I have a propensity for giving silly nicknames to those I care for. I can’t help it. It is not something I plan, I usually don’t even think about them. They just tumble out of my mouth before I can stop them.
I can admit, not all my nicknames are good and I know some of them are duds the minute they roll off my tongue. I find that usually, I will subconsciously filter through several nicknames before one really feels right. But, once I find that perfect name, it tends to stick for a good, long while.
I am quite sure not all these pet-names have been well received. I can think of several boyfriends in my past who received silly names from me. They seemed rather tolerant of them at the time but, in hindsight, I am sure they found them rather annoying and were just too nice to speak against them. Early in our relationship, I endowed my husband with a sweet little nickname that was a play on his name. It has since been retired but, he still remembers it (I just asked him to verify that).
So, with my predilection for nicknames, it is not surprising that when my first little boy came along, he ended having a slew of pet-names. I can’t recall them all but I know that Oski-Woski, Peach-Plum-Bum and Honey Bear were the main ones. By the time he was 18-months-old, I was mostly calling him my little Honey Bear and rarely used his real name, which is Oskar.
Nothing made my heart glow more than when his daycare lady reported he piped up one day and said he was not Oskar but Honey Bear. I knew then that he really loved that name so it stuck for a good while. Since then, he has grown up a bit and his names have changed but, I will always remember, and I hope he does too, that he was my little Honey Bear.
My second son came along and his nickname quickly became Angie Bangie (a play off his real name Angus). It has proven to be a very fitting name as he is 9-months-old now and his favourite thing to do is to sit and bang on things. My three-year-old has even gotten into the nickname game and added to Angus’s nickname which, in it’s full glory is, Angie Bangie Bangerson.
Who knows how long it will stick for; perhaps he will hate us for it later in life – it strikes me now that it does read a bit like a porn star name – and cringe every time we bring it up. But, I just can’t help it. I know that even if I tried I would not be able to give up my nickname habit. So, I have to say to my boys now: You may hate me for it when you are older but, know that I called you those funny names out of love.
