Friday, January 21, 2011

What's in a Name?

A hypocoristic (not to be confused with hypocritic) according to Wikipedia is a nickname of affection between those in love or with a strong emotional bond. My husband and I are notorious for the ridiculous nicknames we come up with, not only for each other, but even more so, for Banjo & Millie. It's only fitting, of course, because really, who has a blog dedicated to their dogs who doesn't have a nickname for them? It’s surprising, in fact, that Banjo & Millie even recognize their names, because we so rarely actually use them. So I thought it would be fun to share with you all just a few of the ridiculous names we have dubbed the pups. 

And Banjo and Millie want to know from you, what hypocoristics do you have for your furkids?

Banjo
Banji
Banjelina
Banjelina Jolie
Beags
Beaggie Smalls
Acute Banjina
Beaglelicious
Obeag wan kenobeag (sound it out) 
Banjo Ramirez

Mildred (her real name is not actually Millie!)
Millie
Millie Moo
Moo
Moo Moo
Moo Pie Moo
Moo Head
Shiz
Bubs
Bubalicious

11 comments:

  1. HAHA! Obeag Wan Kenobeag! I love it :)

    Cash is less often called by his name and more often called one of the following:
    Scooter
    Buddy
    Pup Pup

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  2. Love your crew's hypocoristics (thanks for the new word)!

    Axel answers to Axel, Axey, Axe, Axeman, Fangs, Puppy Boy, Rottweiler and a few profanities (sorry, he was not one of my "easy" dogs). Freya answers to Freya, Frey, Freybie, Freybinator, Baby Girl, Rottweiler (yeah, I guess that one gets confusing).

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  3. We call Seamus (pronounced shay-mus for those not familiar with the Irish name) all of the following (I'm just going to spell them phonetically since they're all nonsense words): Shamert, Chase-Chaim, Pace-Chaim, Chaim-Chase, Chaim-Chase of the Pace-Chaim, Chaim-Butt, Shaminator. I'm sure I'm forgetting many of them...

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  4. I love the nicknames - thanks so much for sharing! What I didn't mention in my post is that not only do we have these nicknames, but they most often come out in song (case in point, Beaggy Smalls). Maybe someday we will share one of our absurd renditions with you all.

    Meena, I feel like we could have a field day in this house singing to and/or about Cash! He's got the name of a star to begin with! He's star quality.

    Kathi, I love that you sometimes call your babies by the same nickname at times! Do Axel and Freya recognize and respond to all of these? They are smart pups! Millie responds to Moo (and variations of it), and Banjo responds to Banji, but apart from those, they have no idea we're talking to them when we use the other names.

    Catherine, I love Shaminator! I feel as if Seamus would have a very refined Irish accent. Do you guys ever put words into his mouth in an Irish accent?

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  5. Darby has been called all of the following:
    Darbs
    Doodlebug
    Ginkus Plinkus (I'm sure you don't want to know)
    Bonga Bean
    Stinky McBarksalot

    Not surprisingly, some names he responds to better than others :)

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  6. We love your nickmames! Trixie is known as Trixie-Pixie or Trixie-Puppy or Trix; Lilly is known as Illy, Lilly-Billy, Lil, or Little One; Sammy-Joe is known as Samsonite, Samminator, Sammy, Samuel Joseph, or Jammy Toe! :)

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  7. Love the nick names, I have to say I am pretty bad for it too. My daughter has about 20 nick names I reckon.
    And as for my beloved dog, Mia...
    Me-Me
    Me-ster
    The Me-ster
    puppy
    smoochy pooch
    poopy
    Oh-Mia-Mya

    and occasionally something a little harsher, depending on the mess ;-) All terms of endearment however.

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  8. Oh these are great!

    Vicky, I'd love to know how Darby got the nickname Bonga Bean!

    Trixie, Lily, and Sammy-Joe, I love the nickname Trix! I would always ask her what's in her bag of Trix! And I used to have a baby named Sammy too ! We used to call her Sammers. It's still one of my favorite names. My husband is not pleased that I would like to name a daughter Samantha (yes, after my dog!)

    Sarah Dee, adding "ster" the end of a dog name makes it immediately playful. I love it! And I can relate to the harsher terms of endearment. In fact you remind me of one I forgot to share for Millie - the Stealth Bomber (if you can imagine her sneaking off into a dark corner...)

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  9. Uh oh... sounds smelly!

    The "ster" is becoming a bit of a trend in this house.. My daughter Rebecca got shortened to Bex which then became Bexter and now The Bexter (along with a looong line of others).

    Our most recent addition, since Christmas, is Simon the cat, but I haven't adopted nicknames other then Pitbull and Si for him as of yet.

    :-)

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  10. Haha, yes Sarah Dee, Millie is the queen of smelly! How nice that Simon has become a part of your family! He is a lucky cat. I can only imagine how he got "Pitbull" - He sounds like a tough kitty!

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  11. Add Moo Moo Gai Pan and Moo Moo Pork to the list for little Millie Moo. Is it weird that we give our dog's nicknames a nickname?

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