Cinq: Nicknames

Nicknames are always fun right? They come in handy if you cannot pronounce a person's name, if it is too long or simply because it reveals memories. I have always wanted a nickname. You know, a nickname that everyone knew me by. But sadly, my name is simply Ana. You cannot get such a fascinating nickname from that short 3 letter name. There is always 'Ana Banana' but that does not sound very original, now does it?

I wonder where and how nicknames originated! Who suddenly woke up one day and decided, "I'm going to call my friend Samantha, 'Sammy' for short?" I find that to be very interesting. I mean some nicknames are very obvious to why someone would've come up with that nickname but how is someone named Richard nicknamed 'Dick?' I looked it up because I became very curious and according to mentalfloss.com, Dick is a nickname for Richard because during the middle ages, nicknames were just names that rhymed with the original name, to save time. Dick rhymed with Rick (short for Richard) and that is how it came to be. Now that I have read all that, it all makes sense.

Anyways! As you may have noticed, I have titled my blog "Oogie Boogie." Who has stopped to think about what that even means? Well that is what I like to call my little sister, Oriana! I, in fact, got a lot of our family members to call her Oogie Boogie as well! That isn't the only nickname she has, though. I have noticed that Oriana and I are always coming up with many different nicknames. She is also nicknamed, 'Oris' or 'Oogster.'

One of the things Oriana likes to do is sing! She is not very good at it but boy does she sing her heart out. She doesn't care if she has an audience or not, or if she's in the shower or at the store! If a song comes up, she will sing it out loud, even if she doesn't know the lyrics. But she also likes to sing  songs that she makes up from her nicknames! One of the songs goes like, "My name is Oriana! Everyone calls me Oriiiiiis. Ayy Oogie Boogie!" I have not yet a clue on how she made it up but I personally think it is very cute and funny. Somewhat strange as well.

I think everyone should have a nickname because they bring up memories. Everytime I call her "Oris" I think of my childhood house around Christmas time because that was when she was born and I started calling her that. When I call her "Ooogie Boogie" I think of when I would spend my summers in Los Angeles because my cousin and I came up with the nickname, Oogie Boogie, for her. I don't know if it is just me but nicknames are quite lovely.

Works Cited:

"The Origins of 10 Nicknames." Mental Floss. Mental Floss, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.