My wonderful mother-in-law, Julia Blair, gave extravagant nicknames to her children. Ben’s is: Benjerbomboom. His siblings (or maybe it was the neighborhood kids) gave him another one: Ben-Benji-Bare-Bottom-Burp-Baby-Blair. All of his siblings have terrific nicknames. A sampling: Jenettikins, Blopsy, Caroliney-Deeny-Diny, Margretchie, and Deedle-Doos. (Just by reading those names aloud, you can probably guess that my mother-in-law was a wonderful singer. And you’d be right.)
My name is Gabrielle but I grew up with the nickname Gabby. Since I talk a lot, it’s always been a good fit. (Hah!)
We were telling our kids about their aunts’ and uncles’ nicknames, and realized that at our house, we’ve hardly used nicknames at all. Ralph is occasionally Ralphie. Maude is once-in-awhile Mimi. Olive is Olive. Oscar is Oscar (with an experimental Osc here and there). Betty is always Betty. And Flora June is Flora when speaking French, and June when speaking English. I love the idea of nicknames and was kind of surprised to realize we didn’t commonly use them.
Also, nicknames and alternate names always make me think of Dostoevsky. I swear, he uses like 10 different names for each character he introduces.
What are your thoughts on nicknames? Do you have one? Do your kids? Do you know anyone that was given a nickname as an adult and it stuck?
P.S. — The names that got away.
I’m a Jennifer (only when my Mom is mad at me) but went by Jenny up until high school and college…now I’m Jen Clark…always Jen Clark except to my family and old friends to whom I’m still Jenny. It always catches people that I have met later in life off guard to hear me called Jenny…apparently I’m so not a Jenny.
Our daughter, Olivia Mae, is Livie, Liv, Livs, Livie Mae, Livie Lou, Buddy. She refers to her self as Butters which is what my spouse calls her and now she is Wivie. My nephew, Mr. Jakey Man, calls her Olivie. My niece, Addie Pants, calls her Livie LuLu. My oldest nephew will always and forever by my Peanut and knows when to pull the “peanut” card on me which usually results in me giving him $20. :)
Love this post! Made me so happy : ) Made me think of my mama – She ALWAYS called me “Mini-mo-macious”… I thank her so for caring about me like that…it just oozed love.
We all had rather extravagant nicknames growing up. Many of which also had little theme songs to go along with them.
Jackie= Jack-a-bean
Steph= Stephles
Megan=Shmegura or Eggs and Bacon often shortened to just Eggs.
Andrew- Andy-roo or Roo Boy
Rebecca- Tutie-Fruti which was then shortened to Tutie, Boodle to Bood
Michael- Toad for no particular reason, I think it was due to the band Toad The Wet Sprocket being popular when he was little….
Mary Katherine- Mary Bird, Mary-Moocus-Kada-Splookus eventually shortened to Marry-Moo and then just Moo
Dominic- Poonka-da-moonka-da later shortened to Poonk
Christian- Critter or Crit
Yes there were 9 of us. In retrospect I don’t know why we came up with so many nicknames. You’d think with that many kids the easiest thing to do would be to stick with the names we were given instead of having to remember extra names!
We had nicknames in our family growing up, or at least my sister and I had several, I can’t really remember that my brother had, other than “Bobby” for Robert and my little sister was “Molly Capone” and “Patches”. I was called “Deeter” growing up and my husband calls me “Cookie”.
My children also have nicknames..KK and sunshine for Kailey. Dominic is called Dee(but never Dom), he was also called “Deedlebug” when he was younger, he used to tell people that his name was “Dominickynunu” when he was around 3-4. My youngest daughter is named Ionie and she gets called “I” (which my mom hates), I-o or Ioniecakes!!! I LOVE nicknames, they can be so fun!
