Sunday, February 2, 2014

What's in a name?


This is me, Alicia. I think I am 7.

This is when everyone called me the name I was given at birth, the right pronunciation anyway.
It comes with a short story. It starts with my Dad being Spanish. In Spanish the 'c' is pronounced as 'th', so from day dot I was called Alithia.

My mum wanted to call me Alice, I think Dad chucked a wincy hissy fit and wanted me called something a bit Spanish, as with my siblings to follow(they have way more woggy names than me), with my little sister Sophie being the exception. Mums dad was Russian, she wanted to call her Zofia, again mum lost the naming game.

I am actually a bit proud though that my name makes up part of the name of the province where my Dad was born in Spain, Galicia(if you haven't caught on yet, pronounced Galithia).

I am not real sure when things started to change. There was a nun at primary school who called me Alisia, this kinda bugged me a bit. But I got used to it.

I know that by the time I got to high school, everyone was calling me Alishia. To this day there are less than a handful of people who still call me Alithia, my Dad, my uncle and my brother. I found it kinda cute too that a boy(now a man), from primary school and childhood friend, still calls me Alithia. It warms my heart to times gone by. Even Mum calls me Alishia now. 

I hadn't realised how names change over the years, terms of endearment, nicknames, pronunciations. When I thought about it, just about everyone I know has an alias. It's not that uncommon.

My Dads real name is Jose(hose-ay), everyone I know calls him Joe. 

My gran has gone by Wanda since she was a little girl, her real name is Nancy Wanda. She calls me Leese.

My brothers, because of their woggy names, and being twins, have been nicknamed Manual and Auto, the names have stuck.

My darling son, because of his exceptional footy kicking abilities as a three year old, was nicknamed Saverio by my brother, or Rocca. It stuck. In his own footy career, he was nicknamed 'Skullcrusher', or 'crusher' by his peers.

The nickname my Dad gave me was 'chook', because I used to potter around like a chicken when I was small. Keeping myself amused and in a world of my own.

What alias do you go by, and who gave it to you?


Linking with Zanni for Sunshine Sundays

19 comments:

  1. I have a few nicknames ... My brothers-in-law call me Mouse as I was a skinny, spindly thing growing up. A co-worked named me Puff-Puff when I was a 16 year old office girl who took to smoking. He still calls me that now! I am Crows Feet or Boobs to my husband and my sisters call me Jules so thats why I adopted Joolz for my blog. I loved your story about your name!

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  2. What a lovely story about your name and your nicknames. I particularly like Chook and manual and auto made me smile. I have quite a few nicknames too which I love. My husband calls me Kid, my closest friends and sister call me Naisy, and my Dad calls me number one :)

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  3. That's a real name story Alicia! I bet you had an interesting childhood, with your mix of Spanish and Russian cultures. Isn't it funny how we are different names to different people.
    My sister is Kara, but ever since I can remember she's been Karky to me, and to this day, the only people who call her that are me, my husband and our daughter. xx

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  4. Lovely story Alicia! I've got so many nicknames I have stopped to count! Let me see: Ritz (the most popular one), Rit, Ratrouta, Tita, Lita...

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  5. Great piece Alicia...and now I know the pronunciation of your name too...This has been a very revealing link up. It's true, names definitely bend and change through time. It's so interesting. Thanks for linking up for Sunshine Sundays x

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    1. Thanks for the link up, it made me think about my own name, and realised that just about everyone I know has another name that I or other people use for them ;)

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  6. I never know how to pronounce Alicia, whether it's Alee-sha, Alee-see-ya or Alee-shee-ya, and every Alicia I meet pronounces it differently. Alithia is lovely :)
    Our girls all have Latin names, Maya, Sienna and Chiara get called by their full names but Mercedes gets Sades and Rosalia has become Rosie.

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    1. All latin names, thats so interesting. I love all your girls names :)

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  7. I love Alithia. What a lovely story of your namex

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  8. I love the story of how your name has altered over the years.
    When I was in primary school one of my teachers started calling me Teegs..my mother hated it but I loved that I finally had a nickname. My parents call me babe and have done since I was a baby.

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    1. Teegs seems like the obvious nickname for you, I'd be calling you that too :)

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  9. That's a great story, we have two daughters, Brittany (Bob) and Samantha (boof). I go by the name of Rae which is my middle name and boy do people make assumptions of what it is short for and they are all wrong as it is just plain Rae. Rae is French and I am named after my dad's best friend back in Nottingham, Ray (boys spelling) I like how a name has history xxx

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  10. It sounds like my name - so many different ways that people say it! You'd think it would be simple: JANET. But no. The most common mistake is "JanETTE", followed by Jeanette, Jennette, Jane, Janae (rhymes with Renae) ... LOL.

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  11. It's cool that your name reflects your Spanish heritage. And interesting how it has evolved over the years.

    Manuel and Auto. 😂 Love it.

    As you know, I get Ness or Nessie. Names are quite interesting, I think.

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  12. Great story behind your name and very cute pictures! Thanks, Alicia, for sharing.

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  13. I don't actually have a nickname and always wanted one! I love Alicia for a name and also your photos. I've enjoyed this prompt from Denyse and reading about everyone's first names. Have a great week.

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  14. I loved reading this....but first thought "that's one of your daughters" in the pic and it is YOU. Accents are really interesting and I studied German and French at school and still use some of that knowledge in pronunciation too. At least something stuck after 6 years of study!!
    Thank you for linking up for #lifethisweek 13/52. Next week's optional prompt is "Food I dislike". Do Join in! Denyse x

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