Thursday, February 2, 2012

The silly-sweet names we call our kids


I can't tell you how or why I started calling Max "Maxie-boo." But it's my pet name for him. Max just shakes his head at me and says "Arrrs oooh!" ["Cars 2!"] because that is the name he is going by these days, although I have not yet officially registered it with the Social Security people or anything.

Sabrina's nickname is far easier to explain. She's "Chubsa Wubsa," which dates back to the days of her roly-poly baby arms and thunder thighs. Now that she's 7, I'm realizing I've got to quit calling her that before I give her a complex, but old nicknames die hard. Dave calls her "Sweet pea" and "Sabrina-cakes" because she's so sweet. Sometimes.

Our babysitter calls Max "Muff," which is short for "Studmuffin." Whenever she walks into our house, she says "Hello, Muff!" She also calls him "Buddy." As in, "Buddy wants chocolate ice-cream for the third time today!"

What are you calling your little darlings these days?

31 comments:

  1. Obviously on my blog I call her "Little Bird", but they all call her that at school now! One classmate even told her mom that my daughter's hebrew name is Bird because they all call her that!

    I also call her bubbaloo or looloo. Sometimes sweet tushie, too!

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  2. Buggin. That's the latest in a long line of nonsensical nicknames Schuyler has had, going all the way back to before she was born when we called her "The Grub". I know, we have Issues.

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  3. I call my oldest "Face" because she's got a gorgeous one.
    My middle one is Skater Dude, because that's his name on my blog, and the little one has many nicknames. Chub, Chubber (also from roly-poly days), Renko (from our first au pair), Mush, Smush, Shmush, and Shmusher.
    It's really the dog that has a long, long list of nicknames. Skippy is called Peanut and Peanut Butter (for obvious reasons) and because he is that color and has a white stripe on his chest, he's my Fluffernutter. Also, The Rug, Fluffer, The Bathmat (he's fluffy), Fatty, Fatty-fat-fat-fat, and Lazy Man. Mooksa (you have to be Jewish to get that). The list goes on and on, but he's not one to complain about it.

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  4. i call my oldest daughter moggle-pie (for molly, isn't that obvious?) but she is eight so i'm guessing she won't be letting me call her moggle-pie for much longer.

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  5. I call my 6 yr old brother with DS "Buster," and for a while he was saying "no, I'm Arthur!" (or rather, "Ar-fer")

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  6. My younger cousin went through a period where she would only answer to 'rooster' or 'mama puppy' and she would let you know each day who she was! I loved it!

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  7. One of my aunts has called me "Sabrini-bini" since I was little. I was horrified when one of my girl friends heard her call me that, and started referring to me that way too! But now, I've gotten used to it and don't care (much, LOL). But most of my friends call me "Sabi" and one of my best friends calls me "Bree." She's the only one who does, so I don't let anyone but her call me that. :)

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  8. Oh, the cuteness! I didn't get into what my nicknames have been. In college, I was known as "Flash" for once flashing my pals after I came out of the shower. Back then, some also fondly referred to me as "Smellen." That was lovely.

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  9. Love this. Thanks Ellen.
    I was Diddy. My 4 kids have been
    loulou, budalicious, jodiebrodieduckdux, hev, Josephine ezmerelda, bobby, sweaty betty, hebbaweez, Mary from the Dairy and bubz.
    I'm sure they'll grow up a bit confused lol

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  10. We've been calling our little guy 'bub-bubs' not sure why, I just happened to call him that one day and it stuck. And lately I've started to call him 'kicks' because he's always. Kicking. ALWAYS.

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  11. We call my daughter "sweets," "sweetie pie," and "baby cakes." She is 8, and often says, "I'm Emma!" Guess it isn't going to work for us much longer.

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  12. I have a Honey Bunny and A Sweet Pea.

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  13. We stick with a pretty easy one - Bubba - for Will. This started because all of a sudden one day when he was about 2, we started to realize this is what was calling himself. He has only 3 syllable combinations today - mama, dada, and bubba - so this was pretty momentous!

    Amanda
    www.ncslaviks.blogspot.com

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  14. Lately we have been using our youngest daughters names for the family...Hannah is na-na, Megan is may-may and she calls her brother Matthew...boy.

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  15. Oh what fun!

    My daughter has been "Yobi" for years. Short for "yobi-dobi" - from the made-up-silly songs I sang to her in baby and toddler-hood. She's 24 now - and when we Skype and email it's still "Hey Yobi!".

