Nick Nack Paddy Wack
Catherine at herbadmother.com wrote a blog post the other day that I just loved. She has two darling children named Jasper and Emilia, and she wrote about all of the nonsensical nicknames that have evolved within their family since they were born. It made me start thinking about the weird things we call each other around THIS house, and then I got curious about your houses as well…
OK, I’ll start. I’m the youngest of six kids, and my mom was determined that all of our beautiful names were NOT going to be shortened. She named us (in order): Carolyn, Matthew, Joel, Jonathan, Elizabeth and Victoria. Well, of course she was only about two kids in when she figured out that one way or another, nicknames were inevitable. By the time she got to me she even picked it out herself, which is why I am Tori instead of Vicki, I guess. So we became (in order): Carrie, Matt, Joely, Jonny, Liz and Tori the Baby. OK, I just made up ‘the Baby’ part, but Daddy does still occasionally introduce me to people as the baby of the family– and I gotta tell you, at 53, I’m fine with that. Within the family we added a few addendums to the accepted nicknames. For some reason when I was about 12 I started calling Liz, “Lizzie the Fizzie the Queen of the Blues.” You can imagine her delight. *edited to add* (Liz just sent a Facebook message to remind me that I also used to call her “Lulu” which she also hated with a passion. And now that’s what her beloved granddaughter calls her. You’re welcome.) Add to that the fact that she got one hickey in her entire life and I blackmailed her about it for two solid years, and you will understand why I am still a little bemused by the fact that she didn’t kill me in my sleep. Mom and Dad sometimes call Matt, “Da Mappoo” which is apparently something he called himself when he was just a wee toddler. And back when we were disgruntled teenagers Liz and I used to call Jonny “The Favorite,” because, hello, he totally WAS.
Fast forward to the family I live with now. Here are my nicknames: Russ calls me “Shug,” short for sugar because you know, I’m sweet like that. Madi calls me “Toria.” My friend Becca Sparks calls me “Tor-Tor.” Bonnie Keen calls me “Tor-ree-yuh,” drawled out into as many syllables as humanly possible. (I call her “Bonzai.”) Michael Omartian used to call me “Toree-adoree,” sung to the tune of The Toreador Song. I always liked that one. In high school, I was “TT.” (My maiden name was Timm. Yeah, I know. Tori Timm Taff. Yuk it up.)
Russ is generally just called Russ or occasionally Russell by everybody except me. I’ve always called him “Artie,” which stands for his initials, R.T. That can also sometimes turn into “Arts,” or even “Arts and Crafts.” I also love to affectionately refer to him as “Uncle Russ-hole,” which one of his little nephews in California actually called him once and of course, I will never let him forget it. Also Pat Boone used to call him “Leather Lungs,” and one time at the Dove Awards Glen Campbell introduced him as “Ross.” That’s about it.
Madi Rose isn’t crazy about being called “Mad” by some of her friends, so I lengthened it to “Mad Dog.” When Charlotte was a baby, she couldn’t pronounce her big sister’s name so it turned into “Mee Wose.” How cute is that?
Before Charlotte was born, I decided I’d be smart like Mom and go ahead and pick her nickname out myself. I wanted to call her “Lottie”– I thought that it had a sweet, old fashioned sound to it, so I told everyone that’s what we’d call her for short. Then she got here, and I just couldn’t go through with it. I have no idea why, but she was just a Charlotte– “Lottie” didn’t fit her! For some bizarre reason though, I did start referring to her as “Latte”, like the drink. Actually, I still call her “Mocha Latte” sometimes. Usually I just call her “Charlo,” but it was our dear friend Becca Stevens that dubbed her with the nickname that we all still use, which is “Char-Char.” Oh yeah, and when she was a tiny–and I DO mean tiny, skinny baby– who inexplicably had a big appetite, Madi used to call her “Big Fat.”
And before you ask, yes, the dogs have nicknames too. Lots of them. I can even say a couple of them in polite company– Pip “the Squeak” is also known as “Pippy Boy” and “The Old Man.” Thea is often called by her full name, which is “Thea Madea, The Strong Black Woman.” Phoebe is usually “Feebs,” except by my dad who thinks her name is “Fifi,” which mortifies her. Also, for reasons I don’t feel compelled to explain they are collectively referred to as “The Poopers.”
That’s it for us. Tell me yours!
