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

[Bagging]

What are the most unusual nicknames, which are based on a child's actual name, that you're aware of?

And how do you get schools to use nicknames instead of official names? Surely they have to teach children to use their legal names?

Senga, which is Agnes backwards

Pearl used to be a common nickname for Margaret (which means Pearl)

Ina (pronounced eye-na) for Georgina, Williamina etc

Dod/Doddie is a Scottish nickname for George

Found out at my Aunt Nance's funeral that she was actually called Annie Miriam.

My nickname as a child was Lulu . My actual name is nowhere close to that.

Headteacher here! We have LOADS of kids with a ‘known as’ name;
Harold, Archibald, Isabel for example, known every day as Harry, Archie, Belle.
Full names are used by the Government for exam entries.

I once had a reception child called Donna whose parents said she was known as ‘Kebab’ 😂

My favourite was Mollie who never responded to her name EVER. I was concerned about her hearing so spoke to parents. They said she was only ever known as Michelle at home and they had never called her Mollie. When I said I’d amend our records they made it clear they didn’t want me to, and that she was going to use different names for home and school. 🤷‍♀️

Most schools now ask for 'preferred name' on application forms / contact info.

I know a Bendy - his brother couldn’t say Brendan, and it’s stuck. His mum even signs Bendy on Christmas cards and he’s all grown up now.

I knew a little chap who was called Fabian but was known as Bibi.... the school actually refused to call him Bibi and he had know clue he Fabian!

Also knew a Sapphire known as Lulu but her parents started calling her Sapphire just before she started school!

My littlest only refers to herself as her nickname, though we call her by that and her actual name, she's nowhere near school age yet. Can you put two names when you write 'known as' on the form? :p

Kebab is fantastic!! Please tell me you called her that at school too?! :p

Good Morning Kebab!

@changingroom - Margaret - Meg- Peg - Peggy.

Derailing thread but one of my husband's grandads was called Arry. Not Harry, Arry.

Yorkshire based, but we're unsure whether it is a pronunciation issue or too mean to spring for the extra letter.

@Heckythump1 sadly, no. Poor Kebab was mortified and insisted on Donna 😂

I’ve got a friend who is Katherine Ann, and she’s only ever been known as Julia.

My aunt was called Snowie when she was a child, due to her very blonde hair. Her real name was Aydel but she’d never been called that.

Another aunt was really Margaret but everyone called her Sue.

Some of my family are Hungarian and they have anglicised their names, so known as Catherine and Teresa. Boglarka and Ildiko couldn’t easily anglicise theirs!

Rachel Miriam didn’t know she had a middle name until she did her GCSEs (and has never been called Rachel either, but that’s another story).

My name on my passport is not the same as on my birth certificate. I don’t think they used to check that closely back in the day. My name on my birth certificate is a long Slavic name, but on my passport it’s the short version. My middle name is completely different on both. My father never liked my middle name so he told the passport office that the name he put on the form for my passport was a baptismal name. We’re Jewish…!

I used to be a carer for the elderly and it seemed a common theme, around those born early 1900s, for example I looked after a lady who was known as Nelly, her actual name was Sarah which bears absolutely no resemblance at all!! Another lady was known as Jenny, I attended her funeral and thought I was at the wrong service when the vicar started talking about Sarah Jane!!
Moving on a few decades and I worked with a girl called Carly, I was confused when someone asked for Caroline!!

My gran was called Mamie all her life. Didn't realise her name was actually Mary for years!

One that I never get it Judd, short for Georgina.

I used to work with a lovely lady whose mother had named her Andrea as it couldn’t be shorted - everyone called her Andy.

Also knew a couple of older ladies known as Nan (nickname for Ann.) Made no sense to me - Nan isn't even a name!

'Minty' from Matilda was pretty out there, as far as modern me is concerned. I thought it was ever so cool at the time, though...

My DM is Agnes on her BC but has been called Nancy since the day she was born.

Way back, people would have affectionately referred to Ann as “mine Ann”, which becomes Nan (and where Nancy comes from). Same origin as Ned and Nell.

My brothers call me Bibeth because they couldn't say Elizabeth but one Aunt called me Liza and another Libber and my nana called me Bethsey

Dd2 was known as Jelly, Jet and Jelly-Jet because ds2 couldnt pronounce her name and called her 'Jelly-et' or 'Ju-jet'

I know a Bumble whos name is Beatrice. She was originally nn Bea which became bumble-Bea and then just bumble. She is 11 and the school call her by her nn.

I knew of an Antonia, nn Toto. One of my uncles goes by his middle name, and we've had the Ellen/Helen confusion too.
My grandpa apparently used to call my mum by a diminutive of her middle name, even though she uses her first name.

I ask pupils what they prefer. I live in a bit of the UK where pupils are often registered under an English name but everyone knows them by their name in the local language or by their initials. Even when I lived in an English speaking part of the country you get kids called Samantha/Samuel or Charlotte/Charles who prefer Sam or Charlie.

My aunt was always Girlie to me. It was years before I found out she was Agnes.