MetaChat - So what's your nick?

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

23 April 2008

So what's your nick? →[More:]

I was thinking about my dad, which inspired me to post this. His nickname for me is B, as in the letter 'b', so every time we speak he greets me with, "Hello-b-wan kenobi." He's such a geek. *grins* Must be where I got it from. This little ritual started me thinking about nicknames in general, how they can make us feel close to people or ostracized, what they say about the giver and the receiver and their shared history, how they can capture the essence of a person or reduce them to a single characteristic.

What about you? Nicknames you've loved? Hated? Ones that were so apt you (or the person in question) couldn't shake them? What do you think?

post by: elizard at: 22:24 | 56 comments

My mom calls me 'Lucy' or 'Luce,' even in writing. The rest of my family calls me AJ, if they can't be bothered to call me by name.

I'm fine with all that. But no one ever calls me by the usual derivative/diminutive of my first name. Ever. (At least, not twice.)

posted by mudpuppie 23 April | 22:36

When I was a kid, my dad would sometimes call me Robin, sometimes Robin Redbreast, but usually it was Duke. My sister was Cheri-mice, which evolved into Mice Mower (rhymes with "tower"). No one knows why.

I think my favorite nickname was Buckaroo Bob, which got shortened to Bucky. It was just the one friend that called me that, but I always liked it. There was also Mallethead, which I was indifferent to.

posted by bmarkey 23 April | 22:36

Hero! Loved that nickname.
Carol. Not such a fan of that one.

posted by matthewr 23 April | 22:39

My girlfriend calls me moon unit. I call her diva muffin. I don't know why we decided originally to refer to each other by the names of Frank Zappa's kids, but we did.

My roommate and I call each other "Fatty," because we both tend to eat a lot of each others' food. This is remarkably unkind of both of us. Oh, well.

I hate being referred to by the first letter of my first name ('E'). I've always hated it. Always always.

posted by dismas 23 April | 22:40

Oh yeah - I do get called "b" from time to time, and will even refer to myself that way sometimes. Mostly online, though.

posted by bmarkey 23 April | 22:44

Hmmm -- Claudes. Sometimes Claudes von Claud.

posted by Claudia_SF 23 April | 22:46

Stacius...also sometimes referred to as The Reverend or Bardahl. I don't know where that last one comes from.

posted by black8 23 April | 23:16

black8: you're here in Seattle, aren't you?

posted by bmarkey 23 April | 23:23

With a name like Cinnamon, I don't really need a nickname. But occasionally I'll end emails with Cinna-something. Cinnabitch, Cinnamonstrosity, Cinnamonism, Cinnamonella, etc. I find it a lot of fun, but few people play along.

A staff member was calling me C-cubed as in C3, because my initials are CCC. But when he began reporting to me, he changed it up to Hugo, after Hugo Boss. A few close friends occasionally call my Cin and I don't mind or usually notice, but if I don't know someone well and they call me this, they understand quickly that I don't like it.

posted by Cinnamon 23 April | 23:36

I've never had a nick and none of my friends had nicks. My girlfriend and all her friends had cool nicknames. I feel a bit left out.

posted by arse_hat 23 April | 23:43

You mean arsey's your real name? Goddamn, parents can be cruel.

posted by elizard 23 April | 23:49

...and I've been trying to give away the nickname Sexy McHotpants for years, but it never really stuck. I started calling one friend that, but then he said he wasn't all that keen on it so I stopped. Another friend gleefully (and appropriately) claimed it, but then she bought an amazing old car so we had to change it to Sexy McHotRod. You can have it if you want.

posted by elizard 23 April | 23:55

A guy tried to nickname me Pants once. It didn't really work.

posted by ethylene 23 April | 23:59

"You mean arsey's your real name? "

I was raised by wolves.

posted by arse_hat 24 April | 00:04

Umm. Brina. People used to call me Sabby. It drove me nuts. And Brie. I'm not a cheese.

