A baby expert has urged expectant parents to avoid shortened ‘nicknames’ for their children.
Jessica Paquette, 22, believes having a nickname as a first name makes people seem less professional at work and that strangers subconsciously respect them less.
She shared a TikTok explaining why popular names like Jake – instead of Jacob – Jessie – over Jessica – and Millie – instead of Amelia – are a terrible move by new parents.
‘This is a little stranger that you don’t know yet and you’re making decisions about how society perceives them,’ Paquette, from Nashville, Tennessee, said in the clip.
‘First impressions are very real, whether we like it or not, and giving them the option to sound as formal as they like, is desirable in my opinion.’
Jessica Paquette, 22, shared a TikTok explaining why such names like Jake and Millie are a terrible move by new parents. ‘We’re naming adults, not children,’ the social media manager from Nashville, Tennessee, said in the clip
She offered the example of choosing the nickname Millie over Amelia.
Noting that Amelia sounds more formal when being said during wedding vows and is more pleasing to look at on a job resume than compared to Millie.
‘I don’t necessarily think every parent should do it, but I think it’s important to at least think about it,’ Paquette said in a video.
‘I would hate to give my baby a name that could hinder any path they want to go down.
‘We have to think about their whole lifespan and how a name impacts them.
‘Maybe the nickname you love doesn’t feel right to them and they might have more options with a full name.
Paquette has always been interested in names and created a TikTok account dedicated to naming. From her own experience, Paquette believes if her shortened nickname ‘Jessie’ were used at work, it would have made her feel ‘smaller’
The expert said people are moving towards as seeing their kids who have their own personality and being able to have an option of both names gives them more autonomy as a person
‘I think it has a better scope on naming children.’
Paquette has always been interested in names and created a TikTok account dedicated to naming.
From her own experience, Paquette believes if her shortened nickname ‘Jessie’ were used at work, it would have made her feel ‘smaller.’
She worked in Silicon Valley previously, noting that being a woman in the space was enough on its own.
‘I received so much backhanded stuff already just for being a young female in the industry, and if I’d used a nickname, I think it could’ve intensified that,’ said Paquette.
‘I think it would have made me feel smaller. I really appreciated having a longer name that my boss could refer to me as.’
And then there is the fact that when people hear a shortened name, they assume the person just goes by the nickname.
Paquette gave the example of her own husband, Jake – and it is not Jacob.
‘You’d think that people wouldn’t ask so much in 2023, but I’m naming my child right now, and people say his middle name should be Jacob like his dad, but that’s not even his father’s name – it’s Jake,’ she said.
She also said that potential employees might assume he put his nickname on a resume instead of Jacob.
‘He says to me, ‘part of me wants to write Jacob on my resume’ – so people don’t ask what his full name is,’ said Paquette.
As a baby name expert, Paquette is always asked for full names of nicknames like Tilly and Connie not to burden their child with a ‘silly name’ when they are adults.
‘I think people are moving towards as seeing their kids who have their own personality and being able to have an option of both names gives them more autonomy as a person,’ she said.
Paquette and Jake are expecting their first child, and they do not plan to name her baby a name that doesn’t have a nickname because ‘not every name needs a nickname.’
‘Think about your child in every possible major life scenario. If there’s ever a time it doesn’t sound right, maybe think about that,’ she said.
‘My main goal, if anything, is for people to take an extra second to think about it.’
This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