    My husband has had lots of endearing names for her over the years including Bean and Norkles. The one that stuck was "Norky". So far - no apparent ill-effects from all these silly names...(though we were more discreet around her friends in adolescence!

    My maiden name was DeMayo - I grew up in New York and New Jersey - so I was often...you guessed it - "Hold DeMayo"

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  16. As a fetus, my kid was Sprite because I drank a ton of Sprite. (Also the whole cute fairy sprite connection.) Then she had a silly name that my office gave her because I wouldn't tell them what we were REALLY going to call her. Now I so rarely call her by her real name that I'm surprised she knows what that is! Boog, monkey, and Baby Beeps (which has a long, ridiculous history based on a Sesame Street song that I used to sing to her) are probably the top three that have nothing to do with variations on her real name. (I'm the same way with my cats. And my husband....)

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  17. I've never been too into nicknames but our Lily has been Lily Bird since shortly after her birth (given that title by a family friend) and for some reason, it just stuck. To the point where that's the name teachers and therapists write on her belongings! Kind of funny.

    And my whole entire life, I've been called Lana Banana. I am 42 years old and my dad still calls me that more often than just Lana.

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  18. my favorite nick name has been kiddo for a while now My church basketball A team coach called me that I was never on his team but we had a great relationship nonetheless

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  19. Baba, babushka, Babalicious, babarrific, Bubster...just cause he's so cute! Love this post!

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  20. Well, before Margo was around, your adorable kids were the only kids I hung out with, so, of course, I had cute names that I called them. I remember saying "Max a moo moo", and, grandma and I call Sabrina "shulie baby".

    Margo has her own set of names, my favorite of which is "honey boo boo".

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  21. I am laughing so hard at everyones names! I also am relieved to see that we are not alone in our naming madness! Parker is P-Diddy, P-Man, P-man ho, or sometimes just Ho. (I know, not good to call your kid Ho) Brady is Brady Bear, Bear, Hotrod, Bray, or Bray Bray. And Ryder is Riding Dirty, Dirty, Ry Ry, Ry dog, or Ry master P. You don't even want to know our cats' many names!

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  22. Lets see my oldest daughter that is now 20 I call her bunny foo foo. Her dad calls her Girly. My middle daughter Billie-Barbara is either Princessa or bb. My 9 yr old I call her cookie cookie. Her dad calls her angel. I work caring for a little girl and I gave her te name of Snunngle bunny because she loves to snuggle. Her mom just had a baby boy and I call him Papi chulo. I love sweet silly names!

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  23. My rough'n tumble boy, is Bunny or Bunny Rabbit. I'm going to try to wean myself off that before he hits high school. My girl, w/all her various health issues, is Bear. As in a tough Grizzly bear, less so a cuddly Teddy bear, though she does. Never planned to admit that on the internet, but... peer pressure!

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  24. love these!

    my son is "beaver" and i have no idea why. lol
    i'm trying to steer clear of "fattykins":) we started that when he finally got chub, he was such a shrimpy little fella when we first got him!

    really loving your blog! xo

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  25. My almost 22 y.o. has been called Goober, Goob, or Goobie most of his life. My daughter Abby is Babby-girl or Babbit.

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  26. You've really got to stop calling Sabrina that how about 'cutie pie' instead :)

    PS. I haven't been around here much because I now work 7 days a week.

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  27. I always call Luke "Pookie-Lu." When he was an infant it was "Papoose" because he always wanted to be swaddled tightly.

    Faith is "Little Bit."

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  28. My now 19 yr old son is named Jace. When he was 2 he carried a blanket named Bob. So jace's first nickname became Bob. Then Bobby, Bubba, Bubby. I use any of those and now his niece and nephew call hin Bubby. Jace gave the dogs alternate names. Sadie is Boaders and granny and Susan. Marley is Susan or Nemar Debra Cortez. Jace calls me MooMoo or just Moo. He also could be BooBoo or Boo. We love our pet names for each other.

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  29. baby love i love you all baby my son is "beaver" and i have no idea why. lol indian names

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  30. I always called my son boo-boo from being months old as he was growing it stuck cos he was so clumsy and always getting boo-boos then as he was getting older it shortened to boo he answers to boo before he answers to his real name lol its stuck now forever and tbh boo in america is like ur first love and he is my first love i nevet knew u could love someone so much till i had him 😘💙

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Thanks for sharing!