My name

When I finally decided to make the leap from putting thoughts in emails to actually trying a blog, I had to come up with a name. I thought about when my mom named me. She said that she searched hard for a name that wouldn't have a nick name. She went through college year books and found the name Melanie. Try as she might, she could not come up with a nick name. However there ended up being a show on television just a few short years after I was born about a restaurant called "Mel's Diner" and you guessed it....my nickname became Mel. My mother hated it at the time because Mel was a man. But....it didn't bother me. And now my own mom calls me Mel.
Throughout the years there have been a few other nick names added. My dad calls me MG (short for my full name Melanie Gean). My best friend in high school called me Mellie. One of the guys at work calls me Melvin. I've also been called Smelly Melly, Water "mel" on, Melanie Felony (this one doesn't make any sense since I've always been a goody two shoes.). My brother's nick name for me was "Princess" but he used that mainly when he was mad because I was going somewhere and he wasn't. I believe the words were "The Princess always gets her way!"

When my husband Jason and I started dating most people called him by his name. However there were some friends that used his middle name, Argo, and another group of friends that called him Ray Ray. Still not sure where that came from? And after we'd been to a couple of family gatherings, I had to ask why some of his uncles called him Jake instead of Jason. No good answer....they just always did.

Now...I have two sons - Jonah and Riley. I never did think about whether they would have nick names or not. I assume at some point everyone has a nickname. However, I don't think that my oldest son Jonah has ever had a nickname. He's always called Jonah. Sometimes he mistakenly is called Noah since it is a more common name than Jonah and sound similar. But, it is not a nick name. But my youngest son Riley has had many nicknames for his young five years. We started out with the nick name Rooster. This came from the fact that he was up at the crack of dawn ready for the day. That name was eventually shortened to Roo. From there we added Ri. Since we've started playing sports and there are either multiple Riley's (boys and girls) or Briley, Bailey, Kylee, etc. we either use Ri or use his full name, Riley Austin. The other day he decided that he wanted to add a second name which I informed him was known as a nick name. He said that he wanted to be called Piglet. This actually is very appropriate since he can sometimes remind you of Piglet - he is a little small, cuddly, and has a lot to say but sometimes gets all tongue tied trying to say it all.

So...maybe some names are prone to nick names....or maybe some personalities are. Not sure which one is the case but either way....you can call me Mel.