Thursday, June 7, 2012

Sebastian: Nickname-Rich Name of the Week (June 7)

As the first boy's name I'm covering in this series, I'll be starting off with a name that is fairly rare among adult Americans but is a hot choice for modern children: Sebastian. Since this name is far less ubiquitous in the general population than last week's name, this name is often nicknamed for purposes of making the name shorter and easier to handle rather than as a distinguishing aid (indeed some people dismiss using him because Sebastian is "too long" or "pretentious"). Personally except as a casual shortening I'd try to stick with the full name, but if you were to shorten Sebastian how would you do it? Seb, Bastian, or something else? What do you think of the name in general?

3 comments:

  1. Despite being fashionable for young kids now, I never met an in-the-flesh Sebastian, and never knew it had many nicknames, but it is the kind of name that naturally lends itself to them.

    I think I like Bastian, but I'm not really a fan of Sebastian and don't think any nickname could change my mind. The name just sounds pretentious to me, like you said.

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  2. I like Sebastian a lot, I think it's a shame that girls get to have long fussy names like Isabella and Olivia, and that's considered attractive, but if a boy has one, it's "pretentious".

    However, the nickname Bastian is so great, it does almost eclipse the original name. I have seen people using Seb, but I can't get into it. It seems too short for the original name.

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  3. We have called our gorgeous baby boy Sebastien. I use his full name most of the time but occasionally shorten it to Sebby which seems appropriate for the baby. Though I'm not keen on shortening anyone's name....because it's their name. I loved Alexander but dislike Alex. Each to their own!

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