I can tolerate a few nicknames by themselves, such as
Jack,
Jerry,
Lily,
Hattie, and
Nellie.
However, most nicknames look ridiculous as full names. This trend is especially bad in the UK (no offense to any British users!).
I especially hate most one-syllable nicknames such as
Joe,
Zac,
Sam,
Kay,
Beth, and
Ben being given as legal names. I also hate babyish nicknames like
Lexi,
Alfie,
Timmy,
Danny,
Jimmie, and
Chrissy.
If you give the child a proper name and then calling them by a nickname for short (i.e. the child is named
Samuel and nicknamed
Sammy), the child can have the full name to fall back on. But if you stick them with the nickname (i.e. just
Sammy), then he/she doesn't have the same choice.