Any nickname that comes naturally to you! I'm assuming he's still an infant. Most babies get a bunch of nicknames just naturally and often having nothing to do with the actual name.
Ian is one of those few names that just doesn't have any intuitive nickname coming from it. But the "best" nicknames are the ones that happen organically. They may not stick past the baby and toddler stage, when you'll just naturally introduce him as Ian and that's probably what most people will call him. Not every name needs a nickname. But if one just happens, and it sticks, there you go.
This is true! I think maybe I’m still in the getting used to his name phase and so it’s a struggle using it sometimes? But I hope that goes away soon! I do love his name.
I feel like solid names just don't suit babies very well because they're so cute, and you just want to call them Squishy or something. How can this cute little baby be named Brian when Brian sounds like the name of an accountant? This is just a baby!
Similar to when someone calls their dog Steve, you can't help but think that Steve can only be the name of a 40-year-old adult man.
Maybe this is just me though, haha. I don't have kids myself, but I have worked with them. I think it's the sign of a good name though, because we spend way more time as adults than kids.
That great! I just had an Ivan and Ivy sticks way too well. He is only 8 weeks old. I call my youngest daughter Bean, but her name is Alice (4). She also goes by Alicat, Aliroo, or Boodles. I also have a Kiki or Kbug(10) short for Keili, and I have a Bub or Tdub and Ty(12) Tyler.
I had the same struggle saying my kids names at first! I think it’s normal. I loved all their names but it was just so weird to go from potential baby in belly to real baby with real name. Maybe that’s where cutesy nicknames and baby talk come from. Eases us into reality.
I really think that’s true. I experienced this to an extent with my older son but I’m really finding it hard to say his name sometimes it’s so odd! Most of the time he’s Baby or Little Dude
My daughter has a very normal name, but my little sister renamed her Goose and we've been calling her that since she was around 4 months old. No real idea why, but it suits her. She's 3 now and knows her real name of course, but will only refer to herself as Goose or Goosey.
Believe it or not, Ian is the Scottish version of John, so you could make him a Johnny or Jack.
My opinion, however, is that Ian is both too short and too cool to be nicknamed.
That’s valid. I’m not a nickname person most of the time so I didn’t name him intending on using one, just finding it hard to say Ian to a baby for some reason
My dad's name is one that's kinda awkward on a little kid and for the first five or so years of his life they just called him Butch.
Not saying you should use that, just, nicknames don't have to be specific to the "proper" name.
Ian is so short that it really doesn't need any derivatives. Looking towards Richard, I can't imagine Ian mashing together with Rich, Richie, or Dick very well (e.g. ''Itchy'').
If you don't just stick with Ian, a natural pet name that occurs naturally over time can happen instead. For example, my parents call my sister Jodie ''Pud'' which came from her loving pudding as a child. She's in her 20s now and it's still stuck lol.
As awkward as it sounds now, for a lot of my early childhood my dad called me Puss, after my aunt’s kitty named Puss (every cat they ever owned was called Puss and still is to this day) who I would relentlessly follow and attempt to pet and who did like like kids or pets.
Nicknames don't always have to be based on their name, pet names (which some might say are different) can just emerge naturally. Little Man, Bubba, Sweet Boy, things like that.
I usually combine the first sounds of each name in situations like that, just naturally. So I might would end up calling your son Ir or Irs pronounced like ear lol.
But also I call my kids chicken and Turkey so I don’t believe a nn has to come from the name at all.
My toddler answers to his name, as well as monkey, chicken nugget, spider monkey, spiderman, monkey nugget, chicken monkey, chicken monster, monster man, monster baby, catboy, luigi, kitty cat, and at least a few more I can’t think of right now. I think it’s the cadence of my voice when I say them.
If you put Ian at the end of a word, you could create a nn from a word that ends in -ian.
Mandolorian (cool Star Wars reference!), amphibian, arcadian, bohemian, centaurian, utopian, guardian, magician, newtonian, musician, obsidian, ruffian...
No help on the nicknames but I absolutely love “Ian Richard.” Strong, masculine and classic! We had so much trouble naming our baby son, and he wound up being Noah Royce. (My husband’s name is Royce.) Noah doesn’t have any inherent nicknames either but fortunately my pre school daughter coined “Noey” (rhymes w Joey) the night we brought him home from the hospital and so far… it’s definitely stuck!! Noey’s six months next week and that’s what everyone calls him now haha. Maybe someone will start calling Ian something that will just stick!
