Geeky Talks
Appropriate and not-so-much: Names we call our children
I taught preschool for a few years. Did you know this? No? I did. It was the year I switched from Elementary Ed and went for Computer Science. That’s how profound the experience was for me. P.R.O.F.O.U.N.D.
Anyway, so I had this kid in my class, this really cute little guy named Evan. Evan was 4 years old when we met. He had a tremendous crush on me. “Miss Leslliieee” he’d say, “I made you a necklace!” He once told his parents he was going to marry me. “No, son,” his dad said, “She doesn’t make enough money.” I loved his parents.
He was the kind of kid everyone wants to have in their class, the kind of kid everyone wants to be friends with and the kind of kid that would befriend the shyest girl in the class because she was always alone on the playground. The guy was a hero. His parents called him “Big E” because he was. He was a big little guy.
I always wanted to call my son Big ___. But instead, we had a “baby O”. Because? Big “O” just didn’t sound right.
Not that we don’t call our children completely innapropriate names out in public. There’s Doodiehead, pooper, stinker. Doodiehead is one of those things that flew out of my mouth one day and kept flying out of my mouth for three years.
We also use Sweetie, Buddy, Lil’ Man.
But my personal favorite? “MAN BABY!” It’s not “man baby” like a baby man, but more like MAN BABY! Just, exactly, like how you say “PIGS IN SPAACCEEE”. Try it out loud, go ahead, we won’t judge: MANN BABBYYY.
Cute, isn’t he?
So what names do you call your children? Aside from the ones when you’re at The Limit, of course. I think those are universal. Or is that just us? It’s just us, isn’t it?
(God I miss this show!)
(Piggssss Innnnn Spppaccceeeee)
(That’s just for her)
(And you)
(and you)
*Thanks to Christine for the awesome hat!!
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I miss the Muppets too. The names we call our children?
BOY, Buddy, sweetie, JoJo, Benny, Satan (kidding, we only do that behind his back)
My children get called “pork chop” a lot. We always get dirty looks from older ladies in the grocery store whenever we do.
Good lord he is beautiful.
I switched from being an Elementary Ed major the year I worked at a preschool as well. Maybe it should be a prerequisite.
Anyway - we have tons. He started as Shumai (as did Boo) and now he’s Bubby, Bubbaloo, Bubs (that’s big sister), chunk a monk, and Kuma (husband).
We have yet to shorten his actual name in any way.
Yes, me too (is this an odd trend?)—I was in the special education program and switched to computer science after my first teaching practicum. Well, technically I TRIED to switch to computer science but the dean informed me that girls don’t usually like computers that much. So I left and started my computer business.
We have WAY too many names for Braden.
Baby B, The Boy, B, Sweetie-Dee, Boogerdeenie, Poopteenie, Pooptee, Bubba, Boogerdeedoo… Yes, a lot of them revolve around Boogers and Poop. Chalk that one up as a summary of things around here….
Leslie started calling her “Bozette” (as in, the feminine form of Bozo) and it has totally stuck.
We commonly call Charlie “Little Man.” He loves it when we call him “stinky boy.” He finds the word “stinky” delightful and tries to say it in a very endearing toddler manner. For a few weeks before he was born and while he had parked himself under my ribs he was “lard ass”- it was a somewhat trying time for a pregnant mommy…
We call our oldest son Buddy and our youngest son Monster. My husband has several nicknames for the kids that I can’t keep track of. Our second girl is called Nanny-doots by her grandparents. I admit to using sickening sweet names for the children when not using their real names. Very out of character for me.
My son Joseph gets called Joe-my-Moe, Bugaboo, Monster, Jofus (what he used to call himself) and Toots.
My daughter Elle mostly gets called Enne (that’s how she pronounces her name) and Elle Belly. She’s so going to hate that when she’s older.
Jake we call “Jake The Snake”.
Drew we call “Drewby Doo”
Emily we call “Red Eye” because she cries all the time and her eyes are always red.
Molly we call “Pain In The Ass” ... oops, I mean, “Molly Bug”.
He is so freaking cute. I wish you lived closer we could set up a playdate and marvel over the cuteness of our kids. And we would know we were conceited just truthful, right? I call Bear by a lot of nicknames. Bear is obviously the #1 nickname as his name is not actually Bear. He is also sugarbooger, bug (pronouced Boog, short for SugarBooger), Baby Bear, Care Bear, Bear Bear, etc. I wrote a whole post on it awhile back.
I usually call Carter - Little Dude. Actually I think I call him that more then his real name.
