On the subject of nicknames

R

Rose65

Well-known Member
Location
United Kingdom
They are usually but not always a fun or welcome thing but generally others impose them on us would you agree? Often funny but not always flattering.
We all have nicknames in our family, mainly given early in life. They are often bestowed on people at work and it's interesting to find out why. It often marks acceptance into a group to have a nickname.

I find the myriad reasons for them rather fascinating.
 

Rose65 said:
They are usually but not always a fun or welcome thing but generally others impose them on us would you agree? Often funny but not always flattering.
We all have nicknames in our family, mainly given early in life. They are often bestowed on people at work and it's interesting to find out why. It often marks acceptance into a group to have a nickname.

I find the myriad reasons for them rather fascinating.
Click to expand...

What's your nickname? No don't tell me, let me guess...

:unsure:

Got it! Rambling Rose šŸ˜ šŸŒ¹
 
Shortening a name doesn't bother me, like addressing "Robert" as "Bob," as long as "Robert" is okay with it. I've always heard "Jack" is a common nickname for "John," and I've never understood why, since both are one syllable.

I don't care for nicknames like "Sweetie" for a woman, or "Buddy" / "Bro" for a man.

My Dad's real name was "Doc." He wasn't a doctor - that was just the real first name his parents gave him. When I was growing up, sometimes people called me "Little Doc" and I did not like it at all.
 

Large family, all within a small geographic area by the 3rd generation after immigration. I'm 4th or 5th generation depending on your count.

But since we all saw each other a lot, name variations and nicknames helped distinguish addressing each other despite inevitable naming duplication.

Roberts were Bob, Bobby, Rob, Robbie, Robin, etc. Margarets were Mags, Maggie, Marge, Margie, Maisy, Madge, Meg, Daisy, Peggy, Rita, etc.

I had an uncle (Richard) "Junior" and a grandmother (Winnifred) "Dochtie" (from "daughter" in Dutch/Frisian).
 
I hated being called 'Loppy Lugs' by the other kids at school, but then I became a teenager, and a girl with the most stunning blue eyes told me that my ears were sexy..... I wonder what happened to Linda.... she was gorgeous. šŸ˜Š
 
My nickname was given to me as a baby by my parents who "acquired" me from my maternal grandmother. Long story for another time. Anyway, my mother who was actually my grand uncle's wife thought I looked like an Evelyn and that's what I became known as and called by most of the people in my life for decades, even HR who had to issue checks using my real name, of course. I was cool with Evelyn because I didn't like my given name....Helen, after my grandmother and only met a couple of others named Evelyn over the years.
 
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Back in my Martial Arts days when I ran a small organisation - and the Internet became a thing - I was known as "Yoda".

Since then I have been known as "Oy" my fave character in my fave book series. "The Dark Tower" by Stephen King.
 
I went to high school with a guy named William Grimstiche, who was, you guessed it....Glad Rags. JIM.
 

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