52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Week 21): Nickname

 "Their real name is what?" 

The writing prompt for Week 21 in Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge is titled "Nickname". 

That word brought back a flood of memories for me and the people in my mother's family. It wasn't until I was in college that I knew the real names of some of mother's first cousins. 

It seems that mother's grandmother, Mamie TEEL Stuart, loved to give nicknames to her "kids". Well, at least to a son or two, and most of her grandsons. 

Mamie (TEEL) Stuart, Fisher Co., Texas

I knew these family members as "Chine", "Puggin", "Shorty", "Jug", "Scooter", "Frog", "Jimbo", "Chick", "Pookey", "Tadpole", etc. when I was growing up.

As I got older (college aged), my mother would call them by their birth names, and I often asked, "Wait?? Who are you talking about?" 

I asked more than one time, "Why did she give them nicknames like that?" No one could answer that question.

Years later, I still don't know the answer to "why", but I have learned from my mother, obituaries and genealogy research, what their birth names are/were. 

Was giving nicknames common in your family? My dad's family didn't seem to give nicknames. Was this a tradition in some families and not in other families? 

Let me know if your family gave nicknames, too. 

 - Revis 

This content was crafted for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge, focusing on the theme "Nickname" this week.