It's All in a Name...

Hi my name is Katie Cox and this is my husband Justin and we are Nicknamers!

Welcome, Katie! Welcome, Justin!

Thank you! It really is good to be here! 

Katie, why don't you start... tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming a nicknamer.

Right... my journey... well, I suppose like anyone who has an addiction, no matter what it is, my tendency to nickname people, animals and inanimate objects stems from a childhood of nickname terror. I was the victim of two very cruel cousins, who decided, Lord only knows why, that I should be nicknamed "Machadie." I think we were 4 or 5 when it all started. I have vivid memories of playing on the swing set in my Grandmother's backyard and them saying, "Come on, Machadie, slide...hurry Machadie!" I didn't understand WHY they were calling me that. I don't know why it bothered me so much but it did. I HATED the name or nickname as it was, Machadie. So much so that I would cry... they would say it and say it and I would lose it... 

I was a sensitive child and I guess I still am a sensitive soul in many ways, but eventually my sensitivities gave way and I could accept Machadie as my nickname. It wasn't easy mind you, I still hated the sound of the name, but I was able to more gracefully roll with the punches that the name hurled in my direction. In fact, the back of my Baylor Line jersey my freshman year read "Chadie," a shorter version of the loathed nickname. So clearly I learned to not only tolerate it, but even embrace it.

I sincerely believe the trauma I suffered as a mere child led me to become the nicknamer I am today and the reason why I am here.

Being a nicknamer can tend to put you out on an island. Like, I think I was the only one of my friends to call my dad "Homes," short for Homie, like rollin' with my homies. I called him this without fail or falter for at least two years of my life and I am sure you'd be shocked to know that these two years were in my teens! I was also one of the few people I knew who chose a nickname for her brother that went from the Italian version of his name to a watered down, baby-babble version said, Da-Da-Wa. To this day, Da-Da-Wa is still used.

So being out on the nicknaming island was a little lonely, but God had a plan! He always does doesn't He? He found me a nicknamer and I fell in love with him. Long before Justin and I ever took the first step into formal courtship he nicknamed me... I should have known then... he was my one true love. He called me Katie EEEEEEEE-vans! He yelled it! With his hands spread over his face! Loudly... very loudly! Every time he saw me. It later went from Katie EEEEEE-vans to just EEEE-vans! 

So I definitely knew what I was getting into when we started dating. I knew I was going to begin spending the majority of my time with someone who would enable my nicknaming habits and not only would he enable me and my habits but also encourage and enhance them. 

The list is long... one nickname after the other, after the other, until we pared it down to one that was good enough to STICK, forever... or at least for the last 6 years... and for us that's a record thus far.

It started with "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" trying to make the bridge from friendship to dating was a little wearisome so clearly we must have thought it helped to state the obvious!

Then Justin called me "boss." And I called him, "stop that, I don't like being called boss." He was figuring out how to play nice and was naive to the fact that "boss" was actually very fitting for me a lot of times. I had lots to learn.

Then we took it to the next level when things got a bit more serious. We swapped the traditional "honey" for "Hoony." 

And then because everything is better in its plural form it evolved to "hoonies" which was later shortened and lengthened to "Hoons Da Woons," which often led to "Hoonies of All Da Woonies." Embarrassing? Yes! But I'm trying to stay true to the story.

When we said "I do" it went to just "Hoons!" And occasionally like when a teenager switches from Mom or Dad to Mommy or Daddy, so they can be sweetly persuasive, we extend "Hoons" back to "Hoonies."

So that brings us to Caden! Sweet, precious Caden didn't have a prayer, he really didn't! I am not even sure why we put so much thought into his name, it's not like we'd ever call him that! Although we both believe that every good nickname MUST have an excellent starting point and Caden was just that.

Poor, poor Caden has gone through several rounds of names in his short 15 months of life, but for the past few months we've found one that sticks. Only a few people have ever heard us use it though and I haven't used it on the blog because I knew it would need backing and explaining and I thought people needed to better understand our little nicknaming problem in order to accept Caden's nickname. So I saved this post for the "outting" of his nickname. 

It started with Cade-man, then THE Cade-man, then it evolved into THE CHade-man and now more simply...

THE CHADE!

Of course there were sprinklings of the traditional nicknames like Caden-bear, Caden-waden, Squirmy Worm and more...

So back to The Chade! The Chade! Occasionally, we shortened it to Chade... but most often it is THE CHADE! Oh, what have we done! And I'm afraid there is no turning back... it sticks so well that it's stuck! 

So now we're outted and can freely use the nickname of choice for our lil man... so don't be afraid, turned-off, shocked and/or ashamed when you read it, hear it or even begin to say it yourself. It's all part of the natural evolution of a name... no matter how lovely or not so lovely the name might be to those who hear it. 

It's the way we nicknamers do business! And maybe, just maybe... with help and love and support we'll turn this thing around! And maybe, just maybe our next child might live nickname free... or maybe not...

Because...

To us...

It's ALL in a (nick)name!!