Nicknames and the Like!

[Greenie]

So, after reading about undesired pet names, for eg 'Baby' from the other thread, I started wondering about nicknames in general.

I tend to give lots of nicknames, many that don't exactly make any sense since they're for the most part simply sounds put together. (Most of these belong to the cat) However, if someone doesn't like being called by a certain name, I desist. A nickname's meant to increase the love and not decrease it, in my opinion!

Anyway, what do y'all think of nicknames? Do you like giving them? Have you nicknames yourself?

Or are you one of those people who believe that people have proper names and those are the only names they should be called by?

 

[Mu]

I love giving people nicknames. Here are some of mine:
Sen
Thousand
Bucket
[mynamehere]saur
Soup
Senapi

 

[Sidhe]

I have quite a few nicknames but most of them are just variations of my name. Kate, Kat, KT, Kitty, Kitty Cat, etc. Other than the cute names my mom gives me (pumpkin, baby girl) that's about it.

 

[Vivian]

I adore nicknames and am quick to respond to them once they're assigned to me. Mostly because my actual name is really common and dull, so making pen names like Vivian/Vi is always fun. Although most of my nicknames at school are rougher around the edges because the crowd I tend to hang around with are the type to affectionately break your arm.

But, some nicknames I got online is Mumaya, Granmaya, Wife-Wifey, Vermin Mouse, and a ton of others. My oldest nickname was Noni though, now I'm feeling nostalgic. RIP

 

[Indabayou]

My name is pretty simple so it doesn't lend well to nicknaming.

Kind of pathetic story, but when I was in elementary school our music/chorus teacher would give nicknames to almost all the kids in class. No lie, I still remember a lot of them even if I can't remember the kids' actual names. I had never gotten a nickname from her in the two years I'd been going there and I wanted one so badly that I convinced my aunt to use my back-to-school shopping money to buy me a full hello kitty outfit. Surely this would get her attention and get me that prized nickname! It didn't. I was sort of crushed emotionally I think. Like, who has that mich nothing stand out about them that they can't get a cute nickname in music class? I may not be completely over it x'D

 

[Greenie]

I've had quite a few. The one I've had the longest is Bee. Has absolutely no connection with my actual name lol. I've also lately been called Momo or Momo Chan. :'D

 

[Kagayours]

A fair amount of people call me Kaga IRL.

 

[junebug]

I don't mind nicknames, so long as I don't mind being called that nickname. My dad calls me honey, honey bun, honey bunny. It's stuck over the years! :3

 

[Shiri]

Unless I'm told a nickname I tend to not brand people with them. I do however nickname things I own and in not very creative ways. My clipboard is Clippy and my laptop is Lappy.

I used to call my bunny Tuffy because it was his name from the owner before me. I thought it would help him settle-in with his new name. I have no clue if it worked, but he perks up more at his new name.

Shiri is one of my nicknames from one of my friends. <3

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Well usernames are by nature a nickname you choose for yourself, so my most popular nickname by far is Gwazi Magnum, or in short Gwazi.

As for those I accumulated IRL over the years?

Tony = The occasional teacher's aid/substitute teacher would call me this cause it's the short form of Anthony and rolled off the tongue for them somewhat better.
Anton = Elementary School Classmates used it as a short form of my real name. Less of a "Roll off the tongue" factor though and more just children trying to make names more 'cool' sounding.
Baritone = During Grade 7-8 when we graduated past the clarinet I ended up being assigned the instrument Baritone. Then people just started calling me that as a joke.

And those are really it. Once I entered High School no one ever felt the need to give me another nickname so I just went by my actual name Anthony since then.

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As for nicknames I give other people (all IRL friends btw)?

Zukaro = Long version "Zukaro Travon" is one of my IRL friends usernames. But because he uses it more than I use Gwazi online (which is saying something) and it's pretty close to his actual name it tends to be what we just call him whenever we interact online half of the time. Kind of alternating between the two almost randomly.

Hobbs = Last name of one of my friends. The reason I did it originally was he shared the same name as my Sister so calling him by that led to a lot of confusion with my sister shouting "What?" from across the house, so it acted as a quick way to avoid that. However, it ended up rolling off the tongue so easily that I end up calling him that more often than his first name (which, fun fact is actually a nickname he set for himself because he hated his birth name... So, nickname of a nickname). Though, I've gotten so used to it I've occasionally caught myself referring to him as Hobbs when talking to his parents which get's a bit odd.

Big/Little Daniel = We have two people in our circle named Daniel. One of them's our age and is also rather big himself, while the other is twelve (he's the runt in a circle of adults) and actually does look rather young for his age on top of that. And saying Daniel constantly get's both of them answering. We first debated just going last name acronyms of Daniel.O and Daniel.S but that just felt a bit... Odd, like we were in school. Then one day referring to them as little and big came up, and it just kind of stuck.

