What's in a Name?

Do you have a nickname?  Do you use them for other people?  I love nicknames and endearments.

When I was young, I was tall and skinny.  Thus my nickname in our family was "Legs".  I was also called "Pumpkin", which I hated.  Nothing much made me madder.  I had a cousin I spent a lot of time with and we usually got along, but when we didn't--watch out!  She called me "Little Orphan Annie", due to my living with my aunt and uncle.  But she stopped when I'd call her "Two Ton Annie"--she always carried a little extra weight.

While I don't mind shortened versions of most names, I have never liked being called "Bev".  Only a handful of people have gotten away with it.  I won't always correct those who use it, but enough people know now that they will correct the culprits who try.  Sometimes, I will say "erly" when they just say "Bev".  They'll look at me funny and ask "what?"  I'll say "my name is Beverly".  Is that rude?  Oh, well.  My daughter Holly now calls me "early" and for a while I thought maybe her kids would pick it up.  But they call me Beeba.  Her oldest son couldn't say "grandma" and somehow it came out Beeba.  I like it.

I've called my children by several nicknames.  Don't know where most of them came from.  Like "fart blossom".  We called Shana "butter"--short for butterball.  I call most of the grandkids "Doo" or "Doo Bug"--short for doodlebug.  Clayton was "tank" when he was little because of the way he was built.  Sugar Bear, Shortcake, Lollipop, Buddy, Holly Molly Mechelle, Shana Banana, Claybee, Lissy Loo, Miss Ma'am.  The list goes on and on.

A couple of my adult children still call me mommy.  I love that.  To me, it signifies a closer relationship.

Darrell's mom calls him George for some reason, so I've picked that up.  Once I called him that at church and a new friend said "I thought your husband's name was Darrell".  If I'd been quick enough, I would have said "oops, did I call him George again?  That was my first husband's name!"  I also call him by his middle name a lot, which led Shana to call him Bruce Daddy when she was about 2.  That got us some interesting looks.  There's only been one thing I've called him that he didn't like and he let me know it real quick.  I thought it was cute, but he evidently didn't!

Darrell calls me by several endearments--I joke that it's because he doesn't always remember my name and calls me honey to keep out of trouble.  He still calls me baby and I hope he never gets too old to do that.  If I'm being a little anal about something, he'll call me by a relative's name that lets me know I'm getting a little carried away (because that person is very OCD).

So, what little names are you known by?  Or use?  Inquiring minds want to know.