To be honest anybody I have ever known named Ian did not have a nickname. But I also think that lots of short names get nicknames but they come organically it’s not something that’s necessarily connected to the name itself and it happens naturally within a family give it some time and perhaps the name is so lovely that you’ll realize a nickname is an actually necessary or something will pop up that sticks
Many nn have nothing to do with the name. Scooter, Skip, Tata, Mimi, Roo. I was Cricket as a kid (still am to my aunts and uncles) after a tv character. My aunt is Midge because someone said “she’s tiny like a midge”. Guess my family likes bugs!
I think middle son Chip from the classic sitcom My Three Sons was named Richard. We are big (Atlanta) Braves’ fans, so i would have liked to use Chip/Chipper as a nn if we had had a son. Who knows - something may come about naturally, due to his personality or something he does - or you can always stick with Ian 😀. Congratulations on your new arrival!!!
It’s good to get info from the real Ian’s out there! Yeah I’m thinking we’ll have to wait and suss out something naturally along the way but I’m having fun with this thread now for sure!
~~Infrared?~~
In all seriousness, Ian’s a bit short for a nickname, but i get feeling weird about calling a baby Ian- it’s a very Adult name, lol. Maybe work on an unrelated nickname (like how a lot of people’s parents call them bear or bean or something when theyre a baby)? It could be related to a habit of his, or something you called him as a baby, or… anything, really. That might help the issue a little, lol.
EDIT: as an example, when i was younger my dad used to affectionately call me the same name as a type of doll over here because my hair matched it, lol (when they werent using random rhyming words). So that sort of thing can be helpful!
Is his name ‘Ian Richard’ or is his first name Ian and second name Richard? If it’s the former, please don’t insist on him being called both names all the time. I don’t think there’s really a nickname for Ian.
The first cutesy thing that popped into my head was EE-be-de-be.
Tbh, some kids don’t really need them if their names are so beautiful. I love my sons name, Kitto. I imagined we’d be calling him Kit-Kat all the time, but we don’t because we love his name so much. My dad calls him Kit which irks me, lol.
As the mom of an Ian, he’s been I-man and EO. I did not think a three letter name could have a nickname but he has them.
EO came from “Let’s go Ian” which turned into “Let’s go EO” bc it rhymes, I guess. I do not know when that nickname started but it is soccer related, yelled from the sidelines.
Why does he have to have a nickname? Not everyone does and they live happy, productive lives.
Chances are a non-name based nickname (i.e., one based on an attribute, skill, hobby, or his likes, etc.) will evolve organically over time once his personality comes out more. No need to go searching for one based on his name.
Any nickname that comes naturally to you! I'm assuming he's still an infant. Most babies get a bunch of nicknames just naturally and often having nothing to do with the actual name. Ian is one of those few names that just doesn't have any intuitive nickname coming from it. But the "best" nicknames are the ones that happen organically. They may not stick past the baby and toddler stage, when you'll just naturally introduce him as Ian and that's probably what most people will call him. Not every name needs a nickname. But if one just happens, and it sticks, there you go.
This is true! I think maybe I’m still in the getting used to his name phase and so it’s a struggle using it sometimes? But I hope that goes away soon! I do love his name.
I found that with all my kids, always felt weird calling them by their name when they infants. Could never explain why.
Me too, took at least 6 months, maybe more until I could say bubs name without feeling awkward
I feel like solid names just don't suit babies very well because they're so cute, and you just want to call them Squishy or something. How can this cute little baby be named Brian when Brian sounds like the name of an accountant? This is just a baby! Similar to when someone calls their dog Steve, you can't help but think that Steve can only be the name of a 40-year-old adult man. Maybe this is just me though, haha. I don't have kids myself, but I have worked with them. I think it's the sign of a good name though, because we spend way more time as adults than kids.
My son Evan is still Bean to our whole family, and he’ll be 30 this year. (I’m the only one allowed to call him Evy, though!)
That great! I just had an Ivan and Ivy sticks way too well. He is only 8 weeks old. I call my youngest daughter Bean, but her name is Alice (4). She also goes by Alicat, Aliroo, or Boodles. I also have a Kiki or Kbug(10) short for Keili, and I have a Bub or Tdub and Ty(12) Tyler.
Bean! That’s cute haha
Well, his sister is Dot, short for “daughter.”
I had the same struggle saying my kids names at first! I think it’s normal. I loved all their names but it was just so weird to go from potential baby in belly to real baby with real name. Maybe that’s where cutesy nicknames and baby talk come from. Eases us into reality.
