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My son Jackson – or should I say Jack?

June 8, 2006 by Janice

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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My husband and I agreed on one name: Jackson.

We had it picked out years before we even got pregnant. And after I found out I was carrying a boy, I called Jackson by name throughout my pregnancy.
I adore the name Jackson.

Now let’s get this clear.
I do not adore the name Jack. Don’t get me wrong – Jack is a good name. So please do not be insulted if that is your child’s name.
I still like it. I just don’t adore it.

But my son disagrees. He is obsessed with being called Jack. I am not sure why. Maybe it is because the monkey that plays hockey is named Jack (a movie he has watched far too many times.) Or maybe it is part of God’s plan to make me relinquish control over my son.

I am not sure. But I do know I am not giving up yet. I insist on calling him Jackson and thus, at this point, everyone still refers to him as Jackson.

So my son is taking this to a higher power. He is going straight to God! The little monkey – he is going over my head.

A week ago, standing in our kitchen, he announced to me, “My name is Jack. God named me Jack and God knows best.” I was so stunned – I have no idea what I said back. But, I went right on calling him Jackson.

So last night as we said his night-time prayers together, he prayed, “Dear God, please change my name to Jack and I never want to be Jackson again.”

Ok – I couldn’t decide whether to giggle or give in. It was so cute and yet quite concerning. He is getting serious with this request.

(Oh – another note: When Jackson first brought up this name concern a couple months ago, he said that he wanted to leave out the “sin” in his name and just be Jack because “sin” is bad. I quickly explained the difference between “sin” and the “son” in his name. He seemed ok with that explanation, but continues to push for the abbreviation.)

So what do you think? Is this just a stage? Is he just trying to test me and win? I really don’t want to give in and change his name. As I said, I adore the name Jackson.

Now of course I adore my son more than the name, so if he decides to be Jack I will be ok. But he is four years old and loves testing boundaries. I just don’t think giving in at this stage is the right thing to do.

Tell me what you think…

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About Janice

Janice is co-founder of 5 Minutes For Mom. She's been working online since 2003 and is thankful her days are full of social media, writing and photography.

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28 Comments

  1. Joe says

    January 29, 2009 at 7:02 am

    Call him what you want, and his friends can call him what they want. IN my family, some still refer to my husband as “Billy” while I call him Bill.

    Reply
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  4. Jenn says

    June 14, 2006 at 8:13 pm

    I think, having been a child once myself 🙂 that this is probably a phase. I would assume that when he gets older, Jackson will sound more sophisticated and intellectual and being that he will most likely be such a man, he’ll want to go by his full name! Right? I know I went by Jenny as a child and now I go by Jenn or Jennifer.

    Reply
  5. Kim from Hiraeth says

    June 13, 2006 at 9:48 am

    Thanks for stopping by to say Hello, Janice!

    Our eldest, John, was very particular about his name, too. His given name is John Wesley, after his paternal great grandfather, and we used to call him John-O. When he was about your Jackson’s age he told us in no uncertain terms that his name was John. Just John, thank you very much. In this case, since it was his given name, we respected his wishes. He has forever and always been “just John” and to this day he has never suffered having a nickname of any kind.

    Doesn’t it make you wonder where they get that kind of conviction at such an early age?

    Reply
  6. blestwithsons says

    June 13, 2006 at 9:35 am

    CS Lewis was about the same age when he declared his name to be Jack. (can you blame him? Who would want to be known as Clive Staples?) Your son is certainly in august company – maybe it’s a good sign!!

    I was six when I said I wanted to be known by my full first name rather than the typical derivative. My mom put her foot down in favor of the nickname. I don’t remember this. So I obviously wasn’t traumatised – though I didn’t care enough to talk to God about it either. But I did change to my full name as a teen. This time it stuck. 😀

    Reply
  7. edj says

    June 12, 2006 at 11:35 am

    My mother named me Elizabeth, and I will always be Elizabeth to her. When I started going by Beth in jr hi, she did not approve. My friends would call and say, “Is Beth there?” and she would say “No.” !!! So when we named our kids, I made sure to think of the nickname potentials.
    So when Abel was 4, he changed his name to Buzz Lightyear. He was very polite about it. I’d call, “A-bel!” and he’d answer, “Yes, Mummy! Remember my name is Buzz Lightyear.” After that we had Luke Skywalker for a while, and then he started going by his middle name. He’s currently back at Abel.
    My bet is that this is a stage. I’d keep calling him Jackson, and don’t worry about what other people call him, or what he calls himself. I survived my mother’s strictness, and even came back to calling myself Elizabeth as an adult–especially after living in France, where Beth is pronounced bet–which means stupid or beast 🙂

    Reply
  8. Toni Anderson says

    June 11, 2006 at 5:06 pm

    Difficult one. Maybe you could say his friends can call him Jack but his parents will always call him Jackson because that is who he is to them?

