Day 6: What’s in a Name?

In my family, I am the creator of people’s nicknames. I don’t know how some of them came to be because they have been around for so long. Some people don’t have nicknames at all. It just depends on when it hits me and the situation at the time.

My mom = Muddy – her name is Magda but that’s hard for little kids to pronounce, so I just told them to call her Muddy. It has stuck for over 20 years.

My dad = Love Gero – Greek people call their dads gero which means “old man”. One day I was talking to my dad and he voiced his hatred of someone calling him old man, so I told him well if I put a nice word in front of it it’s not so bad. I started calling him Love Gero, Love for short.

My Sister’s in-laws = Chief/Chiefena – her father-in-law would always say “Hey Chief!” so we started calling him Chief. His wife naturally had to be the feminine version of that so she is now referred to as “Chiefena”.

Christina = Jack – I call my younger sister Jack, short for Jackass. My mom shakes her head at this.

Kosta = Bob – my nephew Kosta goes by Bob. No idea how I gave him this name, but the poor kid thought that it was his middle name and even told hisfriends that it was his Name’s Day on the day we celebrate Bobbys. I had to remind him that his middle name is Andreas. He looked at me confused and asked, “The why do you guys call me Bob?” I had to be honest and replied, “Honestly, I have no idea! You used to pronounce your name Kota which is Greek for chicken, so I called you Chicken for awhile, but I really don’t know how it went from Chicken to Bob.” Sometimes I call him Bobby.

Andrew = Drookie – from a baby to today at 17, he is Drookie, Drooks, Dookity Doo – but all variations of Drookie.

Tessie = Squiddy – she started calling me Squiddy Mama (maybe trying to say squishy?) so now i call her my little Squid.

John (my cousin) = Blow Off – years ago, I called him. He didn’t pick up or text. When I saw him days later I asked him, “Why did you blow me off? Is your name Blow Off?” So decades later, I call him Blow or Blow Off.

Jimmy (my cousin, John’s brother) = Butchy/Butch – no clue. I don’t remember why I started calling him that, but my whole family calls him by this name (my sisters, my mom, all the kids).

Pete = Boy Mou – Mou is Greek for “mine” so it translates to My Boy.

Me = Kooks – I’m the crazy aunt! Kosta was the first grandkid/nephew, so when my sister would come visit us (my parents, my sister, and me) my dad would tell Kosta “Don’t love her. She’s crazy. She’s cuckoo.” So he started calling me Cuckoo. I cut it to Kooks. When they would leave I would have my sister open the back window by Kosta. I would hold his hand while he was strapped in his car seat. My sister would yell, “OK. Can you let go so I can leave?” I would have her drive away slowly, running alongside the car while holding his hand, then finally letting go and shouting down the streets of Darien, “I love you Kosta!” When the kids had fundraisers and I would order cookies or popcorn or wrapping paper I would write “Kooks” in the column labeled Name. The kids would say, “Kooks! You have to put your real name because it wants a first name AND a last name.” So I then created my last name, “Malone”. My nieces call me Kooks and my nephew calls me Kooks or just Malone.

All these names are created out of love 🤎🤎🤎