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Let’s see,…hubby David is David,…NEVER Dave from me. (The kids call him Papa.) I occassionally say something like HoneyBuns which he HATES (thus, why I say it) or Hon which he answers to. He has a nickname from my Gramma (in jest) that I can’t print. (My Gramma has “colorful” language!)
Oldest daughter Caitlin was named that because I wanted something DIFFERENT,…and 27 years ago people were like “What? How do spell THAT?” Unfortunately, I am evidently a trend setter. I like Cait and Caity, but her best friend was Kate so we never shortened it. Her husband now calls her Cait. She was also Sissy and DiDi (I’ll come back to that one).
Oldest son is Kristopher,..NEVER Kris except by coaches. THey would have 17 boys with that name and call them all Chris/Kris or use last initials. Since we never called him Kris it never dawned on us that he was Kris T. which of course sounds likes Kristy which he hated. We also called him Bud.
When third son came along he couldn’t say Sissy and Kristopher so there were a few years they were Didi and Der-der! That son is Taylor, yes occassionally Tater,..I often call him T.B. He is my ADHD son who was always in trouble so he was usually TAY-LOR, said with great emphasis. (I wonder how Bev Lowry did it,…only a 1 syllable name? Did she just drawl it out MAAARRK and turn it into multiple syllables? Inquiring minds want to know!)
Lia, spoiled baby of the family (did I say that?) was, because of “Sissy” often called Missy, which for some bizarre reason became Missy Two-Shoes! Don’t know why. To her chagrin, her friends recently found this out and are now calling her that. (She’s 16.)
I have the name that gets it the most. I am “Jacqueline” on the birth certificate but only Walmart checkers reading my credit card ever call me that. I introduce myself as Jackie but of course it becomes Jac immediately to everyone. In school, I did get the Wacky Jackie or Yacky Jackie (don’t know why!!)and, (some of these will date me) Jack-o-lantern, Jackie Gleason, and Jack LaLane (How did he spell his last name?) Then I got older,…let’s say that you can pair Jac with lots of words to make naughty phrases (I can think of 3 without even trying!) One other nickname comes from my last name which is Thingvold. My friend Sue calls me Thing-a-ma-jig!
I just realized how long my response is, so I’ll just sign this
Yacky Jackie!!
I can’t resist a P.S. story about my name and vulgarities. At work, my boss put up a calendar and asked us all to write down when we were taking vacations, etc. People wrote “Megan off”, “Marcia off” so I added my “offs” using, of course, Jac. Later I glanced up at the calendar and started to giggle as I realize what I had written all over the calendar!!! The females in the department all guffawed. Our one token (!) male got very red-faced!!
It seems that we’re a family of nicknames too. Not as bad as some, where you never really know their real names, but with affection. I’m the baby of 4 so like you, I’m introduced as “my baby” or “my baby sister”. Also like you, at 46, doesn’t bother me a bit. When my yongest, Micaela was starting to talk she named her brother Daniel “ga-ga” and herself “tae-tae”. When Daniel was in high school my brother went to pick him up for me. Daniel later told me “mom, he called me ga-ga in front of everyone!” We love telling his dates that his name is really ga-ga.
I work in the office of a construction company. We were helping an employee fill out his application for life insurance. We asked who he wanted his beneficiary to be. He said his dad and gave us a name that was obviously a nickname. This 20+ year old had to go home and ask his dad what his real name was.
I started school before I knew my Dad had a “real” name. I came home with papers to be filled out by my Mom, I read them on the way to school the next day and was horrified to find out that she had put my dad’s wrong name on the paper, being the OCD person I have grown up to be, I erased what she had put and filled in the only name I had EVER heard him called, ‘BUMPY”. When she got home from work that afternoon I explained to her that she had made a mistake and wrote Dad’s name wrong and I had corrected it. As a 6 yr old I had no idea what was so funny with my correcting her mistake, even though she explained that “BUMPY” was a nick-name and not his legal name!
As time went on I finally asked my dad how he had come by the name Bumpy and with a smirk on his face he said, “Go ask Grandma”, at which time she explained that as a very small child (3 or 4 yrs. old) going anywhere with my dad was a challenge. My dad was the 6th child of 13, and when going to town was done in an open horse and buggy, dad was put in the back and away they went, on numerous occasions someone would miss one of the kids, grandma said there was no question to which one would be gone. As they were progressing down the dirt lane and hit a hole in the road, my dad would just bump out of the wagon, hit the ground, sit and wait to be picked up; as time progressed one of Dad’s older sisters would just holler that Bumpy was gone again.
