Name Game

I stood in front of the office coffee pots this morning wondering, "Leaded or Unleaded?" One is going to make me smoke more. But by God, I'll be chipper doing it! I'm trying to be good though. Or maybe "better" is a more reasonable term? I only smoked ten cancer sticks yesterday, a definite improvement from my usual pack-a-day habit. Now I'm sitting at my desk wondering if I can manage to take a nap with my eyes open and my fingers still typing. That's where my head is at. Pardon me if I ramble around my topic....

I was born before the time when ultra sounds became a normal pregnancy procedure. People didn't find out the sex of their baby unless there was a problem. With only her own feelings to go by, my Mom felt certain she was going to have a boy. I was to be named Christopher. Everyone was surprised when I arrived without the necessary equipment, but they were obviously happy just the same. I was named Cristen instead.

My last name, being Italian, has as many letters and doubles in it as Mississippi. Can you imagine the trouble I had learning how to spell that?! I loved my name though. It was unique. The only time it became an annoyance was when everyone else paraded around with store-bought personalized keychains, pencils, and shirts. You can't find "Cristen" anywhere. Believe me, I've looked. Perhaps it's for this reason (the pride I had in my name) that being given nicknames was so odd. Over the years I've had dozens. I used to try and curb them. I don't anymore. I find it endearing. Here are a few of my favorites:

*Peaches: When I was little my Dad could only get me to eat canned peaches and McDonald's sausage. I'm glad he chose the nickname "Peaches" over "Sausage" as it quickly stuck with his side of the family. Can you imagine being called "Sausage?" Phew... Talk about giving someone a complex.

*Angel: This nickname does NOT derive from those lovely winged creatures. No, I'm not that lucky. This nickname comes from a fish. At my last job I worked in a cubicle farm. There were five desks all linked together, each divided by a totally pointless cardboard wall. Someone in the desk behind me brought fish in for lunch and thoughtlessly left it in their trash can to rot. At a point where I was working alone, my boss strolled in and stopped to sniff the air. He scrunched up his nose and called out to me, "Dear God! New perfume?" From that point on he called me "Angel Fish." He mercifully changed it to "Angel" soon after.

*Kiki-Moo or Mooki: I used to watch after a good friend's niece. She was a lovely little girl, impressionable and at the age where she was beginning to talk. One of my favorite games to play with her was naming and making the noises of farm animals. She especially loved my rendition of the cow. It wasn't long until she began calling me "Moo." It was later changed to "Kiki-Moo" and/or "Mooki", as Kiki was the nickname of her aunt who shared the same name as me. I get teary eyed every time I picture her running from the house with her arms spread wide screaming, "Mooooooo!"

My Mom used to work at a children's dental practice. Once a month they would have, "Welfare Day" where they would do dental work for free to the people too poor to pay. There are a million horror stories I could share with you about babies with rotting teeth and no adult ones to replace them. But I'm not here to depress. There is a point in mentioning this. My Mom also tells of the creativeness in which some of these people named their children. Here are a couple that I've used as bar conversation:

*A man by the name of Mr. Hogg had twin daughters. He named them Ima and Ura. I would have much rather been Ura.

*A woman named her twin boys Orangejello and Lemonjello after the cravings she had while carrying them.

((Edit: It has been brought to my attention that my Mom is evidently a wicked little jokester and that the above two accounts cannot be believed. We won't tell her that I was stupid enough to fall for it though lol... Thank you Mrs Harridan for the link to Snopes. You rock!))

Now it's your turn. What nicknames do you have and why? Know anyone with an odd name?