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What’s in a name?

Research demonstrates that given names can cause lifelong personal issues. Some kids get by with easy names and others, such as myself, have spent our entire lives spelling our names. I grew up with the name Lilice (sounds like Denise) Lesinski (doesn’t rhyme with anything, but my dad with his Polish sense of humour, in trying to explain the spelling, used to say "think of sin, think of me").

But what about the nicknames we acquired on the playground or those that stuck with us when an older sibling couldn’t pronounce our given moniker? Jayne, another Vancouver blogger recently posted about her playground nickname, Fishy Wishy in a Dishy, a second generation nickname derived from her family members dubbing her "Minnow." My cousin Elena grew up as Nana and my daughter, Elina, is Nonnie. For me it happened in eighth grade, Revlon came out with a lipstick called LeLips. It didn’t take long for the boys, conscious of my chatty ways, to change Lilice to LeLips. Anybody want to top that?

Signs that spring may turn into summer:

Img_1114 Img_1120_2

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19 responses to “What’s in a name?”

  1. Beth Avatar
    Beth

    Is that a mutant strawberry or what? 🙂
    I certainly can’t top the bad nicknames. My dad told the woes of being called Earl the Pearl. Maybe that’s why he was so careful naming my brother and me.

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  2. Dorothy Avatar
    Dorothy

    I don’t think I ever knew your real name. It has a certain ring to it. I got stuck with the name “Sam” in my teens and most of my nieces and nephews still call me “Aunt Sam”. Bill called me Sam until our son was born, then started calling me by my real name. It took me years to get used to it and think he wasn’t mad at me!

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  3. Ellen Avatar
    Ellen

    I think Auntie Onion ranks right up there.

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  4. Suzanne V. (Yarnhog) Avatar
    Suzanne V. (Yarnhog)

    Well, I knew a girl in elementary school whose real name was Lisa Lipschitz. Even at age seven, I felt profoundly sorry for her.

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  5. Jane Avatar
    Jane

    LaLa for my daughter Anastasia, Doggie for my childhood friend Dorreen, Pat for our cousin Andree who looked like a Patpoose ? , and my favorite one of all Aunt Man and Uncle Lady! That’s a whole blog story in it’s self!

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  6. Monika Avatar
    Monika

    I was always happy with my name. If nothing else I thanked my parents for that. Nobody ever cared enough to give me a nickname. But, my sister’s name is Andrea, but from the first day in her life until now and on forever she’ll be called Susi. Even her husband and all her friends call her that. My fahter wanted Andrea, my mother Susanne, she got her wish! ;o) I love the smell of those flowers. We call them “Maigloeckchen”, it’s such a pretty name.

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  7. Kristen Avatar
    Kristen

    Strawberry? On first glance I thought it was a muffin!
    When I see names like yours, as a speech-language therapist I always hope there is not a family member with a lisp or in your case an ‘L’ problem! I worked with two brothers who had trouble pronouncing ‘R’ and ‘TH’ among other sounds. So what do the parents name the new baby sister? Ruth, of course – what were they thinking?!

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  8. Sharon Avatar
    Sharon

    My daughter’s name is Rebecca Kate and we called her Becky Kate when she was born. But her slightly older brother couldn’t quite manage that. What he said came out like Bake-a-Cake. That kind of stuck…even at 27, I sometimes call her that. Fortunately no one else does. By the way, I think Lilice is a beautiful name.

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  9. sandy Avatar
    sandy

    Oooh, Love your lilies of the valley! (Lilice of the valley?? 😀 ) and that yummy looking strawberry, made even yummier looking by your darling son acting it up!
    Me? My mother REFUSED, nay, REFUSES to call me anything but SANDRA.
    Always. Sandra.
    No one else in the world calls me that.
    Pass the berries.

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  10. jaci Avatar
    jaci

    My sister gave me the nick name, Jaci-Quackie. By time time I was in high school it was just Quack. Everyone called me that, even my teachers! Some of my high school friends still call me that when they see me.

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  11. Emma. Avatar
    Emma.

    Mango yoghurt.
    Ha, bl**dy ha !
    School isn’t always fun. I’m over it now. Really… !

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  12. Crazy For Yarn In Alabama: Darlene Avatar
    Crazy For Yarn In Alabama: Darlene

    WELLL……imagine THIS teenage angst if you will…..my maiden name is Filyaw…..which the boys changed the pronunciation to “feel ya” oh yea….I was traumatized!!! LOL!! Add to that I had a science teacher that called me “Darlin” for the ENTIRE 8th grade school year (my name is Darlene)…..of course now if a male teacher were to call a female student “darlin” in class he would probably lose his license!!

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  13. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    I was just Critty or Critty Jo, full name is Christy and my Aunt would alter it. My Uncle wound recite “Christy Jo stubbed her toe on the way to Kokomo/Mexico”. I hate my middle name! I had a BF who called me Christmas, not a good memory. Now I go by Chris and end up getting mail addressed to Mr Chris XXXXX!

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  14. Angie Avatar
    Angie

    My daughter is called “Chicken Noodle Pie” or “Chicken” or “Noodle” or “Piepie”. My son answers to “Boo” but I’m no longer allowed to use it on the soccer field (he’s 16).
    I go by Angie. Another mother wins. She allowed her mother-in-law to get her way with Lori (Angela) and took me home from the hospital as Angie.

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  15. Barbp Avatar
    Barbp

    Barbecue, my maiden name started with Q. The other was Babbles. Yep I like to talk always have. For some reason when I was cop, one male coworker called me Barbie, ONCE. I made it quite clear I was anything but a doll. wink

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  16. eyeleen Avatar
    eyeleen

    Filipinos have a way of combining all of your given names into your family nickname. My sister Maria Louisa, is MaLou, Kristine Ann=Krianne, Maria Elaine=Mariela. Me, I’m just Aileen, pronounced the Filipino way, eye-leen.

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  17. lynne Avatar
    lynne

    My brothers started calling me “Fullback” when I was about ten. Talk about a traumatic event when I learned what a fullback was! I had an uncle that always called me Popeye because I loved spinich. Hey…fullback, Popeye…maybe I really wasn’t the most delicate of little girls after all!

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  18. Sonya Avatar
    Sonya

    What about Sonya lasagna? I kept that one until about the end of 7th grade.
    My best friend’s name is Jemima. No one ever called her Jay, she would have liked that. They called her Aunt Jemima.

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  19. Marianne Avatar
    Marianne

    I understand that I’m nearly 60 days late in responding to this, but….
    No one EVER gets my name right, thankyouverymuch. You have your wonderful sister and brother-in-law to thank for that.
    Side note #1: My sister is officially “Auntie Nikka”, all in thanks to your middle child.
    Side note #2: As of two weeks ago, Morgan pronounces her sister’s name right. Yes, Maya is no longer “Mine-a”.

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