I never had a nickname growing up. Neither my first nor my last name lent themselves to shortening. My brothers had nicknames. Charles became Chas and Kendall became Kenny (but only to my aunt – my mother hated that).
When I was 54, my husband was diagnosed with head/neck cancer. I told him it was a bike or a boat, we were going to enjoy life. He chose the bike and off we went to buy a Harley-Davidson. Living in very rural Pennsylvania (where my Klondike Mystery books are set), I started checking out some of the various forums for Harley riders. In 2001, the Delphi Forums were very active and I soon located several groups I felt comfortable chatting with. Now I needed a nickname.
The journey to my nickname started back around 1975. I was working as the manager of the computer department of a wholesale HVAC company based in Florida. I went out at lunch one day to buy a baby shower gift for one of my co-workers. At the checkout, there was this adorable little latex squeaky frog and just for kicks, I bought it. As a joke, I put it on my desk at work to eat the bugs in my programs.
Within a couple months, people had gifted me with little frog statues & trinkets and thus began my frog collection. Over the years, it’s been built, sold, rebuild, sold and semi-rebuilt once more.
Back to the forums where I needed a nickname (no one used their real names then), and decided to use Froggy (yes, spelled differently – this is a LOOOOOOG story). In 2003, we traded