Most unusual nicknames (based on a child's actual name) that you know of?

We live in France. Schools only call DC by their full first name, no nicknames or diminutives.

This caused us problems when we discovered DS1, aged nearly 3 and starting school in 2 months, didn't know his first name and certainly not pronounced in the French way.

I had always spoken to him in English with a diminutive (e.g. Dom instead of Dominic - not his name) and DH in French but calling him "petit loup" (little wolf).

DH had to only call him his full name for the next 2 months for DS to realise it was his name 😀

I have a molly who gets called gladys
no idea why!
she answers to it and nobody has ever questioned it!

Where I work, how we refer to a child often differs on paper to verbally. If a child is known an a diminutive we always use it verbally but only on reports, emails, certifcates etc if it is included on the school system in brackets next to their full name. If there are no brackets then they get called Constance, Frederick, Archibald, Henrietta-Maude etc on paper even if they have only ever been called Connie, Freddie, Archie and Hetty out loud.

Nicknames that bear no relation to the child's name or derive from their surname would never be used by staff - except the Sports dept.

Sometimes children are known by their middle names only. And it's quite common for them to have a British name and a name from their own culture (in those cases the British name is often quite dated or embarrassing and the child quickly prefers their original name - eg Douglas, Deborah, Audrey, Clyde, Eileen, Einstein, Chaos)

There are some very out there/not name like nicknames which I've never been able to bring myself to use, even if the parents do. Usually because I think it makes a beautiful name ugly or odd:
Karizma nn Krig
Muqaddas nn Muck
Phoebe nn Feebs
Hope nn Hopie
Iona nn Uh-oh

Unusual ones I've come across which do get used by teachers:
Joaquin nn Jimmy
Ignacio nn Nacho
Darcey nn Dottie

(all those examples range from 1 - 15 years ago and from ages 2 - 18 for anonymity).

Is Flossie from Florence? I thought it was. Could be from Flora.

I always wondered what Flossie was derived from.
My mum occasionally talks about a Flossie she knew when she was young except Flossie was old then, which would mean she was probably born around 1900. If that makes sense.

Lad I knew was known as Cupcake.

I don't know his real name...

Toffee for Dorothy based on how her older sister pronounced her name.

I worked with a very posh woman called Flossie. Her actual name was Charlotte and she spent a lot of time trying to convince NHS IT to change her official email address to flossie.surname rather than the Charlotte.surname she had been allocated.

I met a puppy called Peggy today!

surname Milligan often leads to Spike as a NN

surname Souter gives you Soapy.

I've taught a Lolly who was Lauren.

Nothing odd about William being known as Liam. Or Elizabeth being known a Beth. It's just dropping the first part of the name.

I once knew a William who was known as Liam. I considered them to be two separate names but he insisted it was normal (like an Elizabeth being known as Beth - which I also find a bit odd).

My kids called Edith, friend of mine wanted to nickname her Ithie-Louise (Her middle name is Marguerite)

A school I worked in had a Lolly, I can’t remember what it was short for but it was nothing like her proper name. She was known as Lolly to everyone!

I know someone called Burt/Burtie due to his surname Burton, not that odd, until you realise his family all call him Burt too, wife, DC, siblings, parents the lot and they all share the surname Burton!!!

Some of these are really funny.

I know a Nan older lady not sure if it's short for anything or just Nan.

I knew a man called Bud, who was nicknamed it by his Dad when he was a small child.

Lilibet was the story to that not either she or Margaret couldn't pronounce Elizabeth and it stuck.

The older generations had some real crackers of nicknames. But in turn they had a much smaller pool of actual names.

Very often family names were used 2 or 3 cousins all called after the same Granny, Margaret, Maggy & Peggy.
Or else they became known by their parents name, Jack's Margaret & Bob's Margaret.
Another distinguishing way was Oor Margaret.

I had a great uncle and he was called Sonny. I thought this was his actual name but it turns out he was called James.

Sonny came from 'Sonny Jim' apparently!

My gran was Margaret and was nicknamed Mig. My grandad was Jack, real name John.

I know a Peggy in her 20s, but she’s the only Peggy I know!

This really made me laugh

Hal is the other one for Henry, but I think that's completely out of fashion now.

I was quite surprised to find out that Great-Aunt Reenie was actually called Irene.

We also had a Daisy who was actually Margaret (via Marguerite).

I knew a Susan whose parents used to call her Toodyood.

Beppie for Elizabeth.

A close friend of mine’s Dd is Amelia and is known by everyone, including at school as Mimi. Always has been since she was tiny! I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call her Amelia and she’s 12 now 🤷🏻‍♀️

I know:

A Richard known as Flick
An Alice known as Tiggi
A Cyril known as Frank
A Louise known as Weege

and look at HM Queen - Elizabeth known as Lilibet!

Katherine, and called Rena. I was called Rena as a child and never realised my real name was Katherine until much older. It's only as an adult I can see any connection at all between the two names. I hated Rena.