Nicknames have been mentioned a few times lately in bloggerland.
Rachael mentioned her nickname for Katya is Scrappy Doo because she is a tough, little girl. Also, it came up in Jen’s blog that a certain commenter did not appreciate her nickname for the Pineapple Princess. Personally, if I was Jen I would have told that commenter to kiss my you know what, but that got me thinking. When you named / are deciding on a name for your child, did you take into account the nicknames that would come along with it? Frank and I often find ourselves liking names and later discarding them simply because of the nicknames. For instance, the most common nickname with negative connotations has got to be Richard - Dick. (No offense to all the Dicks out there, but we are doing our best to avoid the obvious, potential issues with certain nicknames.)
Also, when you were a kid or with your children, did you have a nickname that was totally unrelated to your name? I was “Boo” to my family. Still am. This name was given to me before the hip hop culture decided to use it as a term of affection to biotches and hoes. During my visit home this Spring I had to tell my Nana to stop calling me “Boo” in public. She yelled it into the dressing rooms, quite an embarressing experience…. My Dad called me “Turkey,” because I was born on Thanksgiving Day. I was always his little turkey. My Mom often called me Rosebud. I’m not sure why. My best guess is that it came from her telling me my feet smelled like Rosebuds after I got out of a bath. Silly things Moms say to their children. I have no doubt whatsoever that I will be one of those silly Mom’s myself. I’m such a dork that I’ve already planned out a few nicknames I like for my potential kids. Who knows if I’ll use them, but I am certain my children will have nicknames.
Very good questions! Our sons have “household nicknames” that weren’t really planned nicknames (like peanut, pumpkin, scooter. . .). Our nickname for our daughter-to-be is Sunshine (I just blogged about that this past week, as a matter of fact). My DH & I have the same types of conversations about nicknames- he won’t let me name our daughter Abigail since he knew a girl that they nicknamed “Flabby Scabby Abby.” How mean!!
I don’t know if you’ve named your child yet, but best of luck if you’re still in the debate!
Comment by JennStar — June 18, 2007 @ 10:21 pm
My parents decided to give all the kids nicknames that stuck that have nothing to do with our real names. My brothers are Bo (Wesley), Bob (James) and me, Dede (Denise). I have actually grown quite fond of my nickname and prefer it over my real name.
I guess I don’t have room to talk though since I nicknamed by best friend’s son Tato (Bryan) when he was about 3 months old. She had a hatchback car and we used to load him in the car seat from the hatchback so I said one day that it was like loading a sack of taters in the car. Btw, I just attended my “little” Tato’s high school graduation and he still smiles when I call him that.
Comment by Dede — June 19, 2007 @ 12:19 am
My son-to-be became “Bee” because of the gifts I began to receive — all bees. There were a lot of bees hanging around, so it seemed right. Then everything was yellow and black striped when I was in St. Petes…weird.
Comment by annmarie — June 19, 2007 @ 12:27 am
Our poor HotDog! This is the nickname our 4-year-old has been calling his soon-to-be baby sister since we first mentioned the idea. I have no idea where he came up with this, but he insists that is her name. I’m really trying to change his mind because I can’t imagine the problems that would come with a nickname like HotDog! However, for now we have compromised that he can call her HotDog and everyone else will call her by her real name.
Comment by Allison — June 19, 2007 @ 12:45 pm
Good one.
We call Oleg the boy on the blog because that is what we referred to him as while waiting. Pickle came about because we had nothing else to refer to. No gender or such. Now that he’s home I call him Babaganush. That started in Russia when he tried to crash a wedding while getting paperwork. I also call him Olezhek when he’s in trouble. It is the diminutive of his name, but longer and more ominous.
For myself… The hub’s family calls me Missy. I am growing to hate it with a passion. My friend Neal actually calls me Elle. My family calls me Leese. That is the longest standing nickname I’ve had.
Comment by elle — June 19, 2007 @ 3:27 pm
My family is a family of nickname freaks. We can turn ANYTHING into a nickname. My sisters (Lori, Shannon, Francie and Natalie) are Aunties Lor-Lor, Shannie-Annie, Fray-Fray, and Nay-Nay (sometimes Nat-the-Brat) to my kids. I’ve always been the somewhat boring nickname of Rach. I escaped the obvious Rachy-Pach somehow, but my husband likes to call me Rah-Rah, or Rocky-Lane (my middle name is Elaine), just to be silly because he thinks my sisters and I are weird with the double-double nicknames.
I won’t even get started on the nicknames we have for our kids. Scrappy-Doo is just one of many. Last night I told Katya “Good night, Pumpkin.” And she looked at me weird and said, “Ewwww, Mommy, Pumpkin is ORANGE FOOD. Why? Ewwww.”
Funny thing is, Russians go crazy for nicknames, too. They even have diminuitives for their nicknames. Ekaterina, Katya, Katushka, Katinka….you get the idea.
Comment by Rachael — June 20, 2007 @ 7:21 pm