Every non legal document has Bumpy on it, the phone book is listed as Bumpy Jones, the church directory is listed as Bumpy Jones and we have instructions that his death announcement is NOT to have Edward on it, only Bumpy.
Bumpy is now 88 years old, lives by himself, drives the “old” folks in church to therapy, church or doctors appointments and in general lives a full and useful life and we are so very thankful for the wonderful Christian man known to everyone as “BUMPY”!
Gramma Jac– I love the way you spelled your children’s names! We spelled Madi’s name the French way, since it’s a family name: Madeleine. And I bet no one in your office will ever forget your vacation time!
VA-Cathy– If you really want to ruin Daniel’s dating life, tell the girls his name is “Lady GaGa!”
Phyllis S– Ok, now I LOVE BUMPY!! His name, and his sweet self!
Bumpy Fan Club!!!
Love this…especially ‘Arts & Crafts.’ That sort of evolution led me to call Miranda “Turd” when she was still just a wee miracle baby (It was Christmastime…She was Turtle Dove…and then Turtle… and then… a word for poop).
When Kaitlyn Emma was born, we knew we wanted to call her Kaity, but Miranda at 15 months started calling her KK. Now everyone calls her KK, except Miranda, who calls her KAIT-LYN or occasionally, Kait-ly.
Rod & I only call each other by our real first names when we are angry. Otherwise, it’s the typical gush…Baby, Honey, Most Beautiful Woman in the World (or something like that…)
Many people call me Kel, or Miss Kelly, which I believe must speak to my sophisticated-ly-ness.
Since Paige gained 2 baby sisters during her teen years, she has earned both Sissy and Paigey, but Rod & I still call her Pa-hey, the ‘Spanish pronunciation’ of her name.
And my dear older brother/only sibling, had 2 special nicknames for me as we were growing up that occasionally still come out. One was ‘Stroons,’ which is an Italian word akin to the short form of ‘Turtle.’ And the other was ‘P’ – short for…. time for me to stop writing.
(LOVED this one. Obviously. Sorry for the ramble!)
Ok! So I have been lurking around here forever, and decided it was finally time to register and comment!
Ok, my husbands name was Darrell(he died about 7 years ago). No middle name. However, his mom and dad (and just about everyone in his family, now that I think of it) always called him Darrell Dean. Which to me always sounded like Geraldine the way they ran the 2 names together. I called him Geraldine, much to his horror.
Our son (14 now) we named Denver Talon. He seems to have many nicknames, from Dever, to Denny, to just plain D. His great grandmother who is 96, has always called him Denford. I think she really thinks thats his name. I dont want to hurt her feelings. He is her Denford. His sister (12 now) calls him Doony. That lead to Doony Tunes. His dad called him Pedro. To his uncle, he is PeeJib.
Our daughter is Kaylee Cheyenne. 12 years ago, I thought I had come up with a fairly uncommon name. Apparently so did alot of other moms that year. There are at last count 7 Kaylees in her school, 4 in her grade, 3 in the grade behind her. Only one other spelled exactly the same tho. I remember when she was in first grade, she come up with her own nickname. She wanted to be simply KC. Her initials. Her very wise teacher knew she didnt want to write her name out. So we called her KC, but she had to write Kacie on the papers. That didnt last long. By the end of the year, she was Kaylee again.
My nicknames for her, and there have been many, have always derived from the Cheyenne. She is Cheyannie Panties. Yes she hates it. Sometimes it is shortened by her brother, to just panties. Or if he is really wanting to aggravate her, its Shiny Panties.
She is going into 8th grade in the fall, and since 6th grade has a brand new nickname given to her by her Choir teacher. She is now Kiki. She loves choir and drama, and really likes this teacher, so it stuck. As she says, all the cool people call me Kiki.
My brother is Robert, I have called him Robair since I cant even remember when. I also call him Bo Bear.
Me? Im just Emily. When I was younger, my dear friends would call me Emmy Hay (middle name is Faye) My childhood pastor normally called me Em-i-lie . I guess my only nickname now is MOM!!
