Chickie--Blossom-- Cindersue-- Pookey-- Mokey-- BooBoo-- Soup--Matchew--Totumbomb--Gallepoochiepup--Rootie----what on Earth are these. Nothing you recognize? Well, they are the equivalent of Bubba--Corky--John John--SusieQ. These are the names a mom, a gramma or a dad like calling us in our early years, and hopefully stop doing before we got to school age. A few unfortunate children are permanently stuck with one of these names of affection, overheard at a family gathering or carried to the classroom by some unscrupulous cousin who carelessly calls you "the name" at recess. It catches and you're stuck.
There are families who never call their offspring their given names for those first five years, others who manage some decorum and spare the child in public. There seem to be regional baby names. Bubba and Sissy are only heard south of the Mason Dixon line, Corky hails from the Northeast, TV and movie names like Howdy Doody , Rootie Kazootie, BooBoo, Zsa-Zsa make it across the country. There are names which get stuck because somebody , usually the family's youngest, cannot say your name right. Jimmy becomes Nimmim, Robert becomes Wabut, and Jennifer is transformed into Yimfa.
In my observation, the families who use those loveable nicknames have a lot of fun in their houses. There affections abound, jokes are told around the table and the laughter is infectious. There's a sense of humor stuck in every one of those families. They delight in their babies, they can't seem to get enough of them. They call them names.
Tell me some of "the names" in your family.
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Comments: 26
great article - i loved the last line.
-- chickie, that's me!
Helen, you fit "rose petal"!
At least all I had to worry about was Jimbo.
Erin Elisabeth #1 became Ebee to her father (for ErinBeth), and eebee da to me, and sometimes bubbles to the whole bunch of us - the family and friends. She was round and pink and looked about ready to pop any minute.
Kerry was - and is - a pip. She would actually scoot away at every opportunity, including while having diapers changed - which had to be done on the floor after we figured out it was hopeless to try any other way.
Good gravy Gertie, the girl was like a greased pig, I couldn't believe the squirming and gyrations, not to mention her high success rate. So scooter she became for the longest time - and sometimes I find my self starting a sentence with, hey scoot . . .,
Later she got kiki (long I) or keek, but for what reason I can't quite put my finger on, Eventually Ker.
Ryan was Ry, and Bo, BoBo and RyBoy - poor guy. Half the time I called him stuff like Mondo - he was a big baby at birth and hasn;t stipped being tall. And he was a real apple of my eye so got Punkin and punky as momisms, Then followed a series of sports related endearments after the breaking window with whiffle balls hit off batting tees began. Sport, slugger, batter, goalie. The kid answered to anything. I'll see if we can't rope into remembering some and sharing them.
Kathleen was Katie as a baby and Kate now, and sometimes KC which are her initials. I called her princess a lot, and sweetie and snookums, and the whole punkin/punkie thing, But she was and is the sweetest person, and after the excitement of raising the earlier three she was a gift, so she didn't get too much name gyrations from me. her brother calls her Katrine whenever he wanted to get under her skin. And for some reason it worked. I thought it was cute but maybe it sounded too much like latrine to her - anyway, he was successful in bugging her.
OK, Scooter, BoBo and Katrine - you're here now, you can dispute any or all of this.
Lizzie, how funny. I know one woman who was called Lizard all her life bacause she was Elizabeth.
I've heard a lot of Pukeys too as well as Punkins. I can see you love these nicknames, and I thought as much seeing as you have this great sense of humor. Lots of giggles as they grew up
We never had regular nicnames growing up (except for insulting ones amongst us siblings) in fact my Mum actively discouraged any diminutives. I guess I've kind of rebelled because I'm happy to call total strangers Honeybubbledoodlebottom these days. I've become a terms of endearment junkie and I'm sure it's due to my deprived childhood. My boys are called whatever combination of all the above comes to mind at the time, and it's fun seeing my big boy try to top me in response.
Lovely article Carol.
My younger daughter is Affie, which is the way her young nephew pronounced Aspen.
Then my poor baby brother almost went through life as Algae, after "Algae saw a bear..." That started when he was still a bulge in Mom's middle.
Brian and I don't have children, but we do have a cat Nellie and she gets a lot of silly names. Little Nellie kneesocks, fatcakes, flopcakes, Nellie-butt... I will spare you the names Brian and I give each other.
Great article!
I on the other hand have a few names given to me at a later date than most.
My spiritual name is Morgalis. This was given to me. (more on that later)
Then there was someone who wanted to know my name but I really didn't want him knowing my real name, so I told him "Morgalis" and then he went, "What? Morg..Mo..Mo...Mocha?" So three sets of people have three names to call me. It's quite fun!
Aileen, Did you learn that Algi as a poem or a round? I just love to sing that rhyme
Andreae, if you're not over 40, you don't know the difficulty of those of us who have to go through all the nicknames and names of the family as well as the pets before you get to the right one for the right kid. Drove my kids nuts, and now the grandchildren get called the wrong names too.
Lisa, Your grandpa must have been a Dane, eh? I'm anxious to read about your spiritual name Morgalis.
My husband, John, called himsefl "JaJa" and so now our children call him "JaJa and me "Momma Mia" or "MaJa."
I agree with you about the fun.
My son called his own grandfather "Baba" and his grandmotherly babysitter, "Nana." Nobody told him those words. I think they are inborn to the human race.
Tom, you do have a name for everybody, some not too flattering!
Clare, we also called one of the twns Andy --Andon and Andyroo
Kathryn, You husband must be Polish because kids around here who are Polish call their grandpa JaJa, Grandmas were call Busha.
When my mother got frazzled, she'd never remember who she was shouting at, so she's yell "Nancyclarepauljean!"
We still laugh, and when we get silly, we call each other "nancyclarepauljean"! (Notice my name is first, cause she always liked me best.)
My daughter's name is Briana Shea. When she was born, my niece didn't understand and called her Banana Shake. The daughter now has a banana tattoo and her sister and aunt call her Banana. I don't.
Sandy: I love Banana. It is so loving and shows your kids have senses of humor too.
Ed: really? you idiot? funny stuff these names.
Marcia--I have a friend that is in his 60's . there were 5 kids in the family and to this day, nobody calls them by their given names. In fact I don't know what their given names are.