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NNs are not a must, and I leave it completely up to the child. If you truly loathe Alex, then I would avoid it because Alexander might grow up wanting to be called Alex. However, if you just prefer Alexander, calling him Alex is not a must and you can just make it clear to family his name is not Alex. My cousin Anthony has never been called anything but that. I also met a few kids when I worked at a camp that never went by anything but their full name. Among them were William, Daniel, Christopher, and Zachary.

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NNs are not a must and I don't understand why people avoid a wonderful full name so their child's name is not shortened when its up to them to tell people its just Alexander (in your case). I love lots of names where I don't like the nns, but that doesn't stop me from using them, unless I truly hate it (for instant, I dislike Will, but not enough not to use William, but I loathe Lilly and therefore would probably never use Lillian despite it being a name DH and I agree on)