My parents had the ever-so-50’s teeny bopper names of Bob and Judy, which my Mom experimented with in high school, by replacing her “y” with an “i”, and, no doubt dotting it with a smiley face or heart. So when they had kids, they decided that they wanted to name us something with no possible nicknames. Brent & Kerri was what they settled on for my brother and me and, I have to say, their plan worked! My brother was part of a big group of friends during and after college, and I, to this day, don’t know any of their real names. It was “Whitey” and “Beano” and “Frito” and “Elvis” but I never heard anyone refer to my brother as anything other than “Brent.” Kind of disappointing, honestly, as the little sister who was desperate for a teasing opportunity…. A family friend tried renaming me “Re” as a kid, but it just never stuck.
My husband, too, never had a nickname and when our first was born, we didn’t intend to, but we just started calling him Buddy-Boy, which quickly transformed to Buddy and then Bud. Then our second came along weighing in at an impressive ten pounds at birth and he instantly became Bodie-Bear (“Bodie” being his nickname for his real name, which is “Boden”), which then just became Bear. When our third guy came along, once again, we had no intention of nick naming him, but at some point in our first week home from the hospital, my husband went to pick him up and said, “Come here, Bookie…” And so it was settled.
I had rings made with my kids names carved on them that I wear whenever I’m away from them and after I got my last one, I put them on and realized I had three B’s….Buddy, Bear, and Bookie. “B” is for boy, indeed!
My kids nicknames are their names with suffixes – Tully-bear and Tessa-bug. But Tessa is also know as Punkin, which of means she is called Punk more often than Tessa, and sometimes The Bug. Tully is almost always Tully or Tull anymore, now that he’s a teenager.
Growing up I was Lisa-bug (hmmm…) and my dad would tease and tell me that he really wanted to name me “Pa-poof-nik-bag-a-lon-a-koff”. I have no idea where it came from, but I will never forget that name.
My uncle started calling me Carly-Flower when I was just a baby. My dad picked it up as well and while my uncle still only ever calls me by my nickname, my dad calls me a few different nicknames.
My best friend also called me Carkeys when we were really little, she couldn’t say/didn’t know to say Carly. She still calls me that sometimes!
We started calling my oldest (named Abigail) Sis when she became a big sister, and I call her that probably about half the time.
Come to find out, my grandpa’s sister (who lived her whole life in Canada and just this last week took her first trip down to the states to visit her brothers) is named Alice but is known exclusively as Sis! Her own children apparently didn’t know her real name until they were grown. Loving this accidental sweet connection to family =]
Only my parents and sister have ever given me a nickname: Elly-belly or L’elly.
I don’t know why, but I always called my sister Julia, Jubu. It’s stuck and now my toddler calls her Aunt Jubu – so cute!
my brothers and I have the most non nicknameable names ever. None of us goes by anything but our full first name. Robin, Wyatt & Graham.
although for a very short period of time my brothers like to call me Ribena… yep the drink. I hated and vetoed it.
My mom strongly dislikes the obvious nicknames for my name: Marty and Tina, even though a few of my friends through the years have defied her wishes. I also got Teenz from a black male co-worker. And my husband has been calling me Mama since before we had kids, which also drive my mom crazy! My husband Jason used to be Jay by a lot of our friends but I always preferred Jason. I call him Jase when I’m in a rush. Our daughter Alianna on the other hand…nicknames galore! We started calling her Ali because she used to have a different name before her adoption that started with Ali and we new we were going to change it to Alianna. Sometimes it’s Ali Mae. Most of the time it’s Ali-gator, Gator, Choongie, Choongs, Peanut, Al, Ali-girl, Ali-cat, Bucky, Buddy, Tater (last three only her daddy calls her; I’m not a fan)…and probably more that I’m not thinking of now. They all have a reason.
Not exactly a nickname story but still a funny story: My husband was out with my daughter talking to a big, burly, sub-contractor. The man said hi to Ali and Ali responded back, “Hi Petey!” Jason told me later, laughing that he told her that wasn’t his name. I realized instantly what she meant was “Hi Pretty!” because that’s what her daddy says to her so often.
My older daughter Clio Grace is often Clio Gracey face, though, at six, she is no longer fond of this. But it is my four year old who reigns supreme in the nickname department. when we named her Eleri, we feared the rhyming “Celery” was inevitable, but it has never happened. Instead: Eleri bellery. Eleri bellery pudding and pie. Belle. Belle-belle. Silly noodle. Noodle puss. Baby noodle. Noodley toodles.
