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Do you ever call…..

(53 Posts)
Beechnut Wed 13-Nov-24 12:44:39

I was thinking about this after reading the pet name thread.

If your other half or anyone you know has a nickname do you call them by it or use their proper name?

Somewhere I worked years ago I had a nickname. I’m not often called it these days. My brother has changed it slightly and calls me his variation often and I am also called different names by different people.

Beechnut Wed 13-Nov-24 12:45:52

I answer to them all…if I’ve got my hearing aid in 😂

Auntieflo Wed 13-Nov-24 12:48:51

I have a nickname, that my brother used, as he couldn't say my name properly.
My parents then used it all the time I was living at home.
I thought I would lose it when I met my husband to be, but, no, he uses it nearly all the time.

Chocolatelovinggran Wed 13-Nov-24 14:44:04

I'm known to everyone by my nickname. People I have been away with have commented on my passport- "Your name is X?!. Really?!"

TwiceAsNice Wed 13-Nov-24 15:01:58

I am known by a shortened version of my name always by friends and colleagues. As we all live together now in one house I am usually called Granny by the daughters as well as the grandaughters. They do sometimes call me Mum!

Marydoll Wed 13-Nov-24 15:53:24

When I was working, my colleagues all called me MD, as in Marydoll. Hence my GN user name.

I have various names for my other half, some of which I cannot say. wink

Maggiemaybe Wed 13-Nov-24 16:12:11

A friend was horrified to hear that my nickname for years was Maggot. I reassured her that it was just a version of Maggie, not because they really didn't like me (or so I tell myself ! grin). I still get it on a few Christmas cards.

Sago Wed 13-Nov-24 16:54:52

Yes we have known someone by their nickname for 40+ years.
When someone referred to him by his first name we didn’t know who he was referring to, when the penny dropped I said you mean xxxxxx, he had no idea he was known as such.

We knew him socially the person we were talking to only knew him professionally.

Romola Wed 13-Nov-24 16:58:50

DD is in her early 50s and still answers to BD, short for baby daughter.
My three sisters and I were a bit crazy with nicknames. Each sister had a different nickname for the other three, so you knew who was talking to you, if you get me.
When we started making up silly nicknames for our father, he got really annoyed, poor man.

Greenfinch Wed 13-Nov-24 17:01:47

Maggiemaybe I laughed at your nickname and remembered a school friend called Mildred (already an old fashioned name in those days). We called her Mildew.

Grammaretto Wed 13-Nov-24 17:12:56

At school everyone had nicknames.
It was often a mix of their initial and surname. i.e. C. Hicks was known as Chicks
Or derived from their surname and usually kind.
Patterson became Pattie.
Many variations of Elizabeth and Margaret, both popular at the time.
I was a bit miffed not to get a nickname. My own name is too short.
I have a friend with a nickname used since birth. I have never heard her called by her actual name.
Weird isn't it.

grandMattie Wed 13-Nov-24 17:16:56

I called my late DH by a corruption of our surname, but always spoke of him with his first name.
My own name is French and I loathe any shortening thereof, but my father had a horrible nickname for me.

kittylester Wed 13-Nov-24 17:27:47

My mother was christened Alice but always known as Babs as she was the baby. She wanted to be called Nana by her grandchildren but her eldest grandson could only manage 'Anna' so that's what she became known as by everyone

AskAlice Wed 13-Nov-24 17:33:06

My Dad hated his real name, so he had a nickname that everyone in the family called him. Some of our neighbours misheard it and thought it was "Dick" so always addressed him as that. He was also known by another different name at work and sometimes used his middle name when introducing himself to new acquaintances.

So when I started school and the teacher asked me what my father's name was, I replied, "Well, it's either Tom, Charlie or Dick." The teacher looked horrified - I can imagine what she was thinking!!

I had to use another version of my name when I changed jobs at 20, because someone else in the office had the same name as me. So my siblings, wider family and pre-20s friends call me one thing and my husband, daughters and post-20s friends call me another...it causes confusion sometimes.

SparklyGrandma Thu 14-Nov-24 12:52:47

I was called a shorter version of my name as a teenager which annoyed my parents because they believed in using full names. No one uses it now. My exDH used to call me a ‘cure’ nickname referring to my pale skin which was slightly irritating.
When I was a teenager I had a swimming nickname because I swam a lot.

My brothers have a vegetable nickname and a small furry mammal nickname.
One of our grandfathers had a nickname, let’s say Davy. Everyone called his that, grandchildren his children great grandchildren. Even now, when discussing him, we call him by his name.

She777 Thu 14-Nov-24 13:06:09

I am called a shortened version of my name. Also called She (not the cats mother) because younger members of the family couldn’t pronounce my name properly. My husband is called Mark but for some unknown reason I call him Marmalade - no idea why but it has stuck.

SueEH Thu 14-Nov-24 13:28:53

My surname is similar to - but not - Heyworth - and when I worked in the city a colleague started calling me Rita, which stuck!
My ex was known as Po because he was SO po-faced when he was cross.
And my twin daughters were Dadie Bales and Mim. Go figure 🙄
They could communicate with each other long before they could talk to us and I’m still not quite sure what they call each other.

Cateq Thu 14-Nov-24 13:34:18

My DGD, couldn’t say her uncle’s name of Christopher so called him Furr, which she still uses to this day. At school he was know as Bisto and one day we bumped into him and his friends who had had a few beers and they danced around us chanting Bisto’s mum and dad much to our embarrassment

Redcar Thu 14-Nov-24 13:40:58

My 99 year old godmother still calls me by the name I called myself when I couldn’t pronounce my real name. I hate it!

win Thu 14-Nov-24 13:45:37

My mother had a nickname, she was know by that all her life by the family. My husband's cousin had a nickname, even on her hospital bed sign and gravestone that was used.

Jaxjacky Thu 14-Nov-24 13:54:54

Half of our friends in the pub have nicknames and they’re always used.
My parents had one for me that died with them. My Dad was Pampa to his grandchildren as the first one came out with it and it stuck.

Crossstitchfan Thu 14-Nov-24 14:05:30

Jaxjacky, that’s similar to what I called my granddad when I was little - Bamps. Goodness know where I got it from

25Avalon Thu 14-Nov-24 14:30:49

My Uncle Clifford was known to everyone as Dick. Some old boy decided Clifford was too much of a mouthful and said he’d call him Dick. And Dick he was for his whole life.

GrauntyHelen Thu 14-Nov-24 15:13:01

I have an alternative name linked to my profession

Harmonypuss Thu 14-Nov-24 15:36:20

My grandad gave me the nickname 'Diddy' the day I was born (apparently he thought I was a small baby at 8½lbs), and this name stuck, with my 3 uncles calling me Diddy too even to this day.
My mother's husband gave my sister and I nicknames that (thankfully) only he used. He also started calling my younger son 'sprout' which made my elder son laugh, until the younger one decided to call him 'cabbage', saying that sprouts are just small cabbages, so his big brother needed to accept that he was a cabbage if he was to be called sprout!
My partner and I do have pet names for each other and yes, we do call each other by them rather than our given names.