Let’s see…. I remember you as TT in high school. I also fondly remember Hettie Lou calling Russ ‘ Russ T-A-F-F’ she would spell Taff because her mouth would always say Taft. For me I am a Melissa called Misty. Hubby I call Pauly at times or even Hey are you listening. Holly has always been Hollywood by her friends.Mark is sometimes Mark-o . Laura for some reason is Woo or Wooster. Still call her that even at 22. John is john or johnny or #4
My dad called me Little Kathleen as I was named after my mom. This was odd as my mom went by Kathy when I was little. My eldest sister called me Kakawaka Burpadette Clown (Kathleen Bernadette Brown).
My siblings’ nicknames that I can remember:
Karen was Kare Bear before there were any Care Bears
Margaret was Maggie Pigtails
Joe was Joe Cool
Ruth was Ruthie Gooey Egg or Roofie
Jerry was Jinx
The other three didn’t have nicknames that I can remember.
When I met my husband he nicknamed me 21 as he thought I was soooo young. He has always been a coffee addict so he also called me Kaffiene and he became Maffew. These were later shortened to Ffiene and Ffoo. My best friend and I call each other Butthead and other variations, ie: Queen of the Buttheads, Butthead Supreme.
My children:
Nathan: Chicken butt, Chunky Thighs, Pooh Bear, Nate
Megan: Princess, Megan Bacon, Twiggy
Ian: Ian McBean, E.E., Bean, Professor Poopy Pants
Noah: Turtle Boy, Noah Balboa, NoNo
David: Davey Crockett, Davy Baby, D.J.
Mary: Mary Bell, Baby Girl, Mary Bear
I loved reading everyone’s responses! I love it how every family has names for their family.
Being the baby of the family…my Daddy always called me Baby Doll. When he was a little upset with me it was Baaaabbbbbyyyy Dooooollllllll. When I was really in trouble it was Phyllis Renee. LOL My Uncle Jim called me Renner. My Momma called me Phyllis Renner unless she was upset with me. I am sure my 2 older sisters had some names for me under their breath. LOL When my nephew was little he couldn’t say Phyllis, so he called me Sissy. That has kind of stuck. Somewhere in my childlifetime Daddy called me Turtle for Snappin Turtle one time. He didn’t call me that much, but some of the family friends still do. For the most part my family still calls me Sissy.
My oldest sister was Johnnie Faye. She was called Faby or Flonnie J. LOL My middle sister is Sharlene…she was called Sharl’in Darl’in.
Momma and Daddy usually called each other Honey or Daddy called Momma, Momma and Momma called Daddy, Daddy. Unless they were at church and it was Bro. Stokes or Sis. Stokes. Isn’t that kinda sweet.
Sorry for the loooooooong response and poor punctuation.
But it was fun.
Nicknames? Yeah…we got’em.
As a ’50-something’ Alyson, I can assure you what is now a pretty common name was NOT at all common back in the day. I wasn’t ever called ‘Aly’ back then, which was kind of odd as it was during the whole ‘Love Story-Ali Macgraw ‘ time, but now people refer to me as ‘Aly’ and I never know who they are talking to. The only nickname I ever remember was at church camp when someone stole my bra, froze it overnight and ran it up the flagpole the next morning. I was ‘Big Al’ after that.
My husband is ‘Big H’ or ‘Superman’ from his athlete days. Yeah, we kind of laugh at that.
Daughter Megan is ‘Meggie’ which her brother turned into ‘Dee-Dee’ when he was little.
Daughter Meredtih was ‘Murphy’ when she was a baby, as her sister couldn’t say her name, then she became ‘Mo-Mo’. Her friends call her ‘Mere-bear’ and ‘Mere-death’. Nice,huh?
James Matthew Austin has the most names, so therefore the most nicknames.’ JMAR’ …his initials. ‘J.Matt’ ‘Mattie’. ‘Chewbacca’, ‘Matt-chew’. ‘Spoiled child who gets everything he wants’ is how his sisters refer to him, but that’s another story.
My sweet friends who have 4 children under 6 years of age think that their offspring’s name for me is hilarious: ‘Miss Ass-on’. But that’s O.K.–I adore them and they can lisp my name anyway they want.
