i wasn’t sure whether to put this in IMHO or here, so i hope I picked right…
I’m writing a story and I’m trying to think of a pet name that the male main character would call his gf, who is the female lead character. He is not a sappy fellow, so that pretty much zaps my supply of pet names, since i tend towards the disgustingly saccharine when referring to my SOs.
So, i ask you, the teeming zillions, for some ideas. Pet names in other languages, particularly Japanese, are welcome (the boy in question is a cartoonist and an anime fan, so Japanese would follow from that, but any languages are good). Cute is ok, but not super sugary…the girl takes care of that end
hmmmm…doesn’t seem like his speed. though she is a redhead.
hmmm as well…her name is Susquehanna, and she is known to most people as Quee. Queeenka? Queeiushka? Queeoska? There are many vowels. but i sort of like Queeoska. i will contemplate it
How about calling her by the name of the city or state where she’s from? I’ve seen that in stories and movies. I think Lois Lane calls Clark Kent “Smallville” sometimes.
If the girlfriend is really high strung and likes to get things done quick, etc, her nickname could be “Tornado” or “Hurricane”
Or use her first name and add “smurf” to it.
Use personality traits that the boyfriend admires or finds sexy, and have him incorporate that into a nickname (like the tornado thing. but it could be the name of an animal or something else)
He might also form a pet name from an incident (perhaps an embarassing one) from her life. For example, I have a friend who calls me “Stripeygirl” because one day, I leaned a bit too far forward getting out of his car, and my neckline was a bit too low, and well striped bras had been on sale.
And, of course, there are millions of nicknames for redheads.