What's in a Nickname

Last week when Melissa sent out a tweet asking her Tweeps what nicknames they call their kiddos, I started thinking. I've had a nickname from the moment I entered the world. I was born two months premature and my parents thought that my name, Jennifer, was too long for such a tiny baby. They decided to call me Jenny instead and they have ever since. Once I started school, it got a little confusing. My family and friends still called me Jenny but my teachers always used the more formal Jennifer. Being one of 856,247 Jennifer's didn't help matters. I always ended up being Jennifer K. or worse, just my last name. In middle school, I tried going by Jenni with an "i" for a while but it never stuck. And in college, I actually spent two years living in a 4 bedroom apartment with 3 other Jennifer's. True story.

Needless to say, when it came time to name my own children, I was pretty set on giving them a name that didn't have an "automatic" nickname. You know, like Alexander or Christopher or Elizabeth. {All great names btw} Fast forward to this morning when I had a conversation with my toddler that went a little something like this.

Me: "Henry, did you put the whole role of toilet paper in the potty?"
Henry: Silence
Me: "Henry, is that where the toilet paper is supposed to go?"
Henry: Crickets chirping
Me: "Punky! Did you do this?!"
Henry: "Uh-uh." As he adamantly shakes his head no and points to the baby who is playing in her exersaucer. "Snick did it!"

Well at least we're getting somewhere. I've  realized that not only do I call all three of my kids nicknames, but they respond to them much quicker than they do their real names. How's that for irony?

People always called Anna, my oldest, Anna Banana of course. Well that turned in to Anna B. for short and then just B. 

{Image from bforbel}

When Henry was an infant I started calling him Pumpkin which became Punkin and then Punky. If that wasn't bad enough, I also called him Sweet Pea or Sweetie Petey which turned in to Petey. {He answers to both. I'm pretty sure we have thoroughly confused the little guy.} And then there's the baby. Caroline, for obvious reasons, got nicknamed Baby Girl. These days though, the whole family calls her Snick. As in short for Snickers. The girl seriously snorts and snickers all day, even in her sleep. Bless!

The old saying "Never say never" is true and this mama who swore she'd never use nicknames is eating her words.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on them.  Love 'em, hate them, avoid them like the plague or planned them?