Thursday, August 14, 2008

A Rose by any other Name

One of the most agonizing decisions to make when you are expecting is what to name that little person growing inside of you. When we got pregnant we immediately had a boys name agreed on. (I can tell you all now because we are over the name). So if The Phi would have been a boy you would be reading about the adventures of Diego, but the clothes would probably have been the same. One day I swear I will stop dressing her like a boy. But when it came to a girls name it was mission impossible. We went over many many names until I completely gave up and left the job to PR Dad. He could have named her Ethel for all I cared. No offense to any Ethel's out there. I just didn't want the responsibility. So when this little girl grows up hating her name i can say, Go bitch to your Dad, he named you! Fortunately PR Dad come up with a good name but in the end it didn't matter because we never call her by this name. In fact if you hang out with my family you may never know our real names because of all the nicknames we use.

For example:

My middle is called Ouie...... her real name is Carissa
My little sister is called Tweeters..... her real name is Mercy
My Dad goes by Pops, Blu or Cinco...his real name is Felix
I am called Cooties, Feez, Babe..... my real name is Elissa
My niece is called The Chone.....her real name is Angelica
My god-daughter is Mama Llama or Llama for Obama..... her name is Liliana
My nephew is Poparah or Pa..... his real name is Felix
And then of course there is Sun Block Ocho or The Phi.... her real name..... Sophia

I am on this topic because one of my BFF's is pregnant and just found out that she is having a boy. We have been exchanging names for weeks now and she has some pretty strict criteria for a name:
  • It must be not too common, but not too strange
  • It must go with the middle name Philip and sound good with the last name
  • It should have a latin sound to it, but not too much
  • It cannot be the same as someone in her or his family already
  • It cannot have a shortened version that ends in a 'y'

I know another mission impossible right! But what I have concluded is that the name really isn't all that important because from almost the moment he is born he will get a nickname, Whether it be bean, or peanut, or smoochie. She will call him by a nickname. And that nickname will evolve. I remember when The Phi was born I called her "face" for awhile. I think it started with sweet face and then shortened to just face. Some how we landed on "The Phi" and that has stuck for a few years. And then of course a few weeks ago she chose her own nickname of Sunblock Ocho. So Sam, I know you are stressing out, but really its not all that important.

So what kind of nicknames do you have or call people??

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:05 PM

    isaiah? ~pap

    ReplyDelete
  2. In my albino white ass world, Sunblock Ocho is just pronounced "nice try". :)

    We started calling the baby Bootie Munch when he was born, and we still call him that today. He's 10 1/2, and really not amused.

    My husband hasn't said my name aloud in so long, and since the kids don't say it, when someone does call me by my real name, it takes a minute to register. It doesn't sound right anymore. Weird!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well we ended up with the Creep and the Twerp :) Of course these are not everyday nicknames, only affectionate blog and when they are asleep names. I don't want to be stuck with the therapy bill for those!

    Tell your friend that I hate shortened boy names: "bobby johnny billy eddie jimmy etc" which is how we ended up with Oscar (which btw fits all her criteria...including it sounds awesome with a latin flavor) because "Ozzy" was the only name I could handle shortened...and no one shortens it to that anyways. "Occar" is what we tend to get.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous6:40 AM

    We call Liam "Beets"...not sure where it came from but he is either Liam or Beets. Taylor, now, is called Baby Beets...or wiggle worm...which will probably be shortened to wiggle...-jdub

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:32 AM

    I like Isaiah!! Great name!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It must the indigenousness of us...because Native Americans are known for using alot of nicknames. That is like my family! No one is called by their real names. It's funny. Caucasian sister-in-law tries her best to follow along.

    My neice Selah is called Flower or Flor.
    My other neice Sofia is called Fia-Fia.
    My baby girl Xiomara is called Xixi, Beautiful Face, Peaches or Mari.
    Maya is called The Midge, Midgey, Cinnamon sticks.
    Solomon is Solly, Sommie.
    Cyan is Benny, Chango Feo.
    Diego is Chino, Deg-Deg, Diego-doggie.
    Should I keep going? Heh.
    My sister name is Jennifer but we call her Fo or Juana.
    My neice Isabella is called Belly.
    My nephew Elijah's mom calls him Elijah Minnelli.

    Ahahahahahahaha. We are such wierd people.

    I'm just Toots (Dad), Gorda (Mom) or Dee (everyone else). I'm gonna jack your blog idea now. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  7. Isabella is Tookie. I have no idea where I got it, I just called her that from when she was a newborn...sometimes it comes out Tookie Tots...??? My grandma calls her "Bella", my bro calls her Izwald.

    My brother Shawn--Junior. He isn't a Jr. at all but that has been his nickname since the early 90's.

    We call my dad Juan or Pops. His name is John.

    I call my sister Sissy only because we hate it when people do that...especially when parents tell one of their kids to "go get Sissy" when referring to their other kid.

    My brother Craig is Craiger Pants.

    I like the suggestion of Isiah...I think it goes nice with the middle name too. Every time I read Sunblock Ocho I crack up. Seriously, so funny. I really need to meet her.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh no one in my family goes by their real name in the presence of family members.

    Carlos = Dad, Charli
    Luz = Mom, mom-pants, Chita
    Daniel = Danny, Phat Dan, Tata (and more over the years)
    Cynthia = Cindy, Cindylu, C, C-Ny, Cinderella (and so many more depending on the person and my age)
    Laura = Lori, Yoyi, Yo, Girlpants, Girlpannies, GP, Sisterpants
    Adrian = Chunk, Chonchís

    The dog even has a nickname. He's VR, but we often just call him Papas.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous9:35 PM

    you all know my nickname, woman can spell it the best, (by the way woman is one of my nicknames), but my dad never calls me by my real name, he only calls me by my nickname... $1 to the person who gets it first.

    ~woman

    ps my big sis calls me bananas

    ReplyDelete

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