Nicknames

As a child I longed for a nickname. The first time that the thought occured to me was in first grade. My friends and I were playing a game, and they came up with the name "Dee Dee" for me. I took to it, and when I came home from school that day I requested to be called,"Dee Dee" from that point on. My mom asked why, and when I told her that it was a name I had been using at school during recess, she agreed. We never spoke of it again. I started playing a new game at recess, and gave up on being called "Dee Dee", but the desire to have a cool nickname remained.

This desire was only fueled further a few years later when my sister gave nicknames to everyone in the family BUT me. The closest I got was another sister teasing me and calling me "Anya", which I hated because at the time, I was embarrassed by my Thai name. It only got worse when my brother called me "Rat", an even worse take on that same name. So, needless to say, my search for a nickname only intensified. Fortunately in middle school my friend Susie started going by "Sooz", and calling me "Daiz". I was so thrilled to finally have a nickname, and it is one that my friends still use. In having a nickname that I liked I felt that I finally belonged, and mattered to my friends. It was as if giving me that name signaled an acceptance from someone else, and a tangible proof of the affection between us.

This feeling has carried on through to today. When I get close to someone I usually shorten their name, or even change it completely. This is seen the best through the nicknames I have given to my children. And note, I gave them these names. Ed more or less goes along with them once he has heard them enough times and gets used to the butchering of his kids' names.

Even before we picked E's name, we had her nickname picked out, and planned to use it in everyday life. Once she was born she got a list of nicknames both based on her name and as terms of endearment : Ell Belle, Ellie Belly, Love Bug/Snuggle Bug/Bug, Belle, and Goose (as in "You are such a silly goose"). When N was born I started by calling him "NoBo" which got shorted to "Bo" which got lengthened to "Bo Bo" which got further lengthened, on occasion, to "BoBologne". I know, very silly- even Ed won't go so far as to call him that last one. But we still call him "Bo" and "BoBo" on a daily basis. When K was born, I didn't know what her nickname would be. I started by trying out "Linnie Lu" but it didn't really stick, although I still use it occasionally. What did stick was KK. When Ed first heard me calling her that, he asked why I didn't call her KC (her initials) but it just didn't fit. So Kae Kae it is. On top of all these personalized nicknames I have given my children, there are the general ones that I use interchangeably with all of them: Baby ( the older ones aren't too happy with that one, but I can't help it, I just find myself saying it), Cutie Patootie, Sweetie Pie, Sweet Pea, and my own made up version- Sweet Pea Pie.

So, I want to know what nicknames have you given and received?