I don’t know why, it just feels that they are called for. Every single one of them.
I love nicknames! I created nicknames for my brother and sister that I still us today and my friend gave me on in high school that I have never grown out of. So I think adding one when the kids are older can work. For our own children, each of our five boys have weird little nicknames. We have Ejaboo, Siahlopolis the Italian football player, Andrew Bear, Calebite, and Mattie Bee ( which you have to say very abruptly like Yogi bear). Yes, nicknames are wonderful!
Funny thing is, I dislike nicknames in general (my son’s name is Elijah, not Eli), but I use them on my children constantly! I think it’s endearing, and maybe that’s why I don’t like other people to make them for my children. Elijah is ‘Lijah or ‘Lijey, and Audrey Claire is Oggy (my husband’s creation), Audrey Bear, or Berry.
I think unless you start a nickname really young, they don’t stick. When my daughter was about 3 her best friend started calling her Lollie (her name is Charlotte). It started to stick, but then we moved to a different city and Charlotte became just Charlotte again. My name is Patricia but I’ve allways been called Patty. My other kids names are Zachary, who goes by Zach, Cameron, who goes by Cam, and Samantha who goes by Sam or Sammy. So I guess we have nick names, just not the fun and silly kind. My dad’s name is Daniel, but his mom started calling him Bug because he would crawl around on all hands and feet when he was a baby. Now, I don’t think many people know his real name is Dan and he is know as Bug by just about everyone :o)
Growing up I was Gorilla. Short for Jillus McGrillus. Once while staying with a family with mostly boys while our parents were out of town, the boys came up with “Jill Will Kill”. It was probably very apt.
Some of our kids’ nicknames have stuck longer than others.
Morgan is calle Morganio by his friends
It’s taken everyone so long to figure out how to say Malynn (Melinda without the duh) that she gets very offended if you call her anything else
Sophie was called Sophers by Papa and she adores the name
Alison is Ally Sally Puddin’ n Pie (and she’s very snuggly so we complete the rhyme)
Heidi is Chee Chee. But only I can get away with calling her that. Her name is most definitely HEIDI to everyone else.
One of my all-time favorite posts here :) We’ve tended repeat syllables for our nicknames: Lucy is Lu Lu, my sister Julie is Auntie Ju Ju. They are quite a pair. But with my son Calvin, we broke tradition—he’s Calvino Bambino (it came from a silly song we made up to sing while tickling: “Calvino, Bambino, we love you very much! Calvino, Bambino, we’re going to eat you for lunch! Muncha muncha muncha etc.”
My real name is Courtney but I’ve gone by Coco almost all my life. My family nickname is Sho Sho, so it’s a nickname for my nickname. I also get called Cokes, Shosh, and Coco May. My husband so wanted a nickname (his name is Lysander!) so when my dad started calling him Lyle, he was thrilled. My mom calls him Sandy Pants :)
I love nicknames! My mom has always called me Libberdoo. My husband (Ryan) has been Ridey Roo since birth. I always call him Ridey. I almost NEVER say Ryan (unless we are a work function, wouldn’t want to embarrass him too much). Our daughter is Hallie Bear and our son is Willie or Bubba or Willie Woo. Basically which ever name fits his personality that day.
I wish we had more nicknames used in our family. There were a few ones, since we were little, but I guess not more than 1 or 2 per each of us until now. Somehow creating nicknames and calling them or even better singing them brings family members nearer and makes every day living a joy. Now, at 24 I enjoy inventing nicknames for my fiance and he does the same for me. We come up with new ones every few months or even more often and it is so much fun. I do the same with my brother but they are more like of teasing each other or imitating movies characters. So it is never too late for you or anyone. Take advantage of this weekend full of tax organizing to have fun inventing nicknames and select your favorites on Sunday night :)
I love nicknames! My name is Catherine Anne when I was little I was Cassie, then Cathy Annie, then just Cathy. Since college I go by Catherine, but I also answer to Cat, Katrinka, Katrinka Bodinka, Trika Bodinka, TB, Kaiser and my husband calls me Jelly Bean Girl, Jelly Beans or Beans.