And I don't really tend to give anyone else a Nickname... Unless if it's XCOM and they happened to survive long enough that they unlocked the ability to have a nickname. Then I just ask them what they feel like their effective code name being.

 

[Poe Dameron]

I've gotten a few:

- Hun/hon
- Sniper: both for my basketball skills (long range shooting) and because somehow I am great with an M-16 or M-4 but can't shoot my way out of a wet paper bag with a pistol (M-1)
- Speedy: for my aggressive driving habits
- Pitcha: just in Japan though
- Captain B: because no one in the military can pronounce my last name and no one wants to call me by my first

Haven't given many, though I tend to call anyone that's really tall/wide "Gigantor" and haven't gotten beaten up for it... yet

 

[Weracious]

Pretty much all my close friends get nicknames from me. My own nicknames tend to come from an old username. It was pretty long so people shortened it to Wen, or sometimes Wendy. It wasn't until later that I looked up if Wen had any meaning. I think it means 'culture, literacy'. That's what the search resulted in anyway. There seems to have been a real Empress Wen in history too.

 

[Kitti]

I give nicknames out like candy! I have a hard time remembering people/names/faces and nicknames help me with that!

Similarly to Opal, I have several nicknames that are close to my name. Kitti, Ki, Cat, etc.
I think "baby" is a weird pet name for reasons mentioned but other pet names are cute. I'm not so secretly the romantic type serenading with "mi luz", "älskling", "choupinet", etc.

 

[Minerva]

Chicken Biscuit: (my initials are CB, and it started as a joke when I was little)

Bengal: probably my longest. I don't know how it came to be, but Bengal is my most commonly used nickname.

Romulus: Also my DnD character's name. Romulus was the name I chose for myself in Latin class for my Latin name.

 

[Kiwi]

I actually love nicknames because they can be so endearing and special.

My username is actually a nickname my grandpa gave me when I was little. My real name is "Kianie." He tried to call me "Kiki," but it just didn't seem to fit. Then he came up with "Kiwi" instead and it's stuck ever since. Sometimes, he calls me his "Kiwi Girl." I absolutely love it and it makes me smile every time.

I also get called "Chi" by friends and "Bud."

 

[Brovo]

I do not really care what people call me, it's the intent that matters. If someone whispers my name lovingly, that's just as great as someone coming up with a cute nickname to do the same thing.

In terms of others, friends I'm starting to get jovial and familiar with I'll call "bro" or "bruv" for shits n' giggles.

Women I find attractive I'll start calling various nicknames of affection. Like belle (French for "beautiful"). It's sappy, but I like doing it, and I've yet to meet a woman who said she disliked it.

 

[King]

I'm mainly referred to by my last name. This stemmed from my cadet days so that kinda stuck.

Besides that I have been referred to as 'Mulder' by people who aren't my closest friends. It's circulated, mainly because I don't shut up about UFOs and conspiracies lmao

My partner calls me a bunch of gross cute nicknames. Even though many people have expressed their distaste for it, I get called Baby a lot 8)

 

[Greenie]

Even though many people have expressed their distaste for it, I get called Baby a lot 8)

Same here ^_^'

 

[Vars]

Depends on context. Normally I don't like nicknames because they're in the same realm as baby/pet names and I often find them degrading for one reason or another (which might be wrong, but that's just how I feel about it).

If the nickname is more of a "preferred name" then I encourage these 100%. But definitely should be chosen by the person being named. I think people should have many names based on different social situations (Japan's naming conventions come to mind here) and that the legal name being the only name is kind of dumb.

Nicknames being assigned based on social hierarchy-- I'm kind of neutral on this one. It's common for high-stress/high-danger jobs that you "earn" a nickname once you finally "earn" your place with the crew. I think it's great, and I also think this is sort of the same idea among simple friend circles, but I dunno, it's also different. Obviously a nickname you earn in this context could still be belittling. I guess I can say I really like this little piece of culture these jobs have, but it's not perfect as-is and could be slightly reworked? Like it should be socially acceptable for the person to 'veto' the nickname or something. I'm not sure how to convey myself here.

That being said, I don't hand out nicknames. If someone wants me to call them something different, I will unless it's against something I believe in (Some person's nickname was 'senpai' for instance, and I said I was sorry but I'm not going to oblige). If I want to call someone something different, I'll ask if it's ok first. For the senpai situation I asked if 'sen' was ok and they seemed cool with it, so there we go.

 

[lostfaith]

I don't give nicknames to other people very often, but I seem to collect them like stamps. Almost everyone I know just calls me Val, but I get Valley and Valley-girl pretty often. I sometimes go by Seraph's Fire, so I sometimes get that or just Seraph.