Ahhh…Nicknames.  Those loveable monikers our family and friends give us are (usually!) a warm fuzzy feeling of belonging.  They signify acceptance, being “in” with someone, friendship, and unity.  Even if one claims to hate a particular family given nickname, you must admit that it’s usually feels better to have one than to not have one.   It gives you a special identity above and beyond your given birth name. 

Sometimes nicknames are a shortened form of your common name, usually a one syllable shortening such as “Bob” (for Bobby) or ”Liz” (for Elizabeth).  Other nicknames can be based on someone’s last name, or even their initials (my husband’s nickname is K.J., after his first and middle name).  And then there are nonsensical names based on personality traits, looks, or just something fun to say that seems to stick.

Parents and Grandparents tend to be the ones to saddle kids with nicknames that stick throughout life, with siblings close behind them.  For instance, my family’s nickname for me is “Lisa Bug”.  My grandmother called me that as a baby, and it stuck.  At 25 years of age, my older family members still call me Lisa Bug.   Funny thing is, I really don’t mind it.  (Here again, insert that fuzzy warm feeling of “belonging”).   My mother’s siblings carry the burdens of such nicknames as “Tunk”, “Nudie”, “Sissy”, “Sambo”, “Leeky”, and “Bubba”.   My mother’s own aunts and uncles carried such nicknames as “Doc”, “Shorty”, and “Sis”.  Some of my cousin’s nicknames include “RutRut”, “TamTam”, “Beana”, and “Karaboo”.

A nickname, when used often, can even become permanently entrenched in a person’s identity.  My maternal grandmother was known as “Bessie” her entire life, although this was not her given name.  And I couldn’t even imagine calling my Uncle Bubba by his given name (Bethea).  It just seems much too formal.

So with that in mind, what nicknames do you have for your kids?

Around here, Jack-Even has picked up quite a couple of nicknames already.  The most common used by most of our family is “Little Jack” and “Jack-Jack”.  My mom calls him her little “Tunkey” (rhymes with Monkey - mom use to call ME “monkey”).  But as parents, Kevin and I have done our duty and saddled him with a few more.  What are they?  

 ”Chugar Boog” (rhymes with sugar), “Chugar Butt”, and ………uh…..”Poopie Head“.  

Perhaps we should think about changing that last one in a couple of months though.   I mean, you never know… one day, our entire descending line might know him as Uncle Poopie Head.  Im just sayin’!

So what about you?  What do you call your kids?

Tagged: Parenting

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