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Holly and her husband have called their baby Fatty as a bump name and it... stuck. Now they are considering keeping it as an out-of-the-womb nickname. But what should his real name be? Should Holly give her son an F name to justify Fatty, or is it best to abandon the Fatty nickname entirely?

Holly writes:

My baby is due in March — since about week 7 in my belly, we've named him Fatty. It's just his name...! Now that his appearance is imminent I feel guilty that we don't have an actual normal name for him. Poor thing will inevitably be called Fatty as a nickname but I need to give him a proper name too! Any ideas?

We quite like Francis/Frank as it's got the F for Fatty!

We prefer longer names which can be shortened, we have also toyed with: Roscoe, Archer, Merlin, and Percival.

Nameberry Co-founder Pamela Redmond responds:

How can I put this sensitively? Do not call your son Fatty. Not as a nickname, not as a joke, not at all.

I get that it’s funny. I get that it’s cute. But bump names and nicknames have a way of taking on a life of their own, and you really don’t want to let this one out of the gate.

Plus, you don’t know what kind of kid you’ll get. Maybe he’ll be a calm, confident, slender child immune to teasing. Or maybe he’ll be a sensitive kid with body issues.

Can I pause for a breath now? As for your other choices: Love Frank, but I really don’t trust you not to shorten an F name to Fatty. Roscoe is great. You’ll find Archer a bit too popular for your taste. Merlin and Percival are undeniably cool, but too cool for a real human kid? Possibly, but still a far sight better than Fatty.

Final answer from this group: Roscoe.

Nameberry Editor-in-Chief Sophie Kihm responds:

Usually, we speak to parents trying to avoid unsavory nicknames, so this question took me by surprise.

Pam’s advice is sound. Now that your baby is almost here, it’s time to shut down Fatty.

Using an F name to retrofit the Fatty nickname would not be a good call. But using an F name to “honor” his bump name — allowing you to move on from calling him Fatty — is something I could be okay with. But only if you agree to stop using Fatty!

Francis and Frank seem a little common based on your list — most of your favorites rank around the 800s in the UK. Consider Fergus, Florian, Fraser, Forest, or Fletcher, which works as a nice alternative to Archer.

But while Fatty feels inextricably tied to your son at this moment, it will soon be superseded by his actual name. So my best advice is to resist the urge to use an F name in place of a name you prefer under normal circumstances.

Some non-F options you might like include Evander, Orson, Montgomery, Edmund, Oswald, and Ambrose.

Of your current choices, I also like Roscoe. At Number 827 in England and Wales, it’s familiar, but far from popular. Percival has a distinctly British feel — particularly with the nickname Percy — so it’s another good option for you.

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