[madcaptenor]

I really don't understand why people give names like this. I understand how they happen when you're trying to force a name into a naming convention that isn't the one it comes from, but why start your kid out that way?

Near-miss: the poet William Carlos Williams.

[fastasucan]

I think the naming convention of naming your kid William (as an example) just so they can be called Bill the rest of their life is even more peculiar. Why walk that extra mile?

[robotelvis]

I think it’s mostly so they can have some degree of choice over what they are called.

You might call them Bill, but they can decide to call themselves Billy, or Will, or Willy, or William - without the hassle of actually changing their name.

There is also a class thing where naming a kid with a short form is seen as being lower class.

[BirAdam]

Class is absolutely part of it in my experience. The difference between Chuck and Charles, between Chad and Chadwick, Bob and Robert, and so on. The old money folks I’ve known were very particular about that sort of thing, while few others seemed to care too much.

[OldGuyInTheClub]

In that vein, another distinguished theoretical chemist/physicist: Philip Phillips

[madcaptenor]

A bit annoying to search for this guy because there's a Phillip Phillips who won a season of American Idol.

[OldGuyInTheClub]

But the scientist has only one 'l' in his first name.

He also graduated from the University of Walla Walla.

[shawn_w]

Walla Walla University (formerly college). Really annoying because there's a relatively much better known WWU on the other side of the state. Your ordering would have been a better choice when it renamed.

[OldGuyInTheClub]

Whoops. Correction noted.

[seanmcdirmid]

Not to be confused with Whitman college, which is the more well known college in Walla Walla.