I used to date a guy who had two uncles (both old men by then) named, respectively, Shorty and Largen or Largun–never saw it written out-- rhymes with margin.
I always assume Largen was some kind of Germanic/Scandinavian name. Turns out as boys, “Shorty” was the small one, and the other was the “large one.”
Back when I was forty-something I drank/hung out with two other guys who were also in their forties. There was a guy who was 24 who always wanted to drink/hang out with us. We tolerated him and he became a sort of mascot.
He wanted a nickname. We gave him the nickname Jism. He initially had no idea what the word meant, so he took to it right away. Pretty soon everyone called him Jism.
One day Jism disappeared. Poof he was gone, a no-show at work, nobody knew what happened. He abandoned his efficiency apartment, leaving behind his few possessions. Goodbye, Jism! (Shortly before his disappearance he was caught in bed with his girlfriend’s mom)
Asshole. People called him that and he answered to it. I don’t know how it all started but within minutes of meeting him you’d see if was an apt nickname.
A guy in our office goes by “Spru”. Not that unusual, as it’s one of the syllables of his last name. I guess I found it kind of weird that he asked us to call him that. Somehow it reminded me of George Costanza trying to get everyone to call him T-Bone. The weirder part is that I misheard him and for about a week I thought he wanted us to call him “Screw”
My brother’s nickname for me before my adoption was official was “Pretty Orange”. Nobody, including him, can remember what that was all about. Now (and for the last 40+ years) he and one of my cousins call me “Jerry” because of the Jerry Lewis Telethon and the evil, terrible imitation I did of one of the poor children that was on the commercial.
The name itself isn’t strange, but well into my 20s I assumed that my aunt Susie’s name was short for Susan or perhaps Suzanne or Susannah. Nope. Gail. She doesn’t even have Susan or its variants as her middle name. So why Susie? This has never been explained, but they’ve called her that she since was a little girl.
Know a guy who goes by Sea Bass.
Why Sea Bass? It’s the first two syllables of his full name Sebastian.
I called him Speedoo, but his Christian name was Mr. Earl.
Flock - when he was a kid, he played in the youth football league. He was so big, they didn’t have any jerseys to fit him, so they borrowed one from The Church of the Lost Flock. Thus, only “Flock” was displayed on his back instead of a number, leading to the nickname.
Bubba Bastich - my friend’s mom. Never met her, and never got the story.
Bubooglio - His real last name was Gibolaro, but drunken rednecks kept mangling the name when trying to pronounce it, leading to “Bubooglio” as a compromise.
OP - Short for “other Paul,” and he looked like Opie Taylor.
Girl with an unusual hairstyle. She was nicknamed Spinach.
I knew a “Crackers” in college for a year before I found out his real name.
I’ve got a friend who goes by “Zilla.”
How can we not mention this in this thread: Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue (Live in Denmark) - YouTube
A boy named Sue…
‘And he said: "Son, this world is rough
And if a man’s gonna make it, he’s gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn’t be there to help ya along
So I give ya that name and I said goodbye
I knew you’d have to get tough or die
And it’s the name that helped to make you strong.’
I always smiled when I heard that song and thought the logic of it made a lot of sense. Still, named my son Isaac, but we call him Zack…
I knew a guy with the same nickname, for the same reason.
My nickname in HS was Banger. Apparently spawning from some fornication adventures I had with a much older married woman, a woman who’s daughter I was somewhat involved briefly with . I think that was likely the single incident that caused my friends to come up with the nickname which spread and hanged with me throughout college as well.
I had another friend in college who earned the nickname roach because he had a tendency to save up his marijuana roaches and smoke them.
Ditto. It’s usually just Cbass in IMs.
Wow. Call me and most of my friends “roach”, then.
The music counselor at my camp was called Eek. He always wore a kilt, and on the last day of camp we would sing, “All we are saaaaying… is give Eek some pants.”
Crotch was the first one that came to mind. His last name, when said phonetically, rhymed with crotch, someone noticed it in grade school, it stuck around for years.
In college I had a friend nicknamed Jizz, it was, more or less, his name. Unless you were good friends with him, you probably didn’t know his actual name. This was in the late 90’s. A few years back I looked him up and saw that he owned a bar called Jizz’s. I’m surprised the city let him do it, but I’m guessing it must still be the name he goes by, at least to some extent.
My Uncle Jorge’s nickname is Kut. I don’t know the origin, but no one who knows him uses his real name. It always takes me a little while when I see his name in Facebook to recognize who it is.
My wife worked with a guy we called “Sluggo”, because he ate a slug on a dare.
It was poisonous, and rendered him virtually blind.
Dumb-ass.
I went to college with a guy called “Two”. The origin story was that he was a Junior therefore #2.
I also know a girl who goes by Lillibet, because her sister couldn’t pronounce Elizabeth when she was little, and it has stuck. To the point, that I am pretty sure that no one would recognize it as her if she signed something Elizabeth.
When to HS with a girl who went by Meg because her initials were MEG.
On the flip side, I went to college with a girl who I thought went by a nickname, Fifi. It wasn’t until I helped her with her resume that I found out that Fifi is her real name. :smack: