A Rose By Any Other Name…
My daughter is an instinctive renamer. For instance, she has had enough bad experiences with people named Chris, that if she meets a person by that name who she likes, she will give them another moniker whether they want it or not. And, oddly enough, they never seem to mind. She informed the boy who is (apparently) going to grow up to be her butler that his name is now Barnaby. She calls her trumpet Maurice. And when there were too many girls named Katie in her theater class last spring, she instantly told her professor to, “Call me Stella.”
I find this trait in her immensely hilarious and charming. But maybe that’s because she’s never pulled that stunt on me! So what do you think, should we try to rename the world? Surely we have friends, siblings, co-workers whose names totally do not fit their personalities. I, for one, have never quite felt like a Jennifer. So if you want to try out a new on me, even, go for it. This should be interesting!
This entry was posted on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 7:44 am and is filed under Musings . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 26th, 2010 at 10:30 am
My Best friend -who is also a big fan of Jaz by the way- decided Caitlin was to common and to proper so she dubbed me officially as Kit-Kat. I loved it from the beginning and I love her for giving it to me. No one ever gave me a nick-name before that and to me that shows just how much she loves me too.
July 26th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
…….. I lived in Australia during High-School…..and my Name is quite wierd…so my class mates and band mates and my friends… they started calling me German… I dont reaaally understand why…but It stuck..and its been on my BandJersey…my senior Jersey and its my username for everything…. my best friend even has my mobile nr. saved under German……. I dont mind them calling me that and I found that after five years….you get used to anything………………..
July 26th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
I have nicknames but no one’s ever called me anything but my name…well my one friend started calling me Chicken Nugget but it didn’t stick that much. I’ve never felt like a “Melanie” but I don’t really know what I would name myself given the choice.
July 26th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
My brother’s nickname is Kalimero, so I feminized it as Kalimera. My friends said that it was too long and they shortcut it as Kali or Kay.
I remember that it means hello in Greek, even if it was not wanted.
July 26th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Jen I think you should follow Phoebes example and go for something exotic like princess Consuela or something!
Never really had a weird nickname, most people just call me Soph! I do have a friend who calls me chicken (who knows why) and in primary school i did have a friend who called me soapy bubbles but thank the lord that never stuck!
July 26th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
I have a little dog whose nickname is Snackfood. We call her this because despite the fact that she is a Chihuahua she loves to try and befriend HUGE dogs. Unfortunately, the whole family thinks one day a big dog is going to think she looks really yummy.
July 26th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I had a ton of nicknames as kid and my family still calls me by them at times: squeekers (that one was from my dad), Chelseybelle (mom I think, lol), Red (my cousin since I’m a red head and now to the kids in the family I’m auntie Red), Bud (which my boyfriend gave me) and probably my favorite is MISO which my grandma came up with to mean my speical one. lol
July 26th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
My mom calls me “B” because when I was little I used to run around “buzzing” like a bee. My dad calls me “Cactus” because one day when I was 15 or so I went through the very satisfying process of trying to pop every joint in my body while I was watching tv with my dad. After I was done, my dad was giving me “the look”. I could tell my dad was thinking, “Good Lord, I’ve raised a trucker!” I just grinned and said, “Yup! I’m one delicate flower!” My dad just snorted and said “Yeah, if that flower is part of a big cactus!”
At work I’m Ms.B, my friends call me a slew of things from shady B to Nic to Chicky Nickidee. Lol!
July 27th, 2010 at 2:26 am
Everyone calls me Deenie – I don’t even remember who came up with it! I’m pretty sure hardly any of my friends know my real name (Geraldine), which is kinda cool. Successful rename, I think yes!
But if you hat to change it, go for something like Natalie or Nicole. Something with an ‘N’.
I love re-naming people too – it seems to me that a name like Sara is for short, blonde, happy people, and Felicity would suit a tall red-head. Which makes it a wee bit confusing when I’m trying to remember the names of people I just met, because I end up calling them by my name for them instead.