How could I forget! Our granson calls me GaGa this was way before the lady appeared
‘ Meredith ‘–I misspelled my daughter’s name. There goes my ‘mother-of-the-year’ trophy.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tori Taff, johnnie parker. johnnie parker said: RT @Babybloomr: So what do people call YOU instead of your real name…? http://babybloomr.com/2010/06/15/nick-nack-paddy-wack/ […]
Well, I’m back to it takin me 5 times to get in! And, I thought I was all techy smart & stuff now!:( And, yes, I did pull myself away from FB long enough to come here, SINCE TORI WAS ON LINE & WASNT ANSWERING – I FIGURED THIS WAS WHERE THE ACTION WAS!!!!!! I hear pooping sounds, so I’ll make this quick – my mother used to call me, (& still does) ‘Lizabeth. After her divorce from my dad, (i was named after both grandmothers – Johnnie, (his mom) & Elizabeth (her mom), so she tried to totally obliterate him frm our lives, bless her heart! Didnt work – i was a daddy’s girl in looks & personality – so, anyway, she began calling me “lizabeth – instead of the name “johnnie liz” which had taken them sooo very long w/ lots of effort to finally get it to catch on w/ folks.
that’s all i got! peace (Oh, my dau’s name is Roberta – but we all call her Bert – not so exciting…)
I am Jennifer. My family mostly calls me Jenny. Husband calls me Jen, hon, bunny, or Jennifer if he’s serious.
My friends call me Jen, Jenny, Mama J, or Jenny Stew (because my 6 year old thought that “Stew” was my middle name – it’s actually “Sue”).
My husband is Paul. I call him Pab, Pablo, and Big Daddy. His sister still calls him “Bubba”. His friends all call him “South” or “Southie”. (Our last name is South.
Tucker (8 year old) – husband has always called him “Booba” or “the Booba Dee”. The rest of us usually call him Tucker or #7 (his baseball jersey #)
Griffin (6 year old) — Griff, Griffie, and Chi-Chi. Rarely is he just “Griffin”.
Anne Claire (3 year old) — Sissy, Sis, Annie, and Scout. I often find myself just calling her “Anne”.
Funny nn story: one of our neighbor kids is a burly, not-too-bright mean kid called “Sammy”. I started calling him “Sammy the Bull” to my husband but at some point wasn’t quite discriminating enough when I said it…one day, in front of Sammy’s parents, I said “Annie, this is Sammy’s mom” to which she replied “you mean Sammy the Bull?”
Jennifer! Your husband and my husband know each other! Paul is my friend on FB. Ask him about ‘Harris’ from AU days.
Well, our family is kind of boring, nickname wise! We all call each other by our given names……but I guess we’ve shortened Candace to Candy.
But, when I’m out driving, I get called “different” names. Some I’ve seen on overpasses. Some I don’t know how to spell.
Loving all these responses. Mine aren’t as interesting as some but I always like to join in.
I’m Rachel, at the age of about 10 I wanted to have a nickname and tried out Rae for a while, but I soon found it sounded a bit too much like a middle-aged man so it didn’t last long. In the first year at University one of my flatmates was also called Rachel (she’s now my very good friend) and I then became Rach’ which I like. Most of my friends use Rach’/Rachel interchangably (including jonny, I notice).
Oh yes, I just remembered, there are also a small bunch of people from my University days who know me as ‘the woowar’ (because of an old joke to do with my maiden name of Woodward). When I got married a couple of my friends adjusted this slightly and so there are at least 2 people in the world who know me as ‘the woobakker’.
I am married to Jonathan, and call him Jon/Jonathan depending on the mood. He’s not keen on the name Jonny!
Our oldest daughter is 5 – her name is Hannah Grace Baker. She gets called Hannah/Hannah/Hannah Bandana/Hannah Bandan/Hannah Bandanna Bananarama.
The next one is 3 (nearly 4) – her name is Elizabeth Faith Baker. I wanted to call her Beth but in the end decided I’d give her the name Elizabeth so she’d have more options later in life. Given her somewhat scatty personality I think it was the right decision. She is Beth at school and to most people. At home she is either Beth, Bethy, Bethy Wethy, Betty Boo or Lizzy-Tops.
Our little boy is 17 months – Daniel Jonathan Sanders Baker. He’s Daniel/Dannyboy/Danboy/Dan … and Beth, having just learned rhyming at nursery school, has named him ‘destroy boy’ which is fairly apt at the moment.
ROTFL Tori – I REALLY don’t think you want to know what my dad calls me – trust me.
There’s a crazy story behind it and it involves my godparent. However, sometimes he does call me “Lynnie Pooh” – that’s what my granddaddy always called me. Most of my cousins call me “Sis” since we are closer than cousins. And there is absolutely no telling what most of the kids I teach call me and I PROBABLY don’t want to know. 
Esp. if they are really aggravated with me.
THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!!
Keep ‘em coming!
