Thursday, March 16, 2006

A Girl By Any Other Name

Maybe it is too late to worry about this, but every so often I get weirded out about using my family members' names in blog posts. My husband has already made it clear that he'd love to be nonlinear papa, so that's easy, but my gal is another story. What to call her online?

Some of my friends call her Junebug, owing to her birth month. But maybe that's too close to
Sweet Juniper. Plus, now that the girl has a nanny named Juniper, that could be too much June in one blog. She's AJ to another friend. That has potential, but it isn't the most exciting moniker.

At home I call her Bunny, but CityMama's been calling her daughter that since before my gal was born. I call the girl "Loo" a lot too, but again, that name's in use online. Before she was born we used "the peanut" exclusively, but that one's taken too. I wouldn't care if I didn't read these folks' blogs and know the nicknames they use, but now that I do I would feel weird using one of those names here.

At home we also call her Muffin, but I'm not sure I'm crazy about it as a bloggy nickname. Spoken, it sounds sweet and loving. Written it looks stuffy, east coasty, too close to Muffie. Might just as well call her Pinkie.

Calling her "Morebanana" is a bit of a mouthful. Maybe "earlygirl"? That one appeals. She was born early and is a fan of the 5am wake up call. Plus, we often make plays on her name, calling her Lemonada or Sweet Tomata, so the reference might be nice.

What do you think? Any suggestions? Or should I just not worry, and continue to shout my daughter's name from the electronic rooftops? Advice please.

12 comments:

  1. Hi NLGirl,

    Thanks for your comments on our site!

    I use my kid's name and don't worry about it. But I'm not paranoid. We don't use last names, of course.

    Nice to meet you (online!)

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  2. How about... Ghostface Killah?



    m.

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  3. You know, I've been thinking about the same thing. I've been using my daughter's actual name online. I wonder if it's too late to go back ...

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  4. Thanks for visiting Cool Mom Picks ~ I use my daughter's first initial - which is Q - so it's kind of fun... like James Bondish...

    I'm not a huge fan of pet names myself.

    Of course, I shouldn't talk because my daughter has a TON. Namely, any variation of GOOSE.

    Anyway, come by my other place sometime...

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  5. I do like earlygirl. It has real personality. -- not that I'm saying Ada ain't beautiful or nothin' not that she's all personality!! oh geez....

    Like you I wouldn't feel right using the same avatar tag for myself or my kid I knew to be already in use elsewhere. Still, using the name is ok -- just look out for the firestorm as experienced at miles etc. earlier this year.

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  6. Earlygirl is very cool.

    I felt that if I used my girls actual names and some local sicko surfed in, they would know too much information about daughters. I visioned the stranger coming up and easily convincing one of my little babes that I told him to pick them up. It is such a horrid vision that I had to use their nicknames.

    Odds are probably greater that a natural disaster could occur but that wouldn't be my fault.

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  7. I didn't start writing the post with Earlygirl in mind. As I was editing for typos I thought of it, but the more I think about it the more I like it. Not that Ghostface Killah doesn't have its charms...

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  8. You must have been dropping comments all over the place last week -- I too was going to thank you for your comment(s) on my blog.

    I've been a bit uncertain about this question as well. When I first started the blog, I thought it was going to be more musing on the uncertainty of our upcoming move. Turns out, my life as a mom is more interesting to me. Anyhoo, I'm just moving ahead using all our real names, I guess. I think the first blog entry had them all in there, so "Hello Serial Killers! This is who we are, Here is where we live, Here is where we're moving! We'll leave the light on but we won't wait up."

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  9. Actually, when you started the blog, i thought Nonlinear Girl was going to be her moniker. But i also like Earlygirl as well.

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  10. But you may remember we talked about the fact that the referent was unclear. I like that. Is she nonlinear, am I?

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  11. feel free to use Junebug. We used to call ours that on the blog, but call her Juniper now most of the time. we certainly don't have it trademarked!

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  12. There can be more than one Bunny in the world. One of my friend is still (at age 36) "Bunny" to her family.

    I say, go for it. But I love Earlygirl, too. It reminds me of a tomato, and I am kinda obsessed with tomatoes (I love them.).

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