Nicknames

[dumptrucksandcranes]

I'm wondering if anyone has any examples of interesting nicknames (rather than shortenings) that they have heard of for a boy?

Like Tansy for a girl for example. Ones that aren't necessarily linked to the given name.

I'm struggling with my son's name and trying to think of fun nicknames (it's a short name with no obvious shortenings)

Thanks

Chip, Sonny, Spike

What would Tansy be a nn for?

Warning. This board will HATE this and tell you how they should come naturally and organically and not be contrived. Good luck OP 😂

And I do agree to be honest! But I hadn't predicted how I would feel so I get now that sometimes things are a little different!

Pretty sure tansy is a name in its own right, but I've also read about some having it as a nn...no idea what for! I think a bit like spike - can be a name or a nn. That's a good call by the way..

I know a Tansy and it is her real first name.
Spike Milligan was really Terence. Buzz Aldrin was really Edwin. Trinny Dressntrousers is really Sarahjane. The famous Che was Ernesto etc

I'm struggling with my son's name and trying to think of fun nicknames (it's a short name with no obvious shortenings)

Why did you name your son a name you're struggling with?

I've known boys to be called lots of random things by family or friends
Spike, Pirate, Pip, Beanie, Jed, Flash, Ace, Tricks (although he was called Patrick), Bluesy, Scout, Sonny, Tip, Rocks, Rocco, Spice, and a man in his 70s who was called Brillo and when asked he couldn't remember why as his birth name was Raymond but he had been Brillo his whole life.

Most developed slowly, I don't know if anyone really picked those for them.

I know loads of people with obscure NN’s. All male of different ages;

Buddy (Michael)
TJ (their initials Tayton John)
Burger (I can’t remember their first name, it’s something like Darren!)
Jud (George)
Smiles (Miles)
Smeg 🙄(Ed)

A lot of NN’s come from experiences and with age. Usually they aren’t chosen by parents, it’s usually friends who give NN’s. In my experience anyway.

I think parents give their kids more a “pet name”. Like honey, baby, etc.

Buddy
Willy
Sonny
Baby
Chuck

But WHY are you struggling with his (short) name?

My DCs nicknames include Pickle, Sausage, Bobbeh (which is Bobby but pronounced weirdly at the end), knickers, squishy, squashy, squish, squash, puddin' , munchkin

I never use the short versions of their names but DS2s friends do.

I only have 2 DC BTW. They just have a lot of nicknames.

I’m testing out a name change but thought I’d throw a couple I’d come across in.

I knew a guy called CJ (initials of his first two names)
Another called Dave (whose nn was initially Dfor, said Deefer, but who quickly became Deef)

Scooter. His name is Mike but he’s been Scooter for as long as I remember

Nicknames come naturally! (Bingo)

I have a Cheesy (likes cheese), Friendly (rhymes with name) and added the name 'Star' to the end of my daughters name as she and I like stars. I call them all sausage too.

Other nicknames within the family come from rhymes of their names, middle names and random names they have heard and liked.

Oh, don't act like a rude insensitive jerk.

I know a Scooter. I can't actually remember his real name!

It is quite unusual to pick a nickname of that kind i.e. not a shortening.

Does he have any pet names that you use, you could maybe adapt one of those. I've known a Squish, Bubbles, Munchy.

Or you could use his initials. I've known a TJ, AJ, RC, BB.

Or go with something like Sonny or Junior.

Or just use his middle name?

One of my best friends is called Tansy and that's her actual name??

I know a boy who gets called Buzz. It's not his real name but he loves buzz lightyear. His whole family call him Buzz now, I actually can't remember his real name.

My daughter's nickname is Plum. No connection to her name at all. I believe it emerged from me, in a fit of love, telling her she looked likea sugar plum fairy (I'm not even sure where I got that phrase from? Is it a book? A movie? No idea) in a cute little outfit she was wearing as a baby. 😂

Oops, sorry! Just realised that you asked about nicknames for a boy. My son's nickname is a direct shortening of his name, but as a tiny baby I temporarily called him Spud as he looked like a potato. Does that count?

Ned, Kit and Hal are my absolute favourites. My son is Edmund and was going to be Ned but it never happened.

BF's son is Bart - real name James but his hair had a Bart Simpson vibe when he was a baby!
I'm known as Banny which is nothing like my name but a younger sibling couldn't say my name, called me Banny and it stuck.
DH's older brother is 'Dig', short for Digger (real name Simon) because he was the first child to be born in Australia.

My 3 DS NN are Mundo/ Mack, Pot and Puff/ Puffster.

They are nothing like their names- all arisen from different scenarios. It'll come eventually.

I know an "Eric"- that's his NN that everyone knows him by. It's because he has the same surname* as a famous (then) Eric and it sort of evolved and stuck in childhood. So even NNs can be ordinary names!

*not Morecombe

@darlingdodo wow. dig must be a canny age now!!

@dumptrucksandcranes short names usually get additional endings when they're babies,

bert bertie
mat mattie
or doubles
ben ben ben

actual names I've only ever known to have come from a story/habit/'thing' of some kind, not just 'chosen'

skippy -John from Australia
kiwi - Mark from NZ

Bear - David (just because he's huge & cuddly)

Tubbs -surname Stubbington when most of the lads were known by their surnames.

Winter, no, he's in his sixties - I think it was just that the family had emigrated to Australia in the late fifties and there were still a lot of 'Diggers' around (exWW1 servicemen) and because he was the first child born in Australia he got called 'The Little Digger' and it just stuck.