To me, it’s not very nice…but that’s probably because every time I heard it I’d think of Mother Love Bone’s Half-Ass Monkey Boy.
I don’t have kids, but if I did, you can bet I’d give them nicknames like that! Or worse. Now, if you called him a house-ape, that might be a little offensive to some people.
I have pet bunnies, and I call Billie “monkey-bunny” because she loves bananas. Murray is “rat-boy,” which he hates, but he totally deserves it. They tolerate me, but only because I bring them food.
Kids don’t get complexes as easily as your mom seems to think. I called my kids all sorts of silly names (in private, of course). My son, when he was a baby was a chub and I used to call him Fatty sometimes when he was a toddler. Years later (he was at least 7 and maybe 8), he came in and leaned against me and said, “Mom, why don’t you call me your little Fatty anymore…”
My mom used to call me Boo Boo (like the bear) when I was little. She said that one day this old lady ran up to her in the store screaming, “How DARE YOU tell that child she is a mistake!!!”
My mom still calls me budgie sometimes, which was my childhood nickname. I like it. She calls me Kylacita, too, even though I’m taller than she is. (I call her mamacita, too.) These nicknames remind me of when I was little and mama was there to solve any problem I had. They’re comforting. I’m sure your son will feel the same way about Moneky Boy someday.
I think you’re ok. My son is another of those unfortunate “Boo"s. He is named after his father, (very weak delivery room moment for which I cannot be blamed!), and I just couldn’t bring myself to use his real name. I knew perfectly well who that name belonged to and it wasn’t my son! I did eventually get over this quirk, but in the meantime I gave him all sorts of silly nicknames. It started out by calling him my bugaboo (cause you know, they are cute as a bug in a rug when they are all swaddled up), sometimes morphed in my “sweet baboo” (with thanks to Charles Schultz), and in the end settled on Boo Bear. Mostly just plain Boo. He was firm with me when it came time to stop referring to him that way in public. At 17 and 6’5” he still tolerates it privately. There was some mild embarassment at school when a sibling outed him over it, but said sibling learned pretty quick that what goes around comes around.
By the way, the nickname was meant to be a private little mommy thing, but my ex-mother-in-law heard me and spread it around. To this day I haven’t really forgiven her, but that’s because she stuck her nose into every single aspect of my life, uninvited, and that’s a major part of why she is my ex-mother-in-law.
Nothing wrong with monkey-related nicknames. My mom went through a variety of them while my siblings and I were growing up. She still calls us house apes. I don’t think your son will end up traumatized or anything like that.
Now, I have a friend whose mother hasn’t stopped calling him (at 21) Sugar Boopums. Around his friends. It makes us smile, but it’s a pain in the ass to him.
I think monkey boy is great and absolutely accurate. We called our first grandson a monkey boy when he climbed everything in the house, including us. He’s five now and “Chetter Cheese,” which he takes with good humor. (His name is Chet.) Our twin grandsons just turned one last week and we even got them gift wrap paper with monkeys on it - just something for the new monkey boys!
My grandson Joseph is better known by his nickname, Beanie. It evolved from the nickname Jojobean that he was given as a baby. His other grandmother says he will have a complex when he grows up if we keep calling him that name. I want to ask her if she was called Ol’ Battleaxe when she was younger but my wife won’t let me.
I like that nickname. My mom still calls me honeybunny even though I’m almost twenty-seven, so I may be biased. She and Dad used to call both me and my sister “monkey” when we were kids, though never, for some reason, “monkey girl.”
Oy, if childhood nicknames cause complexes, then I’d better check into the nearest funny farm ASAP. My mother called (and sometimes continues to call) me “my little tushy tops.” Don’t ask me what the heck it means. Damned if I know.
In fact, I’ve always lived in fear of anyone finding out. Until now. I’m coming out of the nickname closet. I’ll shout it from the rooftops…
I AM TUSHY TOPS! HEAR ME ROAR!
“Monkey Boy” is really pretty tame. I call my son all sorts of terrible stuff, like Stinky and Noodlenose and Buttboy. I don’t think it does him any harm. Now, if I insisted that other people call him “Stinky,” then I might be giving him a complex.
My husband is Monkeyboy and wears it with pride, signing his e-mail thusly, etc, but that’s only been going on for about 10 years. In high school he was, apparently, “Skate Death” to his friends. This is better than what his mother used to call him, when referring to both he and his brother, (a Brandon and a Ryan) “Bran and Rye, my little wheat-hearts.” Echhhh.
We have the Buckaroo Banzai “Laugh while you can!” thing, usually, but every now and then Motherlove Bone pops into my head, which is sad, but I am of a certain age and of a certain 1/6 of the country so it’s probably unavoidable.
Until I was 5 years old, I thought my name was Meeskite.
(for you non-Yiddish speakers, it means ‘ugly’.)
It sounds awfully mean but it’s meant affectionately. At least, that’s what they told me!
My parents always called me (and there’s no way I’ll spell this right) Schnicklefritz. Told me it meant “princess” in German.
When I was about 18, my mother told me it means concubine! :eek: She was wrong, but still - she thought she was calling me a whore all those years? WTF?
A quick Google search reveals that it’s *actual *meaning is “Fritz’s dick!” I’m getting more neurotic as we speak!
I think it’s a fabulous, endearing nickname. 
I must say I had no idea of the number of people who seem to use it, however.
You should associate that name with your fellow Doper. 
My brothers are known to the family as Chicky Boy and Gooch. Monkey Boy would be considered an improvement by both of them, I’m sure.
Chick comes from Francisco - similar to Cisco or Cheech, also ethnic nicknames for “Frank.” Since he’s the second Frank in the family and the other one is ALSO known as Chick, the young one got saddled with Chicky Boy to distinguish him from his grandfather. As for Gooch, well, we used to call him Mr. Magoo when he was a baby 'cuz he made squinchy faces a lot. My great-grandfather said,“What kin’a Italian name is Magoo? Magucci, that would be better.” So he became Magucci, then Gucci, then just Gooch.
And by the way, your Monkey Boy is ADORABLE.
Both my sons are full grown men and I still call them monkeys!
I dunno, depends on the crowd.
What?!
Regardless of your stance on corporeal punishment, I’d stop using that nickname about a year before he and his friends learn the phrase “spank the monkey”.
(Of course, I called my chubbiest baby “blobster” for about half a year. That made me “The Blobfather”.)