Jennifer Garner

[bitca]

Jan 15, 2009 19:11:13 GMT -4 lpatrice said:

Jan 15, 2009 19:03:56 GMT -4 @realitybug said:

Whoa. Nicknames aren't that bad!!

No, they are not that bad but whats the point of naming your kid A just so you can call him B. It's one thing if a "nickname" just sort of happens, but another thing to name your kid Serafina or whatever and then turn around and say but everyone must call them Sera. Why not just call them Sera to begin with?

I think it's kind of a gray area. Take for instance, the name William. 90% of the time, that kid isn't going to be called William, but most likely Billy or Will. But then when he grows up, he'd probably rather go by Will, Bill or William. Neither of my kids go by their full first name, they have "kid" nicknames. It's like calling your kid "Peanut" when they're little and then calling them their actual name when they're a grown up and they hate being called "Peanut", or whatever. (My uncle is a Robert. Went by "Bobby" when he was a kid and now he's "Rob." Yeah, I don't know. My name can't be shortened.)

But, um, there's no excuse for the Seraphina/Sera part. That's just a shorter version.

[ivy]

I think that if you want to call your kid by a nicknamey name, you *should* give them a full name, because one day they may get tired of having a name that sounds kinda childish. My full, legal name is a name that most people assume is a nickname and they always assume it's short for something else, and I'm always having to say, "Um no, no it's not." I like my name okay, but having to constantly explain that it's not a nickname is a pain in the ass.

That said, a name like "Sarah" is a full, real name, so if they wanted to call her that they should have just named her that. Nobody is ever gonna say, "So, what's Sarah short for?"

"Electra" is a bad, bad movie. Not even fun bad, just bad. I remember, when it came out in theaters, one of her co-stars on "Alias" told a reporter that Jennifer advised him not to see it because it was awful. I bet Jen was really pissed at him for telling the media about that (rightfully so).

[leonahelmsley]

Let's take a look at the name of my hero du jour, Chesley Sullenberger. His parents named him Chesley. Why? Dunno. Maybe it was a family name. I doubt he went by Chesley. Or Ches. Thankfully he had his last name to fall back on. His nickname is "Sully" which I love.

And if I were that pregnant woman that was on the plane, and the baby was a boy, 'Sullivan' would totally be his middle name because it sounds good with our last name and I could call him 'Sully' for short. But mainly in honor of the man who saved me and my baby's lives.

Topic? Seraphina is a big name for a little baby. I can see Ben & Jen wanting a pretty name for their daughter but it's just too big for an infant. If they named her that for familial reasons, I can see why they shortened it.

[kateln]

Jan 16, 2009 2:07:56 GMT -4 bitca said:

Jan 15, 2009 19:11:13 GMT -4 lpatrice said:

No, they are not that bad but whats the point of naming your kid A just so you can call him B. It's one thing if a "nickname" just sort of happens, but another thing to name your kid Serafina or whatever and then turn around and say but everyone must call them Sera. Why not just call them Sera to begin with?

I think it's kind of a gray area. Take for instance, the name William. 90% of the time, that kid isn't going to be called William, but most likely Billy or Will. But then when he grows up, he'd probably rather go by Will, Bill or William. Neither of my kids go by their full first name, they have "kid" nicknames. It's like calling your kid "Peanut" when they're little and then calling them their actual name when they're a grown up and they hate being called "Peanut", or whatever. (My uncle is a Robert. Went by "Bobby" when he was a kid and now he's "Rob." Yeah, I don't know. My name can't be shortened.)

But, um, there's no excuse for the Seraphina/Sera part. That's just a shorter version.

For me it's about intimacy. I'm a Katherine--and with major stuff I go by "Katherine". At work it's "Kate" and with friends and family it's "Katie" or another nickname depending on our friendship (an ex-bf called me "Grace" for example--it was a joke)

[Deleted]

Sera/Sarah and Seraphina sound equally formal so I suppose I can see why people find the use of the nickname funny.

I always figured shortened names like Will or Les or Bobby ore whatever evolved out of siblings not being able to pronounce the full name when they're young or as a result of the sibling trying to be cute in pronouncing the name ....or something. And, of course, there's the familiarity issue. I suppose those closer to the person are able to indicate the specialness of the relationship by using the nickname. But since there seems to be no difference in the level of formality between Sarah and Seraphina I can see why people are going "huh?"

Actually, Sarah sounds prettier to me than Seraphina. The name Sarah has always sounded elegant to me. I do like the name Seraphina but I guess the more I look at it the more I think it might have been something Jennifer Lopez would have suggested to Ben Affleck as a name for their potential future children.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2009 2:08:37 GMT -4 @ivy said:

I think that if you want to call your kid by a nicknamey name, you *should* give them a full name, because one day they may get tired of having a name that sounds kinda childish. My full, legal name is a name that most people assume is a nickname and they always assume it's short for something else, and I'm always having to say, "Um no, no it's not." I like my name okay, but having to constantly explain that it's not a nickname is a pain in the ass.

That said, a name like "Sarah" is a full, real name, so if they wanted to call her that they should have just named her that. Nobody is ever gonna say, "So, what's Sarah short for?"

"Electra" is a bad, bad movie. Not even fun bad, just bad. I remember, when it came out in theaters, one of her co-stars on "Alias" told a reporter that Jennifer advised him not to see it because it was awful. I bet Jen was really pissed at him for telling the media about that (rightfully so).

I tend to agree. I used to be of the camp that thought name the child what you want it to be called for example- Sera if you wantthat name not Seraphina. Buuuuut.....I have since aquired a stepson named Jake and I cannot tell you how many times I have to explain that his name is not actually Jacob but just Jake. I also have issues with the informality of his name but I digress.

[litzikohanovich]

I have a longish first name and my mother always insisted (in a nice way) that people not shorten the name. No one ever used a short version of the name except my Dad -- he is the only perspn that I let shorten it and it is a big joke between us. People here in Poland call me by the Polish version of my name which is really beautiful and like Russian, Polish has a series of sweet names for each name, so here, I have about 4 different version of my name -- all long.

I still dislike Seraphina. It is not as bad as some others, but it has not grown on me.

[Deleted]

I have a nickname for a name and will forever have to explain that it's not short for Jessica (it's also creatively spelled but that's another post.) So while I think it's awesome that they didn't give her a nickname for a name the fact that her nickname is Sera muddles it a bit. I suppose it does differentiate her from all the other Saras and Sarahs in the world, so maybe that's it. It's a normal nickname attached to an uncommon name. I still think Seraphina is a lovely name.

[Deleted]

To me, why bother with a unique name like Seraphina if you don't plan to USE it and actually plan to call the child by a nickname that sounds like a regular/common name (Sera/Sara(h)). She will forever be explaining that her given name is Seraphina, not Sara(h).

I'm in that camp. And I think Violet and Sarah sound nice together -- looks better on the Christmas card. :-)

[sugarhigh]

Sarah is boring. There's no indication that they intend to call her Sera for the rest of her life (and can we just remember that this assertion that they call her Sera is just from one random source?).