Okay, so I've always liked nicknames. Maybe it's because for the most part I didn't have one growing up. My name is not one that typically comes with a nickname so I was always just Maria (except for little kids who couldn't say my name and high school where last names were often used instead of first names...I think that started with the football team). Anyway, I kind of thought it would be cool to name my kids and have a nickname for them so they had a formal name and then a shorter version of that. Not a big deal, but I had thought about it. Well, come down to name-picking time and it didn't really happen that way. Actually, with all the things I was worried about when it came to naming children, nicknames never really came up. But Dylan and Preston...there's not much shortening of either name. I know every kid ends up with some sort of nickname, even if it's not related to their given name. But the whole thing's just so funny to me. Most of the things we call our kids came out of nowhere. Here are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head. Keep in mind that a lot of them are Spanish words or came as a result of the Spanish speakers in our world.
Dylan: Diling ping ping, Dylan pylan (sounds like dee-lan, pee-lan), Deal-ee-bob, Dillard's, Dill Pickle, Pickles, Cabezon (it means big head in Spanish - he's always been in the 90th percentile), loquito...
Preston: Prestonian, Presto Chango, Moto (as in hello moto), Prestonio el bebonio, peloncito (baldy in Spanish), duraznito (little peach), chiquitonian (comes from the word for little-although it doesn't suit him well we use it a lot), Spencer (this one came because Esteban couldn't remember his name when he was first born and it stuck - for Esteban at least)...
As babies, both of my kids have been referred to as: munchkin, little man, misters, punkin, bubbies, bebito chiquito, sweetie, sweets, sweetness, bud, buddy...I can't even remember. A million different things.
So for not thinking our kids would have nicknames, I was wrong. They just were very unexpected ones.
4 comments:
I love all your kids' spanish nicknames. How fun!
I always wanted a nickname too, but my family wasn't too big on that. Except for our pets...somehow my favorite cat ended up being "Fathead" even though I hated that they called him that. I think I felt bad for him. Poor Fathead...
Noah's nickname is Nobo, short for Noah-boy. It's stuck for 2 yrs now so I wonder how much longer he'll be that to us.
-Laura
That is funny! I started thinking about the nicknames we have for our kids or kids in our family. The one that makes me laugh the most is "Spencer" for Preston or "Bow" for Mylo (that's what Nicholas calls him because he can't say his name). Still my favorite is Spencer, even though I could never call him that. FUNNY!
Lau, I forgot about Spencer when I was writing this. I remembered tonight and then got home and saw your comment and had to edit my post. I couldn't forget the most unusual nickname at all for poor little Preston. He became Spencer just because Tío Esteban can't remember names and now he may always be Spencer to Esteban. And the funniest part is it'll probably be normal and endearing to him.
My Aunt Carol always called me "Ree Rye Ski Sky Flea Fly" and it was just what I was used to being called. I forgot about that.
And my friend, Lisa, was always Lis, but her family called her "Limichimicita." I'm not sure where it came from, but I always thought it was funny. I love stuff like that.
Laura-
I think Nobo is cute and it will probably stick for awhile. Once you're used to calling kids something, it's hard not to. I think I call Preston Prestonian more than I actually call him Preston. I hope he grows up knowing his real name with such crazy parents.
And I kind of feel bad for poor Fathead too. I tend to have a tender heart for stuff like that, even though I'm sure the cat doesn't care one bit.
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