What's in a name?

My entire life I’ve had nicknames, anything from Hide-a-thickle to Hide-a-lee to Mongrel. Even Gerty, which I hated, but the guys who called me that were hot so I let it go. My dad still calls me Punkin even though I’m 28 instead of 8 and even to most of my extended family I’m just Heid. Now days I mostly go by Heids or by my last name. What can I say; my nicknames are growing up with me.

I’m a huge fan of nicknames, both for myself and for other people. I give them to pretty much everyone I like, and even once my girl friends are married and change their names, the nicknames stick. Nicknames are cool, they make you feel special and loved. They can be name based or utterly ridiculous. Who doesn’t love a nickname?

At least, that’s what I thought until I had a sudden realization during a conversation with another single girl friend of mine. I have a ton of guy friends so it was just second nature to me to never be called by my actual name, until I realized that the guys who give you nicknames are very much entrenched in the friend zone. A guy who is interested in you romantically probably isn’t going to call you by your last name like you’re on a sports team together.

Once I was hanging out with a guy who was, let’s say not in the friend zone. Before my recent realization we were talking about the fact that most everyone calls me Heids and his response was “I can’t call you that.” At the time I thought it was odd, but now I am appreciative of the lack of a nickname from him. And it works both ways, because I’m not going to date the guys that I have crazy nick names for either. (FYI: for girls, there are some exceptions to the nick name rule.)

So while I love nick names, now I have yet another clue to help determine what kind of interest a guy has. Because lets face it, that species is ridiculously difficult to read and interpret. And any bit of insight into the way their minds work is a good thing. I love my guy friends, but here’s hoping that someday I meet someone who doesn’t automatically start calling me by my last name.