But Brina started in high school, and it sort of stuck. Dunno how.

posted by brina 24 April | 00:08

Wolves wear hats?

posted by Zack_Replica 24 April | 00:09

Damn right. Stylish hats and long overcoats to hide our guns...

posted by arse_hat 24 April | 00:11

≡ Click to see image ≡

Little arse_hat tries to fit in with the rest of the pack.

posted by bmarkey 24 April | 00:16

Bastard! I paid to have those pics suppressed!

posted by arse_hat 24 April | 00:17

Not enough, my friend. Not nearly enough. Plus, it was monopoly money. Did you think we wouldn't notice?

posted by bmarkey 24 April | 00:21

Meh bmarkey! I ate your grandmother!

And not in the good way!

posted by arse_hat 24 April | 00:24

Yeah, the ransom note specifically said Canadian Tire money, buddy.

posted by elizard 24 April | 00:25

Nana?

posted by bmarkey 24 April | 00:30

Sandy McTire is a good loyal man but very cheap.

posted by arse_hat 24 April | 00:30

Nana?

*burp*

posted by arse_hat 24 April | 00:31

Think you can go around eating my family members willy-nilly? Think again -

≡ Click to see image ≡

I'M WEARIN' YER GRAND-DAD RIGHT NOW!

posted by bmarkey 24 April | 00:37

OH DUDE IT IS SO ON!

posted by arse_hat 24 April | 00:38

≡ Click to see image ≡

I wouldn't worry about buying Uncle Timmy a birthday present this year, either.

posted by bmarkey 24 April | 00:48

Oh, lord... the carnage!

posted by Zack_Replica 24 April | 00:55

Snot fucker.

posted by mudpuppie 24 April | 01:34

fnord snucker!

posted by arse_hat 24 April | 01:37

A certain "friend" gave me an embarrassing technology-related nick (which I dislike enough I won't even share here) and it stuck among a certain social circle. The problem is that I've been introduced using it to people who overlap with my work activities. I had to have stern talk with one of my best friends to let him know it's NOT okay to introduce me to potential clients that way. It's been over ten years and I can't shake it.

My parents had none for me, but my favorite grandmother called me George, after one of her favorite relatives, I think. I like having a secret alternate family name, though I've never used it.

For many years I was a rabbity girl's "kitten". She also did the first initial thing.

posted by D.C. 24 April | 01:53

"an embarrassing technology-related nick (which I dislike enough I won't even share here)"

Snot fucker?

posted by arse_hat 24 April | 02:00

Snot fucker?

This reminds me of an old thread about nicknames where someone posted: "A friend of mine used to call his wife 'shitpipe.' They are getting divorced in 3 weeks."

But no, while that might be a good descriptor, it's not even close.

posted by D.C. 24 April | 05:21

My parents called me LorLorKins and LorLorT. They still call me this, mostly LorLorT (lore lore tee). My best friend calls me Loretta.

posted by LoriFLA 24 April | 06:05

My father called me JJ.

posted by JanetLand 24 April | 06:47

Everyone called me Booq (like 'book', but 'oo' as in 'poop') until I was about 12. I don't hear that one anymore but I get called Beeks a lot these days.

posted by chewatadistance 24 April | 07:19

In my younger years, I was often referred to as Khadafi.

posted by deadcowdan 24 April | 07:50

I get "Beej" a lot because my first two initials are BJ, yes they are, thank you mother. And BT because that's my first and last initials. And B.

I guess my friends are not very inventive.

posted by gaspode 24 April | 07:55

Diggler in grad school. Choir boy when I was young and on the soccer team. Bones as an undergrad.

posted by tr33hggr 24 April | 08:25

My dad called me "piggy" when I was a tot because I wore pigtails all the time.

posted by lysdexic 24 April | 08:51

My parents call me Amos, a.k.a. Amos Nellie Rupert. Amos is a derivative of Amy, obviously, but the rest is just because my parents are silly. I love my parents.

My high school friends called me Aminee, and I had one friend who called me Ames (cringe).

There's really not too much you can do with "Amy."

posted by somanyamys 24 April | 09:46

T-Bone and Tomás. My family still calls me Tommy which was fine when I was 6, but seems a bit silly at 44. Uncle Tommy is, I guess, better than Uncle Tom so maybe it's OK.

posted by doctor_negative 24 April | 11:11

Bro#1 calls me Sis, the others still call me Debi ~~although~~ because they know I hate it.

