Alfred nickname

I personally would see Fred/Freddie as the initial nickname for Alfred

We have a an Alfred and he is Alfie/Alf but Fred is definitely a great nickname and one we thought of before when naming

Our little boy was going to be Alfred/Fred but I always had the same worry that Alfie would end up his nickname and I didn’t like it as much. In the end his cousin was born 8 weeks before and was named Freddie so we scrapped the idea altogether. I do think once they get older they might choose Alf/Alfie instead. I think just go for Fred if you think this might be the case and prefer Fred 😊

I thought Frederick was shortened to Fred rather than Alfred.

I think it’s fine… the nn will come from you as to what he’s known as

I agree! Whatever the nn is from the family is what usually gets used 😊

If you want to shorten it to Fred then others will follow. Just make it known from the start. But he might look more like an Alfie, you just don't know. In my experience nn come about organically

Fred/Freddie works fine as a stand alone name, Fredrick is also nice, maybe Wilfred but it might get Wilf but maybe less instinctively than Alfie

Alfie is probably a more instinctive nickname, but that's more because Alfie is such a popular name and often used as a nickname for Alfred. if you use Fred as a nickname - which is just as logical a nickname as Alfie - other people will use it too. it's just like other names with multiple nicknames - people are likely to automatically shorten Theodore to Theo, but many prefer Teddy as a nickname and if that is the nickname that the child is introduced as, people are unlikely to call him Theo - if that makes sense. it will be the same if you call your child Fred - other people will follow suit. it may be that your son opts to use Alfie or Alf as a nickname when he's older, but if you call him Fred as a child, others will do the same. 💙