elizabeth, nothing else. Go figure.
That's so cute!
Ali did this once she started school last fall. Ali came home one day and said she was Alice. She told all her playgroup friends not to call her Ali. Later she explained that she was baby Ali but now she wants to be a big girl. DH and I still call her Ali but she's pretty consistent about telling others "I'm NOT Ali, I'm Alice!" (We then had to have some conversations about tone of voice and being rude...)
That is cute and I love that he already has his own opinion on this!!
I think that is all kinds of awesome! Nothing wrong with knowing what he wants, esp when it's something as personal as a name.
We call Gillian a nickname most of the time at home- either Gilly, Gilly Billy, Gilly Bean, something like that. At school this year she didn't tell anybody to shorten it and so everybody always calls her Gillian. I've noticed that she's started to tell just a few of the girls she likes best that they can call her Gilly.
I love having a long name and nickname choices. He can change his mind back and forth as he gets older. :)
My Zachary is quick to correct any of us that his name is NOT Zach, but I'm not sure that he corrects anyone outside of our family. I've heard his Sunday School teachers call him Zach and he hasn't said anything about that, but he won't let his dad or brothers call him that. I've always just called him Zachary, but don't really care anymore what other people call him, as long as he doesn't care. We call the baby both Evie and Genevieve. She answers to both. The other two boys have always been called by their full names, and we correct people when they don't call them by their full names. I think it's great that he already has an opinion on the matter (even though it probably will change)...maybe it means that he feels pretty secure in his identity. :)
Post a Comment