I call my husband Grover, his name is Mike.
Our son is Eliott, or Eli, E, Love Bug, Bug.
So no one has really ever nicknamed me but I nickname everyone like a crazy person lol. My little sister Abygayle was born a couple years before Aladdin was came out andI gave her the nickname Abu (like the monkey) and the whole family started calling her that, but Abu eventually became Boo, or Booj, or Booja. For years we only referred to her as Boo though, so when it became popular as a name for a persons boyfriend/girlfriend/lover, etc. it became very awkward. I think thats when we started sticking with Booj or Booja. But now that she’s getting older it’s usually just Abby, Ab, or Abs.
Funny side note though for some super strange reason I randomly called her Penelope Bruschetta once and she got really mad so from then on whenever I was mad at her or wanted to make her mad I would call her Penelope Bruschetta and it always worked! 10 years later we still joke about it LOL and she complains about the “abuse” she endured from me (I’m 8 years older).
This is so fun! My boys all have things I have called them, plus a thing I do when I am commenting on something they are doing….like, “Welllll, aren’t you a Mr. Smelly Smellerson?” for someone with a dirty diaper. It is always Mr. and the last name is always -erson. Or Mr. Grouchy Groucherson. Mr. Snotty Snotterson. Mr. Stinky Stinkerson. etc. Typically they hate this. ;) However…it makes me laugh when otherwise I might be irritated or upset with them.
As for personal nicknames….my oldest is Elijah and we NEVER shorten it to Eli but often to E, E-man, Hakeem Elijahwan (a bastardization of the name of a basketball player….it’s is my husband’s nickname for him, obvi.), Punkin, Lil One, Sweets, Sugar and HoneyBun. The middle son is Nathaniel. We don’t ever call him Nate but my husband sometimes calls him Nat, I often refer to him as N, and also call him Little Face (he is by far the smallest and most delicately built boy we have…the other two are Mack Truck Children), PunkinPie, SugarBaby, Sweetling, Dearling, MonkeyFace and Baby. No reason…these are just things I’ve called him since birth. Our youngest is Alec. His given name is Alexander but we always planned on Alec…I love that name. We often refer to him as A, as well, but in addition we use Bubba (he is a solid, tall, sturdy kid….the size of a six year old at four years old with a sweet face of wide cheekbones and big brown eyes and a muscular body) and TreeTrunk and Chunkalunk and Baby (he hates this…”I’M A KID, NOT A BABY!!!”). My fave nicknames are E for my oldest, MonkeyFace for the middle and Bubba for the youngest.
I love this topic! Oddly, both of my children will answer to the name “Freddy.” Their names are Dane (aka.. Danerdoo or Da Dane Dane) and my daughter Aya (aka Jade, JJ or Snookems). Freddy works for both kids… occasionally “Freddy Jones” when they are being cheeky…
I somehow missed this post yesterday, but I loved it! Our son, named Lauchlan, has the nickname Din. It sounds nothing like his name, but it has evolved over time. As a baby we would speak to him in baby talk and Lauchlan became Lauchy, which became Dockey, which became Dockey Doo, which became Dockey Din, which became Din. Or something like that. What is funny to me is that even most of our friends call him Din.
I have since gone from calling him Din to calling him Dinder Doodle or just Dinder. It’s a wonder that he even knows what his actual name is anymore!
oh I love this post, my husband has always called me “mop”. Calls me that in front of everyone we know. It is a reference to my crazy hair. then all the variations consist of mopperty mop mop mop, or mopper. My kids also have the craziest nicknames thanks to him. our youngest is burpy or The Burp. Poor thing is is only 2 but it is definitely sticking!
This thread makes me feel better about it :-)
Léa.
Interesting question and discussion!
Our children go by their full names, even though their names have multiple shortened versions. When someone asks if we go by one of those variations, we just say, “Nope – we named ’em what we call ’em.” Just yesterday, a swim teacher referred to my youngest by a very common nickname for her name and I had NO CLUE who he was talking about.