Punkin, Punkin Head, Farty Britches Kid…FBK for short, Turd Monkey, Sweetie, Pretty Girl, Poopy Butt, MR. Poopy Butt, Stinky Butt…
I’m SUCH and awesome mom, as you can see.
Boogerbutt & Peque?o… even though I didn’t even know that was actually a word in Spanish…cause I never took Spanish…
Then Bones, which morphed from T-Bone
I’m always calling John something, other than his name. Things like ‘Tootie’, ‘Tooty-Too’, ‘Kooky’, whatever. It looks obnoxious when I type it, but it’s funny. Well, maybe not to anyone else.
Such a sweetie!
Peanut, lovey bun, babe, sweet boy, you name it!!!!
VERY cute!
I call Shark Boy: Buddy, Sugar, Darling, Sweet Boy, Dude
I call Honey Bear: Sweet Baby, Honey, Bear, Chub-Ball, Big Guy, and My-Angel-Straight-From-Heaven.
Our names for the various children are “Ofeeda”, “Miss stinky picklebottoms”, “Meemoo” and we have an “e” name and I call her EIEIO.
Wow. I really sound crazy.
He is a cutie. We call our baby boy:
Peanut
Peanut Butter
Sweet Potato
Monkey
Baby G
G-man
I’m sure there is more, but those pop in my head right away.
I think the world would be a much happier place if we could just watch “The Muppets” again.
I have a few nicknames for the girls but since Mom brain takes over so much, I end up forgetting their real names and so I end up using a collective name made up off all their names. Its the first syllable of each of their names smooshed into one word.
Very effective as all 3 will respond. LOL!!
holy gorgeous bundle of boy! wow, that kid’s beautiful!
we have so many names for our boys…we’ve actually got a list going. when it stops growing i’m going to be posting it because it’s just sheer insanity!
Zander mostly goes by ZANDER MAN (said a la MAN BABY!), Super Z, etc.
Logan, however, has many more nicknames than his brother because of his…healthy stature….like Hulk Logan, Thunder Thighs (seriously!), Chunky Monkey (not really original, but it fits), Hunk-a-Chunk, etc.
hmpf….i miss the muppets too…
First of all, both the baby and the hat are adorable.
We call our kids “V-meister” and “J-dog” in real life, as well as on the blog. (Those are not their given names, though.) The other terms of endearment we use are Lithuanian and they roughly translate to “little bean” and “pipsqueek.”
The constant ones for my daughter are Megahertz, Hertz, Megasaurus, MegaBoo, Meggie but if my hubby sees or hears a name that strikes him name he starts calling her that for a while because it gets her all cranky and he likes to irritate her. It’s McCrays at the moment. I used to call her Megan Megan Menachem Began, but stopped cuz no one ‘got’ it.
My Son is Zimmy, Zim, ZimBaDaBim, Bim, BimBim, Dim, Jimmy Joe, Buddy, Boog (like booger), or BoogieFace.
My parents call me: B (or Be), HB, Beanie Barbum, Beanie Barbabe, My BABY girl.
I wonder if I can get them to stop some 20 something years later.
Often its something like Cl-A-Lu errr KID. Because I never get their names right the 1st time. Or the 2nd. All 3 are called The Punks individually they are Punk or Punky. This is short for the Pumpkin… not the Hoodlum. Other times it’s Buddy, Bud, Short Stuff, Goose…
I want you to find Evan’s parents and share these reflections with them. As a parent how I meaningful that would be. That was a thought not a directive
For the girl child. her nicknames are sweetie pie, pumpkin, baby girl, but mostly baby doll.
for the boy child. his nicknames are coup, Cooperman, and little bugger.
But the most commonly used nickname in this house that goes for both kids is little Shit…I mean little stinker…lol
PIIIIGGGSSS IINNN SPPPPAAACCE!
I have such a crush on Mrs. Flinger. I want to marry her. How much money do you think she makes now?
We have SO many names for our kids… LOL! It all depends on the mood. We do use Buddy a lot, Lil Man, Matt Matt, Cay, Princess, and so forth.
How ‘bout Bobbaloo, Stinkwad, Princess Butt Cheeks, Bub, Stinker Pete….?
MAN BABY is a little darlin’ Leslie!
Ben is usually “Bug”, “Ben-Ben” (we think outside the box over here), “Bugalug”, or on rare occasion, “Banjo”. And “Tootermonkey” if he’s afflicted with gas…which he almost constantly is…that’s a little boy for ya! Just wait!
Ella is “Elle”, “Ella-bee”, “Bee”, “Missy”, “Stinky” (not gas-related though…) and I think that’s it…
Cute! I like MAN BABY!! One day he will be a MAN MAN! What patience to have taught pre-school! WOW!
