I love a good nickname. I’m not really sure why. I think it’s because I associate them with affection and a sense of belonging. For some reason my dad used to call my brother and me ‘Jim’ when we were growing up. He sometimes still does. I’d usually be ‘Little Jim’ and my brother ‘Big Jim’. My name as you know is Simon. ‘Jim’ was a nickname. I’m not sure where it came from and to be honest I don’t really mind. It’s a name I’ve become used to and enjoy.
I’ve always been keen to give nicknames to the people I love around me. However these nicknames have two conditions:
- They cannot have negative connotations.
- The person must like the nickname.
I go by the nickname ‘Cakey’, in case you were wondering. I arrived at this name not because of my love of cakes but because at the age of 9 I apparently misused the word to mean lucky. My friends thought this was funny and I’ve carried it ever since. So widely know is my nickname that some friends refer to Faith as ‘Fairy Cake’ and when Adlai was born, he became ‘Cupcake’. We are a family of cakes.
With the arrival of Koa though, I think we may have exhausted our cake-related nicknames. We have been calling him ‘Koa Bear’ mainly because it’s a bit like Koala Bear. It’s not a good reason but it’s a reason and I don’t think nicknames have to be logical. It’s caught on with Adlai, but has yet to break the walls of our family. It’s early days but I’m sure it’s got legs. Perhaps it will develop to just ‘Bear’ which is pretty cool for a boy. ‘Cakey’ come to think of it is less cool, but it’s too late for me.