With that said, we do have nicknames/terms-of-endearment that we call them at home. My oldest’s most common one is pronounced /keh-kuh/, as that’s how her youngest sister pronounced Rebecca when she first started to talk.
In addition to several that are based off of their actual names, I also call them each “Sunshine Girl” and “Sweetie-Peetie,” both of which are nicknames my mom calls/called me. One of the sweetest things in the world is to hear the 20 month old go in to wake her big sister by saying, “Good morning, Sunshine Girl.”
I’ve so enjoyed this post and all the comments. My name is my “given” nickname; my dad assigned it before they even had a real name (Cecilia) for me. I use my real name for checks and official documents, but Cissy is all I’ve ever been called. Coincidentally enough, my husband’s family, who are big nicknamers, had an Aunt Sissy (also a nickname), so my unusual name was already common to them.
I love that my kids have nicknames, courtesy of my in-laws. It’s definitely an endearment…though confusing to guests who her the strange names bandied around the dinner table. “What is her name? Berfie?” someone asked about my daughter, Jamie Beth. Yes, but only at home.
And for your own kids, if you need help coming up with nicknames, you might have the siblings help. My kids came up with Dal-pal for our Dallin, and Buzzy for our Nathaniel, and those seem to be their own special tags for each other. I did draw the line at “Chubbers”, which they called our baby Celia until she was 18 months–I didn’t think she would appreciate that as an adult.
My family’s nicknames for me are all over the board but I love them. :) My parents have always called me pumpkins and tiger (mostly), tiger lilly, sunshine/ sunshine bear, cinderella, and momms (a strange thing that runs on my moms side of the family). Some people try to call me by those nicknames after they hear my parents and I stop them. It’s like a privilege to call me anything but my real name and I don’t want to share it with just anybody. One cousin always called me squirrel..no idea where that came from but it always made me feel special. My parents have owned a divey bar my whole life so I have unrelated “uncle” figures that I only know by their nicknames (fat albert, magic, doo-dah, etc). Such a quirky life I’ve been gifted. :)
i love giving nicknames! i am a teacher and every year, i end up giving nicknames to all of my students. some examples include: rowan = rowanski and rows and throws, fabian = mr. fabulous, alden = alder berry, alexa = lexie bexie, bonnie = bonnie bell. some of the kinds end up taking them so seriously, they won’t respond if their parents call them anything else.
My dad had nicknames for us when we were little, we laugh about them now. Kristin somehow became “Keeker Deeker” and Courtney became “Pintelbow” (quart-pint, knee-elbow)-that one always took some explaining.
My Oscar is “O”. Zaida is “Z” or “Z-z” (can you see a theme?), and Rowan is RoRo. This 2 y-o corrects me when I tell people his name, he proudly say, “No! It’s RoRo!”
Probably late on commenting, but I was always against nicknames, my husband came from a family that loved them. While our kids names have stayed the name we gave them more or less, the nicknames have come from other areas–Kiddo for our oldest (he’s 14 now and I still catch myself calling him that to his embarrassment) because he was the first, Gootz for our second, which started out as ‘silly goose’ and somehow evolved, Nut for our third because she started calling herself ‘Coconut’ (dad tried calling her peanut and she said at the age of two that she wasn’t a peanut but a coconut), and our last is Clara Lou Who (ties in with “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”). One funny nickname story, when our oldest was just 2 we were trying to get him to say the name of one of his uncles and we were saying “Is his name…?” When we asked is his name Bob, he started to laugh and would not call him anything but Uncle Bob (his name is Ryan). It has stuck to this day. He answers to Uncle Bob, most of the cousins call him Uncle Bob but the younger ones that we don’t live around always get confused and wonder who is uncle Bob. When he got married his wife tried to get the kids to call her Aunt Lucy (not really her name, just like how it went with Bob) but it didn’t stick.