Nothing too crazy around here. Julien is occasionally called Juju. However, Cecilia HATES Cici, a name some in our family insist on calling her. She is now 6, but a couple years back wanted a new name. The conversation when like this:
“Mom, can I have a new nickname other than Cici?”
“Sure, like what?” I replied.
“How about Julia?” she asked.
“Um…no…your brother is named Julien.”
“Oh, what about Rose?”
Thus ended the conversation because I couldn’t stop laughing. We decided to just stick with Cecilia.
My one and only niece is Rachel. Our family and my sister’s husband’s family often refer to her as ‘Rach.’ Since our Bloomr Rachel is the only other Rachel I know presently, the two do become inter-changeable at times = /
Some people have issues with calling me jonny. They try to get away with Jon, or John (my dad’s name), but I correct them ASAP. Or some still throw an upper-case ‘J’ at the beginning, as Former likes to do, but… well, after all we’ve been through, or that I’ve put her through, I guess she deserves to get away with it!
My mom also used to call me Ratchet Jaw. Even though it took me a long time to open up once I started talking it seems I never stopped. A lovely namme my parents had reserved for all of us when we were little was snot-nosed-cracker-grabber and they could say it so fluidly!
I recall two family names that never occured to me as odd until I grew up. These were Grandma Barn and Uncle Chick. Grandma’s last name was Brown and one of the grandchildren somewhere down the line (long before I was born) couldn’t wrap his lips around Brown so it became Barn and that is what she was called ever since. She loved it.
Her brother has always been known as Chick. I know there is a story behind it but I can’t recall at this moment.
My dad’s older brother Darrell has always been Uncle Bud. His wife (and my mom’s sister) is Dorothy but we call her Dodie and her siblings call her Dorsh. I always called my aunt Maureen Auntie Em. She does not like this! Bernadette was Bernie. Grandma Ellen was Nellie. For some unknown reason my uncle Mike is called Harry.
It’s gotten so that I’ve had to ask my dad what people’s real names are because I’ve never known.
Husband and I call each other “Muff” – short for Muffin, and I can honestly say, after 30 years, I don’t remember how that got started, but it stuck!
I’m Julie – variations have been – Jul, Jules, JuJu, Ju, Julie Ann, Julie Andrews, Julia (hated that name until Julia Roberts came along and made it soooo cool!).
Son Michael Dustin goes by Dusty with variations of- Dust, Dusty-butt, Skinny-butt, Boney-butt, Dustola, Dustolias, Dustorino, Pobito (Spanish for Dust). One child in our church said to him, “Why did your parents name you after dirt?”
Son Jordan – Jord, Jordo, Jordy, Jordy-baby.
Then I was thinking of all the sweet names I called my boys when they were little – Baby Doll, my babies, suggy, sugar lump, snuggle bug, snuggly-bugglies, sweet face, brown eyes, blue eyes.
What a fun post!
Oh jonny, I’m sorry I put that upper case “J” in there! Habit, I guess. I didn’t realize that’s the way you meant to spell it. It’s just a reflex to capitalize someone’s name—–even super cool, livin’ on the edge rock stars.
This is very fun….
I have a pretty big family. My parents have six children. There is an older brother Marshall – when my mom was pregnant with me… my parents asked him what he wanted (meaning a sister or a brother?) – he responded “a truck”… so jokingly I get that once in awhile… when I was young I couldn’t say Marshall so I called him “shaw-haw”/ I have an older sister June – she’s been called june-bug, junie, but June was just too easy to say so she got short changed with not really having a nickname/me- I’m Robyn and I’m very proud of the spelling of my name… in fact I hate it “alot” when people spell my name rob”i”n… it is special when my mom calls me bobby (that always meant she wasn’t mad at me), my siblings call me Rob most times (it’s kind of weird but as a female I don’t mind it just with in the family) I told my business partner “one time” that when my dad served his time in the marines “the guys” called him “blackie” (our last name is Black) he hardly ever calls me Robyn – it’s always “blackie” ever since… (I kind of like it!!) I have loved music for most of my life… been around it for decades, doing lights and sound at events etc. So some people in that realm of my life started calling me Rockin, an old boyfriend of mine called me rockin from the song “Rockin Robin” – he was a d.j. at the time… I collect frog nic nacs (it started out to be a Neil Diamond fan thing) so my fam also calls me froggy!! I have a younger sister – Linda… we all are kind of rolly polly physically speaking and she is so prissy and dare I say it “thin” so my nick for her is “pin”… Then I have a younger brother Douglas – through the family it’s mostly Dougy, Doug and I kinda started calling him “puggy” just cause it rhymns with Dougy… and finally the baby of the fam.. Amanda – immediately it became Mandy until she thought in jr. high she was too old for Mandy, but it still kinda found it’s way back years later and at 37 now she doesn’t not mind a bit… and puggy started calling her “turfy poo” when he was a teen, and still calls her that today. my niece, my poor parents only grandchild is Maya Sidney… you would think you can’t get any nickname out of Maya…. she is 11 yrs old and as a wee one she was always so prim and proper, angelic – just always brought peace to us… still does!! so my sisters and I started calling her Miss Maya (respectful like – you know) now it is MY My too! when she texts me, she’ll sign off – My My!!
