Being Australian, I think I'm supposed to be genetically programmed to call everyone by a shortened version of their actual name. I've always been a bit uncomfortable with jumping into the nickname pool with people I don't know very well (as in when you meet someone and they say "Call me JayJay! Everyone does!") but in general I thoroughly approve. I'm not really sure, though, what I'm supposed to do about all these babies I've been meeting lately. The vast bulk of the parents seem to call their new babies by their full names, rarely using any sort of nickname. It seems a bit crazy to call these tiny funny little people long, serious names (Benjamin? The name's longer than the baby is!), but everyone seems to and I rarely hear shorter versions being bandied about. I've even heard people say that they don't like it when babies are referred to by too many different names because they find it confusing and they imagine the babies must too. Hmm.
Fortunately this isn't a problem that keeps me up at night, and I can cope with the drama of calling children (or anyone!) by their full name if I feel I have to. Rest assured, though, that, should you happen to meet my daughter, she has a million nicknames, we rarely use her actual name, and that you can call her practically anything you want. No, Nonie, Noé, N, Nonifer, None (rhymes with "zone"), any one of a squillion embarrassing babyish nicknames with "muffin" and "pudding" and other dessert items in them. Even the full Noémie if you want to be original.
She doesn't seem to be suffering any sort of crisis of identity yet.
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... or how to waste time in the land of stupid laundry
2 comments:
We've done that to all of your children. Ewan has been through Luland, Louis, Lewisham and has ended up with two nicknames, The Doctor (nothing to do with Doctor Who) and Looly. My brother-in-law's name was Matthew but Craig only ever called him Barn. I think it's a rite of passage that uptight parents are robbing from their lovely little sweetcheek babes.
We've been trying out Dr No (as in James Bond) lately, but "The No" seems to be sticking much more.
Looly? That's wacky.
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