Growing up I was George because I was the only girl and someone picked a boy name for me.

In grade school I was Rebel, but I don't remember why.

A coworker called me Muad'Dib and I called him Sensei.

The mister calls me Love, Baby or Babe. I know some people don't like Baby or it's variations but it's fine with me.

posted by deborah 24 April | 12:22

Most of my family call me Bubu - shortened from Bubblebutt (which my big brother so unkindly named me.
I was also called Michelin (after the michelin man coz i was such a chubby baby - kid)
Mr ramix just calls me jujube - coz my first name is Judi.

posted by ramix 24 April | 12:46

T., taz, terezi, terezaki, terezoula, poopie, poo, pi-poo, angel. One of those only from my mom, three of those only from husband.

posted by taz 24 April | 13:45

It's hard to make a nickname from 'Jan'. After I got my first ugly, horrible (NHS) glasses (mine were C223) when I was about 10 my sister called me 'Spectrum' - this was when Captain Scarlet was on TV.

posted by essexjan 24 April | 14:04

"Spectrum" is a fantastic nickname. Not so sure about how it felt back then, but that's just cool. Like superhero cool.

posted by taz 24 April | 14:16

It wasn't cool, taz, as it was usually accompanied by a fist to the side of the head.

"Oi, Spectrum!" Bam!

posted by essexjan 24 April | 14:47

:( But you ended up being supercool, and a hero. SO WHO'S LAUGHING NOW??? I'm going to call you 'Spectrum' sometimes, with love. And if you hate it, just slap me upside the head one time, and I'll go back to just calling you Jantastic (my jarling!).

posted by taz 24 April | 15:05

stew, stewbrain, stewie, stewbrain the moo brain, boona, short hair, little juan, juan, creepella, JP (initials), seastar (like sister), nen, nena,

my sister makes up many nicknames for people.

posted by Stewriffic 24 April | 15:21

Heh. My husband and I often call his sister "seestar", Stewriffic. Like when she phones, I tell him, "it's your seestar calling".

I love how nicks evolve... Like, her name is really difficult for non-Greeks to pronounce, and even for Greeks, it doesn't exactly roll trippingly off the tongue, so it it's gone (over the years) from her given name of Argiri, to Argiroula, to Roula, to, often, "Lou".

My husband's name is Vangelis (hard 'g'), short for Evangelos, but the diminutive was "Evangelaki", and then just "Laki"/"Lakis" as a boy... and "Vangelis" is pretty much a no-go for people in the U.S. to pronounce, so when he moved there and people asked his name, he eventually went with the childhood "Laki" that immediately became "Lucky". So my husband's nickname when he lived in the states was "Lucky" ... and he still often responds about some comment or another: ... "that's why they call me Lucky".

posted by taz 24 April | 15:47

Bro#1 calls me Seester as well!

posted by deborah 24 April | 16:16

posted by tangerine 24 April | 18:56

My mother called me "Snip" - her reasoning is that I was "a little snip of a thing", especially when I started walking at nine months old. She named me "Anne Marie", and wrote it all as one word, as she hated the nickname "Annie". All of my family followed suit, even my grade school friends. You can tell the people I've had the longest history with - they still call me (and I'll refer to myself when calling/writing them) as AnneMarie.

Then high school, and I dropped the Marie part. When I started working, it evolved into "Annie", and that's the nickname I've come to love best. Sorry, Mom.

Oh, my brother calls me "Sis", my mom still calls me "Precious", and my husband will call me "Louise" and "Marie". Not sure why, but on the occasions that he actually calls me by my name, it's usually serious.

posted by redvixen 24 April | 19:56

Familial nicks: Skip, Skitz, Zephyr, Hippy

Nicks from friends: Stefush, Stevanio

Prison Nicks: Little Bitch, Other Little Bitch

Governmental aliases: Salamander, The White Ghost, Sudden Impact, Mushroom, Cannon Fodder

posted by Lipstick Thespian 24 April | 21:42

← Party in #bunnies || Bunny bar OMG! →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN