What's in a nickname?

[kellinator]

I've been reading everyone's "If you know me as" memes with great interest... and not a little twinge of envy. You see, I've never been one of those people that collects nicknames from everyone they know. I'm just Kelly. Even to my family. In middle school my then-best friend and I tried to give each other nicknames, but they never stuck. Probably because you can't just "give" someone a nickname. It has to be organic. Which was probably part of the reason for this exchange a few years ago:

Me: Why don't you give me a pet name?
Then-boyfriend: Like what? "Bitch"?

Part of the reason I picked "kellinator" as my LJ username was because my old roommates dubbed me that and I was so pleased to have finally been given a nickname. Then again, it's still pretty obvious what my real name is. I mean, the first three times I met wandergirl I had to keep asking her "Wandergirl, what's your real name again?" and the first time jonnyx and I hung out in person, I actually asked him ahead of time what he wanted me to call him.

So... yeah. Um. Oh darn, this is going to be one of those entries that just peters out with no real point or conclusion...

Well, scarcrest does call me Snarkums.

Comments

Re: Nicknames

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

I sometimes think of you fondly as "A N" for Adorably Neurotic. Personally, I do think the parts of your personality that you let shine through here -are- adorable while at the same time giving suggestions of the second part of your name.

Kell also works. I just already have six people named Kelley (or Kelly) locally, so it gets very confusing.