There is a part in Shannon Hale’s ‘River Secrets’ where 2 of the characters are talking about nicknames and one says “You give her a nickname and nicknames are always a sign of affection.” I like that thought. Nicknames are something that is shared with people who have a connection with you somehow, a shared memory, experience, feeling…
We named our 13 month old Julian, and I was certain I’d call him Jude. So sweet and clear, but since birth (especially with the help of two older brothers) it’s been: JuJu, Jujie, Jujubean, The Beaner, Jugewa, and most recently The Juge (or maybe it’s spelled Jooj?)!
Such a fun post! My name is Catherine but in my family I am known as Boo–berry which evolved into Boobie. Apparently when I was a baby my favorite word, or sound, to say was, “boo”. So this became Boo-berry and when that got to long, Boobie. I never thought anything of it until my freshmen when I was with a group of friends at dinner discussing nicknames. You could not imagine the faces looking back at me when I announced, “Boobie”. Now they like to call me that, almost with the same affection as my parents when they called me that. I always wanted to be Cate, but for some reason that has only stuck with my grandmother. I so desperately wanted to be called that when I was younger but now I think I am happy with just Catherine. Great post!
I hear you on Dostoevsky. SO confusing!
I gave my kids names that were hard to derive nicknames from. Then I invented silly ones for them. Not quite as creative as your mother-in-law’s, probably–we call our oldest C-Man, and our second B-Squared, but I might be able to giver her a run for her money with my daughter’s nicknames: her name is Eila Noel, but we call her Eila-Noelsie-belsie, Eila-belsie-Noelsie, or just Eilabel. I really can’t remember why. :)
Somehow I feel that when you love a person as much as you love your child, just saying his or her normal name can’t always pack in all the affection you feel.
Such interesting stories!! My mom’s name was Patricia, called Patty as a kid and Pat as an adult, and never liked having nicknames. So, of course, she didn’t want my brothers and I to have names that could be shortened. She ended up making an exception for my youngest brother, because my dad’s father convinced them to name him William, after him, but he has always been Bill. My mom HATED if anyone called my brothers Billy or Johnny & just wouldn’t allow it ;). We didn’t have any cute nicknames, either.
I then always wanted a nickname, but never had one, even from friends, so I named both my kids with names that could have multiple nicknames that could change with them over time as they wanted. My daughter’s name is Elanora, and we always planned to call her Nora or Nori, but haven’t really done that yet and instead call her Darlin’, Bugaboo, and Bean. My son’s name is Quinton, and we and others do call him Quin or Q, and I call him Munchkin. Nothing terribly original, but I LOVE nicknames!
My husband’s family is always giving nicknames, and they evolve and change. Often someone from his family will call, and they never use his real name. It is Tim. They will call him Thompson, or Bubba. My two girls are Isabella. Mostly she goes by Isabella. But we call her Isabellie, Bella Button, or Isarellie. Often things will take on her name as well. For a while she liked playing the Pearle craft. So her name was Pearle bella. Also, we will say let’s go to school a rella. My other daughter is named Christina. She is often called Christinie, Christina biter, or Nina. Also are dog’s name is Tex, but has been called Texter, Rex, Texterella. Also things are known to be Texcellent, or Texciting. Sometimes I am called Wifi, and Fweethead (combination of Friend and sweetheart). It is a constant and evolving thing. My family never used nicknames. Except I had a sister who was called Sasha, but her real name was Galadriel Alexandra. She later legally changed it to Sasha Galadriel. She was to tired of explaining her legal name and the name she was use to. I think it is fun. It is a great way to show love.
My girls have nicknames we use at home. The twins are the Twits (a Road Dahl reference), and the Clowns. Individually China is Chinabear/Bear and more lately Missstinkycrankypants (hormonal rage anyone?). Nikita is Kitty Boo Boo/Kitty (but NEVER NEVER to be called Nicki), and Trinity is Trinny Yum Yum (she yumyums as she eats) /Trinny/Trins. They all love their silly knicknames.
When I was little I had a huge crush on my swim teacher- he called me Olivia Neutron Bomb- you know… instead of Newton-John. It stuck. I’m 35 and my Dad still calls me “Bomb”.
