History Main / OutgrowingTheChildishName

* Real life child stars Billy Mumy, Music/RickyNelson, and Ricky Schroder dropped the "y" from their names when they became grown up stars. Larry Fishburne, who started acting in his teens, eventually started going by Creator/LaurenceFishburne.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': Sheldon's older brother George Cooper, Jr. no longer goes by "Georgie". Sheldon, of course, won't have it.

* Inverted in ''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFouthStreet'' with little Susan "Susie" Walker. At the beginning, her mother Doris, who has raised her to be rational and mature for her age, calls her "Susan." But [[Main/SantaClaus Kris Kringle]] and Doris's LoveInterest Fred Gailey both [[AffectionateNickname affectionately]] call her "Susie," emphasizing that they want her to be the child she is and have childlike imagination and faith. By the end, however, when Doris learns to have faith, she starts to call her daughter "Susie" too.

* In ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing New Leaf'', if you upgrade their shop to ''T&T Emporium'', Timmy and Tommy will start going by their full names (Timothy and Thomas) on the town billboard.

* By the end of the first ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' movie, Daniel "Danny" Pennington, after CharacterDevelopment, tells his dad, "It's just Dan now."

* Subverted in the ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' parody of ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''. When Danny asks not to be called by the name his father called him by for the entire film, his father asks if he'd prefer to be called by his proper name. It turns out that his father was so out of touch with his child that he didn't even realize he wasn't even calling Danny by the right name.

* In ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}'', Blondie and Dagwood's son Alexander was originally known as "Baby Dumpling," but he outgrew that nickname when he became a school-aged child.

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] on the other hand by another President named James: UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter, president at 52-years old still went by "Jimmy" and was universally known as such, expect by few journalists who found this too childish. Nowadays, Americans politicians being known by nicknames is much more accepted, with examples such as [[UsefulNotes/DickCheney Richard "Dick" Cheney]], [[UsefulNotes/BernieSanders Bernard "Bernie" Sanders"]] and even other presidents such as [[UsefulNotes/BillClinton William "Bill" Clinton]] and [[UsefulNotes/JoeBiden Joseph "Joe" Biden]].

* At the end of ''[[Literature/{{Conqueror}} Wolf of the Plains]]'', upon becoming Great Khan, Temujin decides he needs a better name. Usefulnotes/{{Genghis| Khan}} is good.

* ''Literature/EarthsChildren'': When he and Jondalar meet for the first time in a few years, he asks to be called by his full name of "Darvalo" rather than "Darvo", as he finds the nickname childish now. However, he does say that Jondalar can call him Darvo if he wants.

* In ''Literature/GoSetAWatchman'', Scout no longer goes by her tomboyish childhood nickname. She goes by "Jean Louise".
* Subverted with Ravenpaw in ''Literature/WarriorCats''. He fled [=ThunderClan=] not soon after becoming an apprentice, when he was still the cat equivalent of a teenager. He never became a warrior and thus never received his 'adult name' (all apprentices are called "[x]paw"). Ravenpaw however continued to use that name even after becoming a loner.

* The belief in this is used as a sign of immaturity in ''Literature/OtherwiseKnownAsSheilaTheGreat'', where the image-obsessed Sheila hates the fact that her father goes by "Buzz" and tries to convince him to go back to "Bertram", even though even she admits to preferring "Buzz".
* Played with but averted in ''Literature/LesMiserables'': At one point during the first month of Cosette and Marius's romance, she reveals to him that her real name is Euphrasie and that she thinks the nickname "Cosette" is ugly. But when Marius replies that he likes "Cosette" better than "Euphrasie," she changes her mind and keeps the nickname after all.

* In his semi-autobiographical book ''Literature/TheLifeAndTimesOfTheThunderboltKid'', Creator/BillBryson talks about himself and his parents in the third person:
--> They named him William, after his father. They would call him Billy until he was old enough to ask them not to.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "{{Literature/Profession}}": George and Trevelyan both had nicknames when they were eight, and they're [[ShowDontTell shown to grow up]] by discarding their nicknames by the time they're eighteen.
* {{Inverted| trope}} in ''Literature/{{The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time}}'' - Christopher used to refer to his parents as Mummy and Daddy, but as a teenager he called them Mother and Father.
* At the end of ''[[Literature/{{Conqueror}} Wolf of the Plains]]'', upon becoming Great Khan, Temujin decides he needs a better name. Usefulnotes/{{Genghis| Khan}} is good.
* The same thing happens in the ''Emperor'' books, by the same author. Partway through ''The Gates of Rome'', {{Gaius| Julius Caesar}} is accepted as an adult by the other Romans, indicated by them referring to him as Julius, like his father. At the end of the book, Marcus completes his initial tour of duty, marking him as an adult, too; as such, he starts going by Brutus.
* ''Literature/Loser2002'': Zinkoff reunites with his old friend Andrew Orwell in middle school. Andrew informs Zinkoff that he now goes by "Drew".

** In a flashback, we see that despite Aang feeling he's outgrown it, Toph ''still'' addresses him as "Twinkletoes", despite both being in their forties.

* Averted with Creator/DonnyOsmond, who has resisted any suggestion that he start going by "Don," saying "I'll be Donny till I'm 90." He still goes by "Donny" at his current age of 65.

* UsefulNotes/BarackObama used to go by "Barry" in his youth. He eventually asked to be called by his real name; this was as much about reconciliation with his racial/ethnic identity as his age/maturity.

* Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during her teenage years went by "Sandy", a diminutive of Alexandria. She now goes by “Alex” if you actually know her personally.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] notably by UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter, even when he was President of the United States at 52-years old, he still asked to be called "Jimmy", which some journalists refused as they found this too childish.
** Another president, UsefulNotes/JamesBuchanan, once privately fretted to friends that nobody called him Jimmy anymore once he got older.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Donny Osmond, who in his 60s still goes by the same nickname he did as a boy; he corrects anyone who calls him "Don," and has said "I'll be Donny till I'm 90."

* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'' reveals that [[BigBad Randall Boggs]], the villain of the original movie, went by "Randy" during his time at university. He presumably dropped his nickname as he evolved from a dorky shy nerd to a nasty bully.

** Another president, UsefulNotes/JamesBuchanan, once privately fretted to friends that nobody called him Jimmy anymore once after he got older.

-->-- '''Samuel "Sam" Winchester''', ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''

* Like all {{succub|us}}i in ''WebComic/{{Sinfest}}'', Baby Blue was named after her color. However, major CharacterDevelopment led to her becoming TheDevil's right-hand lady, and "Baby" was ditched.

** At the beginning of the series, Mary and Connie called Sheldon "Shelly" and "Moonpie". As of Season 5, they no longer use these nicknames, and call Sheldon by his regular name. However, Mary and Connie use these nicknames in ''The Big Bang Theory'', meaning they either start using these nicknames again at some point, or a ContinuitySnarl is in effect.

* Averted with Donny Osmond, who in his 60s still goes by the same nickname he did as a boy; he corrects anyone who calls him "Don," and has said "I'll be Donny till I'm 90."