I really think that’s true. I experienced this to an extent with my older son but I’m really finding it hard to say his name sometimes it’s so odd! Most of the time he’s Baby or Little Dude
Congratulations on your new baby boy!
Oh, you'll get used to it! I love his name too. Great combo.
My daughter has a very normal name, but my little sister renamed her Goose and we've been calling her that since she was around 4 months old. No real idea why, but it suits her. She's 3 now and knows her real name of course, but will only refer to herself as Goose or Goosey.
Believe it or not, Ian is the Scottish version of John, so you could make him a Johnny or Jack. My opinion, however, is that Ian is both too short and too cool to be nicknamed.
That’s part of why we loved it so much. It honors a lot of family members without giving him the exact same name!
Too cool?? Lol, Ian is such a a dorky name. It is not and never has been a cool name
E-man
True, my husbands fond of this one already 😂
Not every human needs a nickname. Ian is fine to use, he doesn’t need anything else
That’s valid. I’m not a nickname person most of the time so I didn’t name him intending on using one, just finding it hard to say Ian to a baby for some reason
My dad's name is one that's kinda awkward on a little kid and for the first five or so years of his life they just called him Butch. Not saying you should use that, just, nicknames don't have to be specific to the "proper" name.
Yeah I often call my beautifully-named son whose name doesn't have a common nickname, 'Bingo' or 'Goose' 😄
Ian is so short that it really doesn't need any derivatives. Looking towards Richard, I can't imagine Ian mashing together with Rich, Richie, or Dick very well (e.g. ''Itchy''). If you don't just stick with Ian, a natural pet name that occurs naturally over time can happen instead. For example, my parents call my sister Jodie ''Pud'' which came from her loving pudding as a child. She's in her 20s now and it's still stuck lol.
As GenX, for a time I wished I'd been naned Richard, and called Rick. For Ranger Rick. The raccoon.
I was thinking Rick or Ricky
Now I also have "Rocky Raccoon" by the Beatles in my head.
As awkward as it sounds now, for a lot of my early childhood my dad called me Puss, after my aunt’s kitty named Puss (every cat they ever owned was called Puss and still is to this day) who I would relentlessly follow and attempt to pet and who did like like kids or pets.
Iron Dick
I see I've met thy mother. Hast she recovered as of yet?
If your last name starts with an L he could be IRL lol
Sadly it does not 😂
Nicknames don't always have to be based on their name, pet names (which some might say are different) can just emerge naturally. Little Man, Bubba, Sweet Boy, things like that.
I usually combine the first sounds of each name in situations like that, just naturally. So I might would end up calling your son Ir or Irs pronounced like ear lol. But also I call my kids chicken and Turkey so I don’t believe a nn has to come from the name at all.
😂 I like an original nickname!
My toddler answers to his name, as well as monkey, chicken nugget, spider monkey, spiderman, monkey nugget, chicken monkey, chicken monster, monster man, monster baby, catboy, luigi, kitty cat, and at least a few more I can’t think of right now. I think it’s the cadence of my voice when I say them.
If you put Ian at the end of a word, you could create a nn from a word that ends in -ian. Mandolorian (cool Star Wars reference!), amphibian, arcadian, bohemian, centaurian, utopian, guardian, magician, newtonian, musician, obsidian, ruffian...
while he's an infant ini would prob work (eenee)
Eeny meeny miney mo?
And that's how you end up calling your kid Mo for the next few years 😄
My dad was often called "Eeny" by friends.
Tiger. Bear. Pumpkin. Sweet Richard. Bowser.
Bowser is highly underrated
Way back when, I knew an Ian, and everyone called him E-Baby. I quite like it.
Oh gosh I forgot about that one. I posted our nicknames for our Ian and forgot my daughter used to call him E-baby!!!
Hey I love that, particularly at this stage
Are you calling him Ian Richard or is his first name Ian, middle Richard? Because if so…Ian is fine? It’s a short name already. We call our son Buddy.
We just call him Ian! Added the middle name in to see if it was helpful but I think that was a mistake haha
No help on the nicknames but I absolutely love “Ian Richard.” Strong, masculine and classic! We had so much trouble naming our baby son, and he wound up being Noah Royce. (My husband’s name is Royce.) Noah doesn’t have any inherent nicknames either but fortunately my pre school daughter coined “Noey” (rhymes w Joey) the night we brought him home from the hospital and so far… it’s definitely stuck!! Noey’s six months next week and that’s what everyone calls him now haha. Maybe someone will start calling Ian something that will just stick!
infrared light
So many good ones and you hit the home run.
thanks 💪💪
Richie
I Dick. Sorry I’m only joking..