My kids all have nicknames…
Travis is howie, named that by his little brother who spoke late, we have no idea why howie but it stuck. Emmalyn is eme (Emmie) because that is her initials, and also Mimi. Caleb was called blub blub by the same little brother, which became blubbie, bulbs, blub. Which he doesn’t like and now wants to change his name to bob or Steve (8 years). Eli is grizzly.
I’m always making up goofy words & sentences to use with the kids so we are big on nicknames around here too. My oldest Sloan is Sloanie Bologna or sometimes just Bologna. Zoe is Zozo, Zozers, or Zoezer Mozer Dozer. Aris is Air Bear or Aris pea pie pear mere, & sometimes Popeye. Omri is Oblio named after Oblio in the Harry Nilsson’s the Point. Because when he was little he was my little round noggin head.
My family have been crazy about nicknames so it was natural to do it with my threes girls. Abigail gets Abbsey-Wabbsey, Abacrombi and Abigailo. Elisabeth get Lizzie-buzy-bee, Lissie-love-you-long-time and Lissie-lizard (always followed by “where’s your tail?”). Bethany gets Beccamie (which we shorten to Bekky) and Bethy-Wethy-woo. I am 35 and my brothers still call me by my nicknames (some of them not so flattering but all in fun) and I list them in my phone under their nicknames which can be a bit confusing. Even our pets aren’t exempt. We have two dogs Edgar (Ed-man, Edmire, Woody, Wood-wood) and Poe (Pier-Pier and Po-po-dog). Love you blog! It is always entertaining!
My name is f0rmally Elisabeth, but I’ve always gone by Beth. But my brother has always loved coming up with not-so-nice nicknames. I’ve been “hopeless” (my middle name is Hope) and more recently “Beefos”. My sister’s name is Heather, so she is now “Heiffer”. She has taken to calling me “Beef” and “Beefy”. She was also “Lizard” when she was younger (her middle name is Liz), but she hated that one. But the best name my brother and I ever came up with was “Hairy-Beary-Pigeon-toed-Llama-Lizard-With a gizzard- Who is definitely not a wizard” I’m not sure where the hairy or with a gizzard, who is definitely not a wizard parts came from, but there was a reason for all the rest.
My in-laws are huge nickname people and all of my husband’s family has strange nickames: Brent-Virgil/Virg, Mindi-Babes, Natalie-Harry, Logan-Beans. They started calling me Shark or Sharkie shortly after we got married and has since stuck. I love unusual nicknames for people! I had a room mate, Emily, whose family called her Uncle Jake all growing up.
This is fun! My daughter Susan is almost always Sukey but she has also been Sukey-wookie-kookie, Mount Vesukius (she spit up a lot), Sukey-Sue and Sweet Potato Pie. My son Milo has recently been called Magic Milo but we’re finding his name tougher to play with.
We named our daughter Phoebe, and we call her Bee. It fits her! She is a buzzy little thing.
Great post and comments! I had plenty of nicknames as a kid, but none that stuck. My husband is David, and we don’t get too creative with his name aside from Dave or Davey. Our daughter, Estelle, has plenty of nicknames. We thought Stella would be a given, but that is not the case so far. We mostly call her Stelly or Stelly Welly, short for Stelly Welly Full of Jelly (at daycare). Her other nicknames include Stelle and Pilarinha (Little Pilar). My mom has a new nickname, Tess, that my sister gave her, and it has stuck for a few years. I guess I shouldn’t give up hope for a fun nickname, even as I get older!
Sambo, Bo, and after Sixteen Candles came out (still heart Jake Ryan), I was Sammy Baker Davis Junior. Ask me if I liked any of these nicknames. Or don’t. Just call me Sam I am.
My parents specifically picked names for my sisters and I that couldn’t be shortened. My sisters are Holly and Erica. Erica was going to be Rebecca but they didn’t like “Becky” so that name was axed.
My son is Ezra and when I was pregnant we hoped no one would call him “Ez” — but now that’s what we call him most of the time. A friend has a son who is almost exactly a year older than him and he couldn’t pronounce Ezra so he called him “E Baby.” That one stuck too. So our Ezra is usually Ez or E Baby… but I also call him love bug or peanut.