Nicknames

I had a classmate in first grade called Fat Tim.  I’m sure his parents didn’t name him that, but he answered to it just the same.  We didn’t call him that to be cruel, at least I didn’t.  It’s just the only name I ever heard him called.  Maybe it was something like Fat Albert.  I have no idea how he felt about it.  For all I know he’s had to spend years in therapy to get over it.  Perhaps there were two Tim’s in kindergarten, so he was differentiated as the fat one and the name stuck.

After all, what are you doing to do if there are several kids in the class or neighborhood with the same name?  When our kids were little, there were 4 Katie’s on the street.  Our Katie was, of course, Katie.  Then there was Little Katie, Big Katie, and (I’m not making this up) The Other Katie.  We really called her that.

That reminds me of a story my sister tells.  When her daughter was a toddler she was in daycare with a set of identical twins.  My niece called them “Audrey” and “the Other Audrey”.  I’m sure the Other Audrey had her own name.

Children are responsible for a lot of nicknames.  I have a great aunt who went through life being called “Lit”.  Her name was Mary Lou, but her older brothers and sisters called her “Little Bit”.  Then she became a big sister herself and the baby shortened Little Bit to “Lit” and that was that.  

My daughter has a million friends, and I sometimes nickname them to keep them straight.  Mostly I do it by where they live, so I can find my daughter when she calls for a ride home (see blog entry “Lost in My Hometown”).  So we have Apple Acres Maggie, Brick Wall Lauren, and Theater Allie, to name a few.

I might feel guilty about this, but I found out the other day that my her friends’ families do it, too.  I picked my daughter up from school and she asked if we could give her friend a ride home.  I said sure and they hopped in the car.  The friend then called her mom to tell her she had a ride home.  Her mom asked who with, and the girl answered “Blink Blink Sarah”.  When she finished her call I asked her about it.  She said they call my Sarah “Blink Blink” because her eye lashes are so long.

It seems we don’t always think a person’s given name is descriptive enough, and  we can do better.  Maybe the Indians had it right.  We should be called “Eagle Nose” or “Talks Too Much”.  We did call one of our sons “Sir Poops-a-lot” when he was a baby.  He’s glad THAT one faded away.

When someone calls me by a nickname, I instantly feel affection for them.  Strange.  My guess is that nicknames form connections.  They mean you have enough history with a person that they want to name you - somehow make you their own.