What’s In A (Nick) Name?

So the other day while I was talking with the vet about Trouble, I referred to her (the cat, not the vet) as “Trudy”. Momentarily confused, the vet said, “Oh … I thought her name was Trouble?” I told the vet that “Trudy” was one of Trouble’s nicknames, and we went on with our conversation. That got me thinking, though, about just how many nicknames our animals have, and whether or not other people’s pets have nicknames too.

Anyway, just to prevent any future confusion, here are all of the various names by which we might refer to our various pets, along with etymology (if both non-obvious and available) and use-case scenarios.

REAL NAME:

Adrian’s Velvet Charmer (AKA Tucker)

NICKNAMES:

• Tuckito
• Tuckeet (almost always used to signify that he’ll be getting food or some other goodie, and therefore, always evoking a snappy response)
• Tuck (usually used when he’s in trouble [i.e., often])
• Roo (after his bark; also we think he looks a little bit like Roo from Winnie The Pooh. Used more often than his real name.)
• Rooster (also used more often than his real name)
• Little Man
• Mister or Little Mister
• Mr. Cuddle-Pup
• Mr. Annoying Man (used mostly, but not exclusively, by Dada)
• Monkey or Monkey-Man or Mr. Monkey-Man
• Punkin (corruption of “Pumpkin” [Tucker was born on Halloween])
• Munkin (combination of “Monkey” and “Punkin”)
• Munkin-Punkin (because it rhymes; often used in the context of a variant of the Oompa-Loompa song, i.e., “Munkin Punkin Munkedy-Doo, I have a little vizsla named Roo; Munkin-Punkin Munkedy-Dee, he has a sister, her name’s Trixie”)
• Punkie or Punk-Punk
• Goofball or Goofy-Goof-Boy (used by Dada, but never by Mama)
• Thumper (from his tail thumping against the wall when he wags it)
• Pickle (he likes to eat pickles; plus Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite films and “Pickle” is the name by which Shaun’s mother refers to him)
• Mr. Frito Feet (obvious derivation; used when he is sleepy)
• Trash Hound (no explanation needed …)
• The Boy

REAL NAME:

Trixie

NICKNAMES:

• Trixie-Doodles (probably from the snack food Dipsy Doodles, although we never eat those)
• Doodles
• Doods (used more often than her real name; those not in the know sometimes mistake it for “dudes” and think we’re referring to all the dogs collectively)
• Doodlebug
• Doodlemeyer (from the scene where Alec Baldwin’s character in Beetlejuice mistakenly refers to Michael Keaton’s character as “that guy, Beetlemeyer”)
• Doodlemeyer-Furcolator (from a fictional invention, the “Hunkelmeyer-Furcolator”, created by my friend Chris; I have never been quite sure what this device is supposed to do, or even if it’s an actual device or something else, like a fictitious physics constant or something)
• Woolly Girl
• Bleah-Bleah (from a noise she makes when she’s trying to get the other dogs to play)
• The Girl (not to be confused with that other The Girl)

REAL NAME:

Trouble

NICKNAMES:

• Trubs
• Trudy (used more often than her real name)
• Tradoo
• Trudinkydoo
• Twitch (her tail twitches when she’s annoyed [i.e., constantly])
• Miss Bushytail (her tail often puffs out like a pipe cleaner when something startles her)
• Baroo (after a noise she makes when she wants attention)
• Winky-Blinky
• Kitty (natch)

REAL NAME:

Pooh Bear (deceased)

NICKNAMES:

• Pooh (used more often than her full name)
• Poohbie
• Padoo
• Puffball
• Meh (that’s what her meow sounded like)
• Kay-Kay or Kay-Kay-Pooh (I have no idea where this came from)
• Puddlegulp (after one of the Frogs of Central Park; I have no idea how it got associated with the cat. Only used by Dada.)
• Floyd (after the robot from the old Infocom game Planetfall; upon his arrival in a scene, Floyd would always announce himself by saying “Floyd here now!”, whereas Pooh would announce herself by meowing [see “Meh”, above])
• Kitty (natch, again)

REAL NAME:

Dennis

NICKNAMES:

• Dennisimo
• Froggy or Kermit (he often sits with his legs sticking out to the side like a frog)
• Puddin’ Pop (no particular reason that I can think of)
• Tigger (because he has springs in his feet)
• Woo-Woo (after his bark)
• Booja-Booja-Boo (this started out as sounds we would make to get him to give kisses, but it evolved into a nickname)
• Pooky
• The Other Boy
• D-Man

As you can see, Dennis is somewhat lacking in the nickname department, but that’s just because he’s new. Eventually he’ll have a big long list of nicknames too!