A Rose by any other Name

One of the most agonizing decisions to make when you are expecting is what to name that little person growing inside of you. When we got pregnant we immediately had a boys name agreed on. (I can tell you all now because we are over the name). So if The Phi would have been a boy you would be reading about the adventures of Diego, but the clothes would probably have been the same. One day I swear I will stop dressing her like a boy. But when it came to a girls name it was mission impossible. We went over many many names until I completely gave up and left the job to PR Dad. He could have named her Ethel for all I cared. No offense to any Ethel's out there. I just didn't want the responsibility. So when this little girl grows up hating her name i can say, Go bitch to your Dad, he named you! Fortunately PR Dad come up with a good name but in the end it didn't matter because we never call her by this name. In fact if you hang out with my family you may never know our real names because of all the nicknames we use.

For example:

My middle is called Ouie...... her real name is Carissa
My little sister is called Tweeters..... her real name is Mercy
My Dad goes by Pops, Blu or Cinco...his real name is Felix
I am called Cooties, Feez, Babe..... my real name is Elissa
My niece is called The Chone.....her real name is Angelica
My god-daughter is Mama Llama or Llama for Obama..... her name is Liliana
My nephew is Poparah or Pa..... his real name is Felix
And then of course there is Sun Block Ocho or The Phi.... her real name..... Sophia

I am on this topic because one of my BFF's is pregnant and just found out that she is having a boy. We have been exchanging names for weeks now and she has some pretty strict criteria for a name:

• It must be not too common, but not too strange
• It must go with the middle name Philip and sound good with the last name
• It should have a latin sound to it, but not too much
• It cannot be the same as someone in her or his family already
• It cannot have a shortened version that ends in a 'y'

I know another mission impossible right! But what I have concluded is that the name really isn't all that important because from almost the moment he is born he will get a nickname, Whether it be bean, or peanut, or smoochie. She will call him by a nickname. And that nickname will evolve. I remember when The Phi was born I called her "face" for awhile. I think it started with sweet face and then shortened to just face. Some how we landed on "The Phi" and that has stuck for a few years. And then of course a few weeks ago she chose her own nickname of Sunblock Ocho. So Sam, I know you are stressing out, but really its not all that important.

So what kind of nicknames do you have or call people??