What's in a Nickname?

I like reading the obituaries of strangers when they have a nickname in the headline.  The Macon Telegraph featured a “Bonehead” one day and I still remember it.

I was called "e” (and am still called “e") by my family.....I have been called Doc, Weezer, and MamaWeave (I have also been called some choice words by wayward youth who might have needed to have had to have a little attitude adjustment, too.) Because I have a niece named Erin Malloy, she is known as Little e....thank goodness my brother has sense enough not to call me Old e....or Wide e......or Old, Wide e.

"Little Mama” was a common nickname in many of the classrooms I visited in Central Georgia.  These were the little girls who had hearts of gold and took care of everyone.   I always wanted to know the whys behind the nicknames.  That’s what makes the story interesting....the why?

I had a little fourth grade girl come to Lakeview Elementary in Centerville, Iowa.  On the first day of school, she sasshayed up to my desk and annoounced that she had changed her name to "Go Go.” I told her that I needed to call her by the name on her birth certificate until her momma told me different.  That child had quite an imagination.  I thought of her as Go-Go the entire year.....this was in the late 1970’s and I still think of her as Go-Go.

Nicknames are one of those “let’s look in the underwear drawer” things in life.  Most of the time the bestowing of a nickname just happens.  It is a serendipitous moment when a nickname sticks forever.  And stick they sometimes do.

Coach Anthony Hines was the best nickname giver of anyone I have ever known.  I swear, Coach had a great nickname for all of us.  He never slowed down.  Those names were part reality, part fantasy.  We loved hearing the nicknames of the new freshmen.  He was the king of the nickname givers! Anthony had the gift of discernment.

So, I have an assignment for all of you.  I want you to tell me about YOUR nickname and how you got it.  I kind of promise I won’t use it in a blog unless it is a really great story.  Nicknames make me happy....nicknames are bits of love that are scattered by circumstance or happenstance.  Just let me know your alias. Please?

Ray Ray

Rockhead

Kitty

Cheeseburger

Di Di Chi

Boogie

Termite

Smitty

Beave

Pets

Spot

Smiley

Cooter

The Mullet

Buster

Real Ron

Bo

Cindy Lou-Who

Mo

Little Weave

Girly-girl

And the list goes on.....comment on your nickname and how you got it.....or even better, tell me nicknames and how they were earned by others.  Talk about March Madness.....