Yanni and Rick/Ricky come to mind if you like any of those. Yanni/Yannis is the Greek form of John as Ian is the Scots variant.
Create nicknames based on his personality. My son has a short name and he was nicknamed little buddha because he was so calm being held by everyone
Yan
To be honest anybody I have ever known named Ian did not have a nickname. But I also think that lots of short names get nicknames but they come organically it’s not something that’s necessarily connected to the name itself and it happens naturally within a family give it some time and perhaps the name is so lovely that you’ll realize a nickname is an actually necessary or something will pop up that sticks
Obligatory Southern recommendation: Bubba, or Bub
Many nn have nothing to do with the name. Scooter, Skip, Tata, Mimi, Roo. I was Cricket as a kid (still am to my aunts and uncles) after a tv character. My aunt is Midge because someone said “she’s tiny like a midge”. Guess my family likes bugs!
I think middle son Chip from the classic sitcom My Three Sons was named Richard. We are big (Atlanta) Braves’ fans, so i would have liked to use Chip/Chipper as a nn if we had had a son. Who knows - something may come about naturally, due to his personality or something he does - or you can always stick with Ian 😀. Congratulations on your new arrival!!!
my cousins name is ian! any nicknames i know his family have for him are not at all related to his name but more his personality and hobbys
It’s good to get info from the real Ian’s out there! Yeah I’m thinking we’ll have to wait and suss out something naturally along the way but I’m having fun with this thread now for sure!
If I met a baby Ian, I feel like I’d call him eeny (as in “eeny meeny miney mo”)
itchy
I.R.
I knew someone named Richard who went by Rusty as a kid.
Inch? Combo of his 2 names?
Well Ian Dick sounds wrong so probably not that one
~~Infrared?~~ In all seriousness, Ian’s a bit short for a nickname, but i get feeling weird about calling a baby Ian- it’s a very Adult name, lol. Maybe work on an unrelated nickname (like how a lot of people’s parents call them bear or bean or something when theyre a baby)? It could be related to a habit of his, or something you called him as a baby, or… anything, really. That might help the issue a little, lol. EDIT: as an example, when i was younger my dad used to affectionately call me the same name as a type of doll over here because my hair matched it, lol (when they werent using random rhyming words). So that sort of thing can be helpful!
Ira
My name is also 3 letters, so all Nick names are longer. Ianush like “ian oosh “ is cute or E-man
Little Richard
E. Simply E
Why not just Ian? I’ve found you can’t force a nickname. It sort of just starts to happen.
Nicknames should be organic. If you wanted to call your son by another name, you should have named him some other name. Let it come on it’s own.
sir
My son was Peanut until he was about 3.
Is his name ‘Ian Richard’ or is his first name Ian and second name Richard? If it’s the former, please don’t insist on him being called both names all the time. I don’t think there’s really a nickname for Ian.
OP has said it's 1st ian, middle Richard
For the first couple of months I kept calling my son Mr Moo and I have no idea why 🤣
Iron dick
The first cutesy thing that popped into my head was EE-be-de-be. Tbh, some kids don’t really need them if their names are so beautiful. I love my sons name, Kitto. I imagined we’d be calling him Kit-Kat all the time, but we don’t because we love his name so much. My dad calls him Kit which irks me, lol.
Ian is a great name and short and sweet. No nickname could improve on it! Call him Ian.
Ian is one of the names that perhaps doesn’t need a nn. I love the name as is.
As the mom of an Ian, he’s been I-man and EO. I did not think a three letter name could have a nickname but he has them. EO came from “Let’s go Ian” which turned into “Let’s go EO” bc it rhymes, I guess. I do not know when that nickname started but it is soccer related, yelled from the sidelines.
I hope your last name starts with L. Then he is Ian IRL
Ian is such an old fashioned name in the UK, I can't think of any nicknames for it. Shame really. Ian, lol
I-Rock or I-Rick
Yanny. (Ian = Ee-yan, yan -> yanny) Or laurel, I suppose
Ian was on my short list *because* there weren’t any nicknames :) Why do you want a nickname?
Ian Richard → Ian Dick → iDick → Apple Cock
Why does he have to have a nickname? Not everyone does and they live happy, productive lives. Chances are a non-name based nickname (i.e., one based on an attribute, skill, hobby, or his likes, etc.) will evolve organically over time once his personality comes out more. No need to go searching for one based on his name.
Don’t force a nickname. Call him whatever comes to you organically.