Some people do frown on nick-names but to me it lightens my heart, knowing that someone acknowledges to know me well enough to try to address me in a personal way – with a nick name. I think – in most cases it is out of respect (now I know some nick names can be mean-hearted) But in that case that is just plain name-calling!
I love reading everyones stories! It brought to mind what I was convinced of as a youngun. I am one of 4 kids. Oldest sister is Judith, but they call her Judy…. Oldest brother is Michael but of course they call him Mike…. younger brother is Stephen Todd but call him Todd and well I’m Vicki and they call me, yep, you guessed it, VICKI. I always wanted my name to be Victoria and then they could call me Vicki, but nooooooo…. I knew I had to of been adopted!!
Love being Tori Taff’s friend – Vicki
Oh my, I FORGOT the most important nickname–for the last 4 years, I have been Gramma Jac! How could I forget what my Grandsons call me, especially since it’s also my on-line name!!
So, when it’s time for breakfast, and you haven’t eaten since dinner, does anyone ever call you, ‘Hungry Jac’??
No,…but don’t say “Hi” to me on a plane!!!
Heaven forbid I ever let that one slip out, even at the airport!! = )
Oh, and I also could’ve written, does anyone ever ask you at breakfast, ‘Hungry, Jac??’
My dad used to call me “Boots.” He was a big sportsman and I used to go coon hunting with him as a child, wearing a pair of his old hip boots and struggling to stand upright. In the beginning, the boots were almost as tall as I was. In school I was called Barbara, Barbie, Barb or Babs.
My husband was a junior, so the family called him by the nickname for his middle name: Jimmie….and that’s what I called him. He usually called me “Honey.” I often called him the same thing. (makes me laugh now that I am thinking about it)
Our children, Chris, Joan and Mark, were usually called by those names. Exceptions were Christopher, when I was angry; Joanie or Blondie; and Markus or Mark Damon, using his middle name.
I often call my dog Lucy….Luc (loose)
When speaking directly to one another, our family most often calls one another “sweetie,” “hon,” sweetheart,”baby…..the usual names. for ones you love. We aren’t very original.
Okay this is HILARIOUS! It’s fun to read all these crazy things people call each other. It makes my family seem–almost normal!
Okay, Michael (hubby) was always Blue (for his amazing eyes) or Mike till I met him. I told him I couldn’t call him Mike he had to be Michael. When I was a kid our neighbors had this nasty old dog who was eaten up with heart worms and made a gaggy coughing sound SO, he’s always been Michael since then. Or paw paw as I affectionately call him when he starts yawning at 8:30 pm.
Mallory was Pookie, Pookie Boo, or Mal Mal till her baby sister came along and called her “wrow-ree” too cute!
Aly has always been of course–Aly Cat or Aly Bo Bally. There was a period around age three when we called her Wild Thing, which was her favorite song at the time.
The Dogs have the most varied and colorful names: Fonzie: Fonzel Fonzarella, Fonzie Doodle, Fondle (don’t judge me!), Fonzie Wonzie, Foonzle, Foonzle McBee — I could go ON and ON. We have had him a LOOONG time…
Chuckie: Chuckster, Chuckles Choodles, Choodliepoo.
Oh and me, T, TG, Teegees, Toto but mostly MOM.
i wanna play too! This was a GREAT idea Tori! One of those things you don’t really talk about but turns out it’s a lot of fun when you do!