    Or wait and see if there is a deeper reason, like he’s being teased?

    Reply
  9. eph2810 says

    June 10, 2006 at 3:22 pm

    Sorry Janice, but I really had to giggle about your son’s persistance about his name change. Kind of funny how kids are – especially boys. Our son doesn’t like his name to be appriviated – so he goes by his full name: Daniel not Dan.
    Would your son be okay if you continue to call him Jackson? Let me know about the outcome on this one.

    Reply
  10. Lisa says

    June 10, 2006 at 4:09 am

    I have five daughters and at one time or another all of them (except the baby (yet) have asked to be called by a different name. The names my children chose were not even variations of their real names. For instance when Ashley was five, she insisted her name be Katie, so for a few weeks we called her Katie. After a while she didn’t want to be katie anymore so we went back to calling her Ashley. Megan who is now five is changing her name daily. Each day we have to ask her what her name is. Its usually just a phase, only prolonged when us parents make a big deal about it…. Just call him Jack for a while, after a bit he will forget about it.

    Reply
  11. Tey says

    June 9, 2006 at 9:09 pm

    Jackson is a nice name. My nana named my father Kenneth Craig. But She called him Craig and everyone in his life has called him craig. The only reason My Nana Didn’t have Craig as his actual first name is because she thinks ‘Kenneth Craig’ sound better together rather then ‘Craig Kenneth’ and that’s the only reason. To this day my dad has to explain to everyone why he is known by his middle name.

    As Jackson grows up kids will give him nick names anyway. Kids love to give each other nicknames. So he’ll probably get called Jack eventually, especially since he prefers it.

    Thanks for visiting my blog. God Bless!

    Reply
  12. abc momma says

    June 9, 2006 at 5:37 pm

    My Andrew will never be Andy. Maybe Drew, but never Andy.

    Reply
  13. Michelle says

    June 9, 2006 at 5:17 pm

    I definitely agree with you on this topic. We named our son David. And we want him to be called David. Not Dave or Davey.
    I am not sure what we will do if one day he decides he wants to be called something else. I think I would probably just keep calling him David despite what other people call him. 😉

    Reply
  14. Paula says

    June 9, 2006 at 2:07 pm

    I love the name Jack too. I can understand his little mind being afraid to be associated with “sin”. Maybe let him know what he’s God’s “son” too, so God likes it when you call him Jack-“son”.

    Reply
  15. Janice says

    June 9, 2006 at 2:04 pm

    Today Jackson said that if he was goign to be Jackson, then I need to call Julia her full name – Julia not Jules, like we do. Jackson started this nickname for her a long time ago and I use it all the time. So i think he was wanting a nickname.

    Thanks for all your input – so fun to hear what other people think. I am not making any big moves. I told him ok about the Julia thing and I will try to remember to call her Julia.

    I am not ready to give up on the name Jackson – as i said, I adore it!

    Reply
  16. Carol says

    June 9, 2006 at 1:35 pm

    I have no advice, but I love the fact that he took his dilemma to the Lord. That’s what we want our kids to do, right?

    Reply
  17. Mom2fur says

    June 9, 2006 at 12:49 pm

    I was just thinking this would be an excellent chance to teach Jack/Jackson a lesson in compromise! BTW, thanks for commenting over at my blog!

    Reply
  18. Kvetch says

    June 9, 2006 at 10:59 am

    I chose my son’s name because I liked both the long name, and the nickname. My daughter and I call him by his given name — absolutely everyone else — friends, teachers, family, etc. call him the nickname. And when I call him that “by accident” it sounds really funny!

    Reply
  19. Gibee says

    June 9, 2006 at 9:59 am

    Oh, man … that’s a tough one!!! I love the name Jackson… Jack? Not so much…

    Reply
  20. Julie says

    June 9, 2006 at 9:53 am

    I think I would continue to call him Jackson, but not react to (correct) him if he says it’s Jack. It’s probably a phase and it will pass. Good luck!

    Reply
  21. Dana says

    June 9, 2006 at 9:05 am

    Well in my home this is where i would do what I call “picking my battles” There are a lot of things my kids will wrangle over on a week to week basis and with each one i have to REALLY decide–is this something i REALLY want to take the time and energy to battle this one? or are we going to compromise? Sometimes I determine it’s not worth the effort, and sometimes I decide it is (occasional I enter a battle and later wish i hadn’t–but i will see it through to the end for consistency sake) So what you have to decide is: IS this a battle that I want to fight?
    good luck to you!

    Reply
  22. Jennifer says

    June 9, 2006 at 7:42 am

    We chose unique first names for our girls because we wanted them to have their own identities. For middle names we went with family names, the first after my sister-in-law and the second after my grandma. Luckily, there aren’t really any ways to shorten Malia (my first daughter), but we have had a couple comments on the nicknames they could give her if she went by her middle name of Nichole instead. Our second daughter is Constance Pirente and the most common question we get after introducing her is, “Will you call her Connie?” Not likely. We always tell them that we will call her Constance, but if, at some later point, she tells us she wants to be Connie than we will let her be Connie. I’ll probably always call her Constance though.

    Reply
  23. Stacey says

    June 9, 2006 at 7:20 am

    My oldest daughter’s name is Erin, but we call her by her middle name, which is Paige. She went through a stage last year where she wanted to be called Erin, but I told her that it would be too confusing since everyone is used to calling her Paige. I told her that she could go by Erin when she got older if she still wanted to, and she seems O.K. with that.
    My second daughter Chloe just recently started wanting to go by her middle name which is Adeline. Her best friend’s name is Addie, so I suspect that that has a lot to do with it. She got really mad at me and asked me why I didn’t make her first name Adeline and I just explained to her that we liked the way her name was, and I basically told her that she also could also go by whatever she wanted when she got older. I’m sure your son is just going through a phase and will come out of it soon. By the way, I LOVE the name Jackson! I wanted to name our son Jackson, but my husband was determined to have his only son named after him. *sigh*

    Reply
  24. Frances says

    June 9, 2006 at 6:44 am

    I would call him Jack if he wants.
    I often wonder when I see all these kids running around with piercings, tatoos and blue hair if it’s something they have done just to finally get to express their individuality.
    My name is Frances – I get called everything from Fran to Frankie.
    Take care

    Reply
  25. Mom2fur says

    June 9, 2006 at 5:56 am

    Oh, call him Jack if he wants you to! He’s just expressing his individuality. I think it’s wonderful that such a little boy has a strong sense of self. Or you could tell him that he can refer to himself as “Jack” to everyone, but you’d like to call him “Jackson.” Tell him it’s a “Mommy Thing.” We’ve called our 2nd boy Jamie for years, but everyone outside the home calls him “James.” Either way…as long as the kid listens when you call his name, you’re doing just great. (And the whole ‘son’ and ‘sin’ thing is just hysterical!)

    Reply
  26. Mom Nancy says

    June 9, 2006 at 5:09 am

    My daughter’s name is Juliette and she went through a period of wanting to be Jule (not Julie – she hates being called Julie), then Juliette Amy (her middle name) just to try it out. Now, though, she has stuck to Juliette (that’s what I always call her) even through the “Romeo and … ” comments. She has friends that call her Jule or Jules, and she’s okay with it, but she’s Juliette and always will be.

    My sister was Dorothy, but when she turned 18 she announced that she was now Dotti, and that’s what I called her and all her friends from college on knew here as Dotti. It was strange to come home from college and run into high school friends who called her Dorothy. Even to me, she became Dotti not Dorothy. My mom still calls her Dorothy sometimes (Dotti died 17 years ago), but I show my kids pictures of her and say, “That’s Aunt Dotti.”

    Reply
  27. Angie says

    June 9, 2006 at 4:08 am

    That is too funny! I too have a Jackson (5, well, 6 in a week). He has gone through this same thing. When we picked his name, we told everyone that we named him Jackson, not Jack, and not to call him Jack. The only person that has called him Jack is a friend of his (same age) that started it when he was too little to know any better and it was easier for him to say Jack Jack. But now he does call him Jackson.
    Jackson himself has asked me on occasion to call him Jack, but I told him that his name was Jackson and that is what Mommy would call him. So when we went to Build a Bear Workshop, he got an alligator and named it Jack. It was too cute to hear him calling the gator Jack. So, we still call him Jackson, and I am quick to tell his teachers , both Sunday School and school, that his name is just that! He seems to be ok with it for now. We’ll see what happens later on in his life.
    Jackson is a great name isn’t it!?

    Reply

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