Nicknames have always been kind of a big thing for me. My mom is known as “Bigs” and when I say that, I mean that most of my family, friends and even my dad do not use her first name. They just call her Bigs. The funny thing is she’s not big at all. My uncle is known as Harv but his name is Chuck. My cousin Rex is also Chuck but sometimes likes to be called Biz or Pete. He married a girl named Anna who we call Tone and they had a daughter named Adrianna who we call Kiki. I call one of my best friends from high school Das or Dassy. My grandma wants to be called GG. Growing up, my family called me Patty Girl and my little cousin Chris was Critter B. Are you starting to get the picture? This can get really confusing! I can remember my husband not knowing which family member I was talking about on more than one occasion in the early days of our relationship.
I don’t think you can plan nicknaming though. When I was pregnant with my first daughter, people would ask me if I was going to call her Addy and I would tell them that I didn’t know. We would have to wait and see if the nickname suited her. As it turns out, it does and some people call her Addy and this was a much easier name for her little sister to learn so it works. As a baby, her nickname was Little Sweetheart. My middle daughter was called Pay Mae as a baby and now we call her Pait. At daycare, some people call her Pay Pay. My son is only 10 months and we call him Big Guy or Boo Boo. I’m not sure how my husband feels about the Boo Boo but I think it’s cute and so do my daughters.
Oddly enough, I do not have a nickname for my husband although some of my family members call him Geraldo. Don’t ask, it’s not for the reasons you might think! In law school, some of my friends called me Melt.
Nicknames can be fun but what if you don’t like the name that your family and/or friends have given to you? My advice is to speak up early on because some nicknames tend to stick. A few of my aunts and uncles still call me Patty Girl, which I don’t mind. I prefer not to be called Pat but some people do. I have never liked to be called by my full name, Patricia, but your name is your name so there’s not much I can say. Contrarily, nicknames can be changed and they often do so speak up and let it be known if you don’t like what people are calling you or your kids. As we grow, and as new people enter our lives, new nicknames are born and others are lost in history.
I wonder if I will still call my son Boo Boo when he is 22? What’s the trick to making a nickname stick?
CT Working Moms 
I’m 25 and still refer to my 29year old brother Bubba (he’s Mark). My parents still call me noodles.
Most people just cut the first ‘a’ off my name 😛 i love nicknames
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fun post patricia! 😉 Ironically my daughter’s name is one syllable so we weren’t even thinking nicknames…but she is referred to as shay shay, shay bae, Poompies, and sweets 🙂 In our family we also have boy AND girl names…now that one I can’t really explain but we love it [you know what I’m talking about…brad and angie!]
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That’s right Hugh, say “Hi.” to Phoebe from us 🙂
And Patricia your boy name is…Lawrence, and Geraldo’s girl name is Carol. Have fun with that!
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My little man is “Baa, Baa” or simply Bub. I have no idea why I started called him that, but it suits him 🙂
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I call Zo “Pickle” all the time. There will come a day when she hates it but until then she’s stuck with it!
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My son is 13 and we still call him Bubba or Slick.
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We call our 9-month-old son Chicken, Mister and Guggenheim. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason behind any of these nicknames.
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I love nicknames too! I also agree that you can’t always predict what the nickname for you child would be. Before Lillian was born I was convinced I would call her Lily. Then once she arrived I just felt she was more of a Lills and I NEVER call her Lily. My parents nicknamed me Moe, I have no idea why but they still sometimes call me that. I call my younger sister Boo and she calls me Bink. Again, no clue where these came from but I just love the feeling of nicknames! How did you get the nickname Melt?
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Ha! There is some reason behind this one. I ordered a patty melt at lunch one day 🙂
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We’re a big nickname house too 🙂
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From the day they were born, I referred to my kids as “squidgies” and the name “Squidgie-Pie” stuck for my girl. Then over time, hubby started to call her Bree-Bree (a variation of her name) and this was around the time that the kids started talking. Now my boy only calls her Bree-Bree. That will forever be her name to him. I still call her Squidgie-Pie.
My boy, somehow I started singing “Bubba Lubba Ding Dong” every time we were joking around and his name “Bubba” stuck. My husband HATES it and says it sounds like some big doofus name. But again, my girl only calls him Bubba now and even though the teachers at school call him by his proper name, ALL the other kids call him Bubba. I REALLY hope that sticks because I think it’s so cute!!!
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Have I ever told you that my parents call me Biggs? They have ever since I was little, and they still do most of the time, they even address my birthday cards and such as “Dear Biggs.” I will never call your husband anything but GERALDO—EVER AGAIN! 🙂
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Is it wrong that I read this and all I can think is “Biggie biggie biggie can’t you see, sometimes your words just hypnotize me.” lol!
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Hahaha. Now it’s stuck in my head!
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I’m big on nicknames too ~ and you’re right, you can’t plan it. Most of the time I just can’t STOP myself from using them ~ my son Finn is “Bug” and “Buggy”, my son Roan is “RoRo” and our baby Kai is “Scooter.” My hubby and I each call each other “Rabbit” or “Potpie” and NEVER use each others real names ~ in fact whenever he calls me “Kate” it totally weirds me out!
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