Jen, I think your name really suits you
Wow, that sounds really weird when I read it back…
July 27th, 2010 at 4:37 am
One of my best friends insists on calling me Teaface – supposedly because I look like a girl off a tea advert.
I decided that she also needed a nickname so, as she is freakishly tall, I decided to call her Leprechaun.
I’m also one of those people who names random inanimate objects, and have successfully renamed all of the family pets.
July 27th, 2010 at 6:53 am
my brother comes up with nicknames for me and my two sisters: Stink, Squelch and Screamer. I’m Screamer. Im also known as no thank you having since I have a problem saying thank you to my sister
July 27th, 2010 at 7:50 am
My friend likes to watch people she finds somehow interesting (I´m sure a lot of people does this too, so it wouldn´t be so weird)and then she tends to show them to the rest of us so we can keep track of them as well
but we have a friend who is unable to notice the “subjects” wneh you just try to show them in a subtle way, so we made up a lot of nicknames over the years 
F.e. one of the guys she was a bit fond of we renamed as “bratwurst”, and although we know his real name we keep calling him that ( although he doesn´t know)whenever we mention him..
We renamed lots of others according to colours they usually wear, like “the little pink one” and my friend was always nervous when the girl wore some other colours (yeah, I know, she´s a bit paranoid). And we have made up tons of others..
As for me, our German teacher always called me Veronika instead of Lenka, so this friend often calls me that, but I like both the names so it´s ok
July 27th, 2010 at 9:00 am
A guy I went to school with by the name of Thad had a strange resemblance to Kirk from Gilmore Girls. My friends and I all started calling him Kirk which drove him crazy because we wouldn’t tell him why. To this day he still has no clue why we called him that. As for me my friend Dustin (Double D) out of the blue one day started calling me Randyman. I asked him why Randyman, and he said he just thought it would be funny. Even now when I see him he bust out Randyman in this crazy voice he likes to use. I’ve had other nicknames, but that seems to be the one that has stuck.
July 27th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
I love giving nicknames but the one I fall back on most is Hunny, I know, not very original but I use it mostly on children that I care about as for me, My Dad has always called me Puddles after Jemima Puddleduck, I was a crazy Beatrix Potter fan when I was little.
July 27th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
First let me start by fessing up that Lola d/Lola de is not my real name…she’s the name I use 4 my alter ego, or as writers go my “none de plume”. Being & working in an artistic background I see & know many people who use different names. Show of hands (let’s be honest) who hasn’t used or given a different name when they’ve been at a bar??? Let’s face it we all use different names… anyone have an avatar on a website??? I like to think it’s just another way of being distinctive or creative. (As long as it’s not 4 forging cheques or it doesn’t hurt anyone else). I like to think Jennifer is secretly Jaz…like Bruce Wayne is Batman, Clark Kent is Superman. :}
July 27th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
I love to give names to things! My car, my instruments, other peoples cars, my computer, my friends ponytail, and my friends too. It’s way more fun calling things by names you give them than calling them what they actually are.
July 27th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
I’m acutually a Penelope, but get called Penny or Pen.
Our cat is Edmund after Sir Edmund Hillary, but is known as Eddy Pest, or EP
We call the station wagon Ethel the Behemoth, because she handles like a pregnant hippo.
July 28th, 2010 at 6:34 am
I was adopted as an infant, but found my non-identifying information a few years ago. I was apparently named Miranda Honor for the first four weeks of my life. I’m definitely NOT a Miranda, but it’s the name I give out to people I don’t want to contact me
As a fellow Jennifer, I’ve had too many experiences with multiple Jennifers in my life – there were SEVEN on my floor at university alone. I’ve shortened it to Jenn, and that’s seemed to stick. Only my nearest and dearest get to call me Jenny anymore … it’s just not who I am.