Growing up me and my brother(Lance & Lana) acquired the name Lanigirl and Lancer. Of course, in school, there was ALWAYS someone going to do the whole Lana dana bo bana fee fi fo fana…then Lana Banana. BUT…the GREATEST and craziest nicknames in my family are that of my grandparents generation. No one had “real” names…if they did no one knew them. Some of them were obvious, some..nobody had a clue how they acquired their nickname. On my Grandpa’s side, there were so many but the best were, uncle fatty(yes..b/c of the obvious) and aunt sister, cousins Chicken and Little Pee Wee. My Grandma’s side was, Jackie(Ella Mae), Aunt PIT?(Mildred), Aunt Dutchy(Mary Elizabeth),and Brother Boy (Uncle Clarence..only boy in the family). As a child I was SO embarrassed if I had to reference any of these names to anyone other than family. Now..i think it’s hilarious and endearing.
Oh lanigirl, I know what you mean about some unusual names in the family that no one outside the family would understand! My mother comes from a family of 14 children, born and raised on a hilltop farm in W.Va. I don’t know where Grandma got some of the names of several of her children, but they are unique. Like Aunt Lebern, nicknamed Till. And Uncle Burless. And Aunt Geva. And Uncle Aven. And Aunt Melda. And my own mother’s name—–Ilma Ennis. What I find humorous is she thought up truly unique names for her first 13 children, but the last boy she must have run out of names, or she wanted to simplify things……and she named him Harry. I always thought unusual names for children was a southern thing. I don’t see that up here in the north.
Oh, and Big Al? I loved your story!
I’m awfully sorry I can’t tell much about nicknames…
BUT: I have finished my written French finals!!!! As soon as I hear about the results I’ll let you know. After that I’m only an oral exam away from my “approved translater” certificate
delighted: bravo et felicitations!!
So pleased you have finished Delighted! You must feel that a weight has been lifted from you.
You’re right rachelbaker and even more weight will be lifted when I hear that I have been successful.
Oh, it’s already bedtime…bonne nuit et dormez bien/ good night and sleep well
jonny!!!!!!! why havnt you accepted my friend request???? I PROMISE I AM NOT A FREAKY WEIRDO, ( i think????)…………..peace you really looked like a rock star on that pic!
1st off, wonderful news delighted!! I’m so happy for you = )
And D, I’ll send you a facebook message about this. Been meaning to, but I’ve had no time, or possibility to do so yet. Also, I never wanted to ever make public the fact that I now have a facebook profile of sorts. You could have just sent me a facebook message about this and not brought it up off topic here.
Most of my famiy call me Dee (my name is Diane), my sister called me Ms. Dee, my Dad called me Di-nana. My mother’s family in England call me Lady Di (yeah, I like that one!) My grandchildren call me Nanny Dee or Dee Da and my husband calls me……well mostly honey….that’s all I’ve got to say about that
I have twin granddaughters and their Mom named them Haylie and Kaylie. That will never work….so..I called Haylie, Haylie Boo and Kaylie, Kaylie (changed to Katie) Bug….now they are known as Boo and KB. Most people don’t even know their real names.
My Dad’s name was Lonnie but when he met my Mom in South Wales he told her his name was Jack (you know how those soldiers are….) so everyone began calling him Jack. Mom was Catherine but the Welsh, never wasting a syllable, called her Kit.
My husband’s name is Edward Earl (for real…he’s from Nashville)and he is a Junior. His Dad worked for a trucking company and wore a uniform. His last name (Robinson) was embroidered on his shirt. When the last part wore off all it said was Robi…hence he became Robbie and my hubbie is Robbie, Jr.- true story.
My other grandddaughters are Tori Shae – called Tottally Tori or TT and Jordan Taylor known as JT. The boys are Tan Man for Tanner, Ty Ty for Tyler, Matt Matt for Matthew and EC (Eric Clapton – yes he plays guitar)for Garrett.
I never thought about all this until your post…hmmm…loved it!
We were never big on nicknames at my house…BUT-
We often do, for unknown reasons, call my dad Baron, Baron Von Trapp, Brain, and (Drum Roll, please!) Moses. We call him Moses because of his beard.
We call my mom Donder, and Don Don, and Marmy (From Little Women).
My mom calls me Buddy…I really don’t like it that much…It’s too Southern for me…
My older sister calls me Brother. Sometimes even Brethren.
My older sister and I address the family as a whole as fam, familia, fam fam, or ‘guys’.
My older sister calls our Parents “The Parentals”.
My family calls my little sister “Meeseey”. We call her that because our baby cousin can’t pronounce McKenzie.