A Rose By Any Other Name . . .

Thanks to my husband's weird naming talent, my family's nicknames are all really strange. He always starts out with a word that sort of makes sense for the person, but over time, the name keeps morphing into something else until we end up with the following:

Susan: I've had some doozies, some of which are Campy, Arrregion, Loosehead, and Holsey Womp. I don't know where some of the names came from, but others, I can't explain because my blog has to maintain a G rating for my kids. While he was calling me these strange names, he would call our dog his little sweetness. When he finally came up with Mamasuisse, I wisely and stubbornly opted to stick with it. He tries different nicknames out on me from time to time, but so far, Mamasuisse is the only one I've let stick.


Anna: Heeniequeen, Heenie, Heenie-hanna or the Heenstress. This one started when Steve saw our friends, the Hannas, name written out on our dry erase board many years ago. It started out as Hanna (pronounced Honna) and took on a life of its own from there.



Matthew: Cheemer, Cheems, Machu or Pichuage. When Matthew was little, he always protested being called by any of these names. They just aren't cool. But Steve is persistent, so he eventually prevailed, and now Matthew will answer to any of the above names, albeit grudgingly.




Sarah: Nokos or Baby Nokes. Matthew, trying to follow in his dad's footsteps, came up with a good one for her, too. He started calling her Sprph because when she was 5, she would write her A's backwards with really long tails so they looked like P's. She would get really mad about being called Sprph but has finally come to accept it as one of her names.


Abby: Originally Jeebs or Jeebikers, but most recently, Steve just calls her Abbikers. My favorite is one that Matthew came up with for her, Abbigator.

Sam: Wiguez - This one started out as Kiki. Kiki sounds like Chi-chi as in Chi Chi Rodriguez, so it became Kiki Rodriguez which eventually got shortened to Wiguez.











Molly: Xango - started out as Maui, then became Maui Xango because Xango comes from the Southeast Asian mangosteen fruit which is almost Hawaiian???









New baby: One can only imagine. It's always fun to witness the creative process in action. The names can't be forced; they have to occur naturally and spontaneously. I can hardly wait to see what he comes up with this time. And if anyone wants to offer suggestions that he can use as a springboard, feel free.


While the kids may have sometimes fought the names at first, they have finally come to accept them as expressions of their father's affection for them. After all, who wants to be called something as overused as Angel or Pumpkin or Sweetheart?