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I like both names. I know another Stephanie who went by Tess. She went by Tess because her younger sibling couldn't pronounce Steph and called her Stess, which shortened over time to Tess.

Stephanie and Tess is definitely quite a stretch in my opinion. I like Stephanie, and Tess is just, meh.

Stephanie seems like it's common enough to elicit various nicknames, so I'm not too surprised. There were 3 Stephanies in my grade and one of them went by Kitty.

This message was edited 11/24/2021, 4:42 PM

I far prefer Stephen for a boy to Stephanie for a girl, and no doubt so does she! I've only ever heard Tess as a nn for Tessa - not as a nn for Teresa, and not as an independent name either. But I like it much, much more than Stephanie!

I like both names, prefer Tessa. Stephanie nn Tess is different f

A friend of ours who is of Polish descent found out his great-great-grandmother (not sure how many greats) was Stefania, but her nn when she came to the US ended up Tessie. Stephanie is a name that shows up several times in his family over the generations, and from what he told me of his genealogy research, it's pretty common among Polish-American people. As is Stanley for males; he found out that in some places Stanley is actually slang for any Polish male.

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So there's a precedent, but Tess seems a stretch as a nn for Stephanie in general. I love Stephanie and would like to have been named it myself. Tess seems frumpy and plain.