Try being a fat kid named Will in the 1990's. Yep, I got "Free Willy" more than a few times. Throughout football, it was Big Will or Iron Will. When I joined my fraternity, there were already 2 big guys named Will, so everyone just called me my full name "WillXXXXX". As college progressed, and tales of my shenanigans were told, the younger guys called me "The Living Legend", and to this day, they still call me "Legend". I must also say BlueDog is correct about Cajuns having to call people by nicknames. The director of F&B where I work is a Cajun from Louisiana, and always calls everyone by a nickname. He calls me either "Wild Will", "Wildness", or "Willerino"; calls his assistant "Langendorforino"; and calls one of our old cooks, Ms. Laverne, "Lavernius Coles". Good guy, but always has a nickname.
Even though my name doesn't really lend itself to nicknames (which makes people really upset, especially those types that always want to call you a one-syllable version of your name), I have many. My best friend and I have been calling each other Dud pretty much since we became friends in 2nd grade. Every always gets really disappointed at the back story. We met each other on the bus because we lived down the street from one another, and that year they rearranged the route in a stupid way and we had a ridiculously long ride to school. We'd pass the time with stupid games, and one of them was picking a word and going through the alphabet to see how many different words we could make with its ending. Since it was the 90s, we were calling each other Bud at that point, and one morning played the game with that. For a while we'd switch it up by calling each other any of the words that we came up with (Mud, Crud, Suds, etc) and for whatever reason, Dud was the one that stuck. My dad calls me Ducky, because when I started getting into old movies I really loved Marlene Dietrich's character in Witness for the Prosecution. My favorite line was, "You wanna kiss me, Ducky?" which she says (at first) in disguise in a Cockney accent. (This clip basically gives the whole movie away, so...spoiler alert...) The line starts around 1:50 I enjoyed strutting into a room and saying it like her really dramatically, and for some reason my dad found an 8 year old saying that very amusing. My best friend's mom calls me Busty. The explanation should be obvious. A family friend calls me C, and that's the only shortening of my name that I'll accept. My little cousin can't pronounce my name, so she calls me Lesteyloo.
So I have a new lab partner. It's a girl named Simin, but it's pronounced exactly the way that you think it is. Jesus fucking Christ.
I haven't met her personally, but some friends of mine swear they went to high school with a girl named Genuine Ho. Oh, Asians.
Speaking of Asians, when we lived in Indonesia one of my dad's guys met a girl, fell in love with her, divorced his wife and married the Indonesian lady. Her given first name(s)? Marvelous Jelly. She goes by M.J.
In high school my brother and I got the nicknames of Rod and Todd. Its funny and pretty harmless for the most part. For the last two years of high school most people assumed my real name was Todd and were surprised to hear me inform them otherwise.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&sugexp=pfwc&cp=7&gs_id=v&xhr=t&q=dr+b.j.+hardick&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=dr+b.j.&aq=0&aqi=g1g-v3&aql=f&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=82cae6ff03b5b4b&biw=1366&bih=651" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.google.ca/#hl=en&sugexp=pfwc ... 66&bih=651</a> He has a huge Billboard here in London.
Ugh, please don't stalk me on Facebook, but I'll stop all the silly little jokes. My first name is Jubilee. It's a family name, us Jamborees have used it for generations.
I've had a few through the years. When I lived in Peru and played for my district's soccer team I was called "chino" (asian) since apparently I have asian features, although I've never seen it. Of course, my dad calls my mom "china", so that didn't help matters. When I played football in HS I was usually called by my last name as they are won't to do. However, the nickname "saddles" came about since I have a strong preference for the ladies of caucasian descent, and during a trip to states we were watching Blazing Saddles in the hotel room when one of the cornerbacks turns and says "holy shit FreeCorps, that's you!" when Bart asks "Hey, where the white women at?". There was a park I played basketball at just about every day in college where everyone just knew me as "hustle". I think only two people knew my real name. It wasn't because I was good, but I've always loved the sport and would do my best to grab steals and loose balls and such. It was actually a really nice feeling since there were some really good players that would play there, especially during the summer, but I'd always get picked up right away because you always need someone who's willing to bust their ass on defense.
As for me, at the age of 4, I acquired the nickname Motor Mouth. I didn't really talk until then, but when I started, there was no off switch. After my brother and later, my nieces were born, I was Bocka. My mom calls me Beckers. If you call me Becky, I'll shank you.
Within my family I go by T, because when I was born my older brother couldn't say Tim. My friends mostly call me Timo (Tim-o not Team-o), because that was kind of my name in Spanish. Pretty simple stuff with me. One of my friends initials are B.J. so we call him beej. Other than that, it's mostly just shortening up last names.
Oh yeah? <a class="postlink" href="http://www.cpso.on.ca/docsearch/details.aspx?view=1&id=%2021469" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.cpso.on.ca/docsearch/details ... d=%2021469</a> How's that for a doctor's name. I once saw a prescription from a "Dr. Inch" whose prescription letterhead said it was a men's health clinic. We had a good laugh about that one.
In college, I was often referred to as Rasputin. I like to have fun with people who's last name is a color, or common word. I went to high school with Cameron Green. I asked him if that was the 79th color in the Crayola Crayon box. Another friend's last name is Berry. When his wife got pregnant, the possibilities for hilarity were endless. I still refer to their son as Dingle, much to his mother's dismay.
But seriously, folks... I was T.J. as a kid, as I'm named after my dad. My mom (and later my brother and sister) calling both of us Tom would have been a little confusing. I have kind of a sixth sense when some calls out "Tom", that tells me if they're talking to me. Usually it's someone at work who doesn't really know me yet. My freshman year of high school, someone who didn't like me dubbed me "alien"; supposedly, it had to do with my appearance. Sadly, this name didn't stick.
I've been referred to as every synonym for fat that there is. In addition to that, I was called Timothy Traddle (there was this kids show on TV at the time with a character named Timothy Traddle, who had many traits of a fatty - look it up on youtube) a LOT in junior school. I really hated that, since no-one calls me Timothy (except parents, sometimes) and because I already KNOW I suck at sports - no further need to rub it in. Another common one was Berry (my 3rd name was Bury and it's pronounced like the town in England NOT what you do with a dead person). From about 1997 onwards, I was Timmeh to many people (thank you South Park). The worst of the lot? Mad Dog, due to my temper. I could not stand that one. It was usually said like the guy in Back To The Future Part 3, too. Thankfully, all of those have died out, with the exception of Timbo - that's tolerable, I guess. Fuck. I've NEVER had an affectionate nickname - it's always been a disparaging one.