Stirring the Pot: Part Two

Continuing the conversation via text from this post...   My friend then questioned the proper name to call my Lucas.  Lucas versus Luke? 

You see, when my baby was just a "Turtle" swimming in my belly Hubby and I had a set of names picked out.  When we finally had the Big Ultrasound and found out the gender we were proud to reveal our choice of names for our little boy - Lucas Glenn.  And we had every intention of nicknaming him Luke.  A lot of the references on Facebook and our additional ultrasound pictures we even referred to him as Baby Luke.

So needless to say at our baby showers and conversations with family and friends he was called Luke quite a bit.  It even made it onto some of his gifts/clothes, etc.  Although some items did get his formal name, Lucas, as well.

 

So my friend asks me if she's not supposed to call him Luke anymore?  Because you may have noticed that now on Facebook, this blog or in conversations with us that we always call him Lucas and not Luke.  It turns out that Hubby and I don't call him Luke at all, at least very rarely.  What changed?  Somehow meeting our baby boy changed that.

Once he came into this world he was simply Lucas to us.  It just felt right.  It's who he is.  To us, Hubby and I, he isn't really a Luke.  Some times he is if we refer to him in the possessive, such as, Luke's hat rather than Lucas' hat.  (I tend to hate the double S.)  But even then majority of the time I just go with the Lucas' hat.

So my answer to her was this: If he feels like a Luke to you then by all means call him that.  It's just a preference of mine and Hubby's to call him Lucas.  But we aren't opposed to Luke.  (I'm not throwing fits with his nickname as I do my own.)  Plus, I told her she gets special privileges since she's such a dear friend and thus an "Auntie" of his.

And when he's old enough to have his own preference between Lucas and Luke then he can do so.  I can't promise that he won't be picky like his Mama!

And this brings me to a few other thoughts.  First, when you're pregnant you tend to see a lot of other soon-to-be mom's and new mom's discuss in online forums about naming their baby.  There are always questions or concerns or stubborn opinions about having a name picked out before you actually meet your baby or waiting until they come into this world to give them their name.

My thoughts?  I've known my son since he was a little swimming turtle in my belly.  Once I knew he was a boy was the moment I knew he was my Lucas.  I may not have known that I would prefer his formal name to his nickname but that's why I chose to give him a name he can shorten if wanted.

Now by saying that I would be contradicting a friend of mine who feels the opposite, to what degree I'm not sure.  And I get so much inspiration from her blogs so I hope we can have this difference of opinion!  :)  You see, when she revealed her daughter's name on her blog she had made a point to mention how she doesn't like shortening names.  If she's planning on calling her child a nickname she would rather it just be their name.  You can read her post here.

So I feel differently about that.  Because if I had just initially named my son Luke then maybe I would have felt like I named him wrong.  Or maybe it would have felt right.  I really don't know.  But I'd rather have the option of a nickname, and for him to have that option as well.

So call him Luke.  Call him Lucas.  Just don't call him Lukey.  Trust me, I've tried to call him that in that cute baby voice but it just sounds like Loogie, and Hubby and Grandpa just cringe at the possible consequences of that when he gets older.  Hehe.