July 28th, 2010 at 10:00 am
We once had two bunnies named Floppsy and Bunbun who were renamed Pie-crust and Casserole, and a fish named Findus, followed by Findus Too.
They were all originally named with perfectly ordinary names, and Gothson’s mates tend to call him Mac, which also bears no relation to his actual name, and I get called McMam quite a lot by them too.
My kids are Gothson, no2 son, the Roving Pink Marshmallow of Havoc, Micky-Dripping and The Baby who has now graduated to Zedfer as he will be four this year and just isn’t a baby any more
July 28th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
I agree, Caitlin, that is absolutely adorable!
LOL, Farina! That’s great!
Given the choice between Chicken Nugget and Melanie…I’d definitely choose your given name!
Very cool, Kalimera!
Oooh, nice, Sophie. I’ve been playing around with pen-names (just in case I need one) and Consuela sounds fun!
Awesome story, Kate!
When I was little my dad called me Choo-Choo, Chelsey. I’m grateful that one fell by the wayside!
Love it, Nicole!
Absolutely true, Deenie!
You go, Emily!
LOL, maureen!
Bratwurst may be the perfect nickname, Lenka. I love it!
Interesting, Miranda. Too fun to drive other people batty, dontcha think?
We recently had a waitress who kept calling us all Sweetie, Gemma. It began to get on my nerves, probably because I’m not. We still tipped her well!
I love the name, though, Lola. Well chosen!
Okay, fess up, Kalea. What is your car’s name?
LOL, Penny! I would love to see your Ethel trundle down the road!
Isn’t that so true, Photogirl? Our name shouldn’t be quite so common. Maybe if we spelled it differently?
I adore your children, Rowena, and all because you’ve given them such interesting names!
July 29th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
OOoo right – in that case…
since it is now the 6 weeks school summer holidays here… Aunty Jennifer 
I shall send the 4 who are still at home to stay with you. Send them back on September 3rd ready for school lol 
And you thought Vampires and Werewolves and Witches Covens were tough…. you haven’t met my 3 year old!
July 29th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
My family calls me Erla, I tried for something exotic like Rodrigo but it just wouldn’t stick.
Maybe you should really mix it up and try Steve.
Or you could try Kjennifer and introduce yourself like this:
“Hi I’m Jennifer, Jennifer with a K.”
August 2nd, 2010 at 3:02 pm
LOL, Rowena! I’ll be watching for the UPS truck!
August 4th, 2010 at 12:35 am
My mom is so horrible with remembering other people’s names that she renames them all and she doesn’t care if you correct her she’ll keep using the one she assigned you. All of my best friends have had new names from her until they’ve been around long enough my mom could have claimed them as a dependent on her taxes
August 11th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Hmmm..my first name is Amie. Growing up there weren’t to many girls with my name, but if there were, it was spelled Amy and we were ALWAYS in the same classes. As for Nicknames – my middle name is Elizabeth. My family and friends call me Liz or Lizzie. If I went out somewhere and didn’t want to give my real name I was always “Eli”. My youngest daughter,who is two, I named Hailey. But it now seems that’s an extremly popular name. I’m determined not to have her grow up being called “Hailey T.” so we’ve been working on her leaning to go by her middle name “Reiss”. It’s really confusing to a two year old.
August 18th, 2010 at 12:48 am
My best friend and I have the same name. It’s fun at times and we have a good laugh about it, but sometimes it’s annoying because we never know who’s talking to us and since we are always hanging out together, it is a common occurrence. I call her whatever comes to mind that day, so I rename her every day
August 30th, 2010 at 11:04 am
My name is Katherine, shortened to Katie or Kate , so another common name!
At school I got given 2 nicknames, the first one being Strid, after a kids tv character who has a flying banana, just because the character has big eyes and so do I.
The second one I had at school was Skad which came from walking into a room with friends and my friend Matt aka Jiz, tried to shout Strid, Katie and Ad all a once, and being the first person out of the door, that’s been what he’s called me ever since!!!