Tree Faerie goes by Tree Faerie (of course), Monkey Girl, Tooters, and Demon Child. Yeah, I get glares from little old ladies in the grocery store for that one.
And why do people find Monkey and Monkey Girl offensive???
Booger, Booger-brain, Booger-butt, Booger-eater, Stinker, Stinkerbelle, Stinkerdoodle, Buttnugget (although that one is usually not to their faces!), Brat, Princess, Your Highness, Demon Baby, The Devil, Spawn of the Devil, Demon Spawn, Rosemary’s Baby…
Uh…I could totally keep going with this, but I’m afraid I’ve already said too much and you’ve lost respect for me now!
I missed reading your posts. I disappeared after #3 was born, but I’m back. And to a picture of your adorable baby AND the Muppets, no less. I burned children CDs as gifts for my daughter’s birthday party guests, and included Rainbow Connection by Kermit. My children had never heard it, but it had so much sentimental meaning for me. I you-tubed the video for them, and we watched Kermit singing with his banjo as I got weepy. It’s real, man.
Wynter = Dub (for the initial of her first name)
Julian = JayBoy
The big one is Claire Bear, or just Bear.
The little one? so far, Mr. Man, buddy and Mr. Poopypants.
I call both my children nicknames far more than their actual names. Makes me wonder why we think so long and hard about what to put on their official birth certificates!
Somehow (I have NO idea) I started calling my son “b-ou-gs”, like, if you took off the “s” and added “ger”, I would be calling him the equivalent what one takes out of their, ah, nose.
Yikes.
My girl got off easy; she was called “gu-gu-pies”. “gu” as in “figure”.
And to think I just came up with these names without thinking and I was NOT on meds in those years!
oh, the cuteness!
I loved teaching kids in a residential facility - no parents!
My oldest has the nickname Bug. or Buggy. middle is “Belly”, but that’s from her name. Youngest is “Mina”, but also from her name - in fact, she nicknamed herself. Before that she was Meelie.
we’ve been asked by them not to use nicknames in public.
Ugh. I have an El-ed degree. Ugh.
Your nicknames are mild compared to mine. Most days Gavin is Jerk-off. Used in a sentence its like “Gavin stop being a Jerk-off” “Come here and get in time out Jerk-off”. Keaton is Tardo. Together they make up the nickname “assholes”. I always greet John after work with “your kids have been assholes today”.
oh man, i think he looks just like you. he’s so adorable.
Cute picture!
I called my son “squiggle-butt” at someone’s house the other day and they nearly fell down laughing. But you know how babies run…kinda wild like with their little butts wiggling!
My daughter thinks her name is Muffin. She will also (sometimes) respond to chooch, peanut and bubs.
My son, Toby, gets called:
Tobes
Toblerone
Tobi Wan Kenobi
Toby Toes
To Jo
Joe Joe (middle name is Joseph)
Smokey Joe
Sir Poops-a-lot
Chubba
Chubbykneezer Fudge
and
“This Thing” as in “Can you take This Thing back to his own bed?” or “Can you change This Thing’s diaper?”
Our older son, Noah, gets called Noah Balboa and Sugar Bean. I’m not sure why he got off the nickname hook so easily…
Senor Whineyface.
Let’s see, I called my son so many nicknames that at age four he turned to me and said, “Mom, I don’t want to be Little Toot any more. I just want to be Scooter.” He’s 16 now.
I searched through your comments to see if this had been mentioned before, but I don’t think it has. All my kids go my “noodles.” As in, “You noodles need to stop whining or your going to bed.” I’ve used it so often at home that now it’s common place in public too. It seems so normal to me that it always surprises me when people make a comment about it.
Aww! Look at that squishy Baby O!! Glad you’re liking the hat!
Late to the name game here…. but Travis is “Travers”, “Traverlicious”, “T-Dawg”, “Ball Buster”(both of those by daddy), “The Boy”, “Mr. Cakes”, “Punky Brewster”,“Mini-Man”, “Butt-munchkin” and a zillion others.
I think he’ll be starting pre-school thinking his name is “Dammit Travis” - cause that’s what I have been saying most lately. LOL!
~Christine
hm,, we have lots of names… monkey, monks, moosey, shea-moose, bunks, bunky, bunny, honey bunny, buggy, boogs, crankypants, stinkasaurus, buds, buddy, lil buddy, big buddy, big man, little man, sir poopsalot, and that’s all I got off the top of my head. It’s a wonder they know their real names.