The power of names and nicknames
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Consider the power of names and nicknames that we accumulate as through life. Do they influence us? Where do they come from? My own name has been Rachel McAlpine for decades now. But I’ve also been called Jigger, Robin, Fishface, Tosh and Pud. Each name or nickname summons a different aspect of my identity, which has continued to develop and change over the 79 years I have been alive. How about you?
Tosh and Pud, a couple of very endearing names 🙂 I had a very irritating experience in Form 2 with a lad in my class calling me Yogi Bear with my friend having Bobo. Quiet whispers of “Yogi Bear” in school assemblies still haunt me 🙂
What a cheek
Exactly.
Thank you for your encouragement, Becky Ross Michael. I’m in search of my inner Jigger and Robin and Tosh and Pud these days. My usernames include Aybrow and Wachel, and they also want to assert themselves.
Such an interesting post, Rachel! As for me, I started my life as Rebecca Lynn Ross, Becky to friends and siblings, Bec to my parents, Rebecca to teachers, and “Betsy Ross” to a few boys who teased me about sewing the original American flag. In my second marriage (notice how I skipped right over the first:) I became Becky Michael to most and “Sweetie Pie” to my husband. After my divorce (not sweet enough?), I added back in the Ross that I wished I had never ever changed! Luckily, I’m also now Grandma Becky, besides. I agree, that I am still all these people inside, and I like each and every one!
Betsy Wetsy(ugh) BetsyLou Betsarooni.
Ow wow. That’s a poem.
Thank you for explaining this—I had no idea. Does this name still feel good?
I started out as Michelle Louise Sinclair and then Shellie by my big brothers. My family are pretty much the only people that call me that. I’m also called Mich, Meechelle, and Aunty Shimmy by my Godson and his Mum (my best friend since the age of 16). I’m now 51 and are still called all of those names and I kind of like it 🙂Lovely post 🙏
In the American South, it is not uncommon to call someone Miss X, regardless of age or marital status. There are certain friends who have called me Miss Nora since I was a teen.
When the names are given warmly, we can delight in them as extras to the self we build ourselves
Jigger is adorable, BTW! 🙂
Nowhere near as many as you!
the following will have to do:
Peter, Pete, Polly, Prof, Pockets Pete
Everyone a P!
As you can see.
https://pollymermaid.wordpress.com/2016/10/07/whats-in-a-name/
Keep em coming, Peter P!
You were enterprising!
I blog under one of my childhood names, but some time in my early youth I chose the name ‘Midge’. It has stuck with me. The upside to the name is that when I meet someone new, they often don’t forget my name… though sometimes they hear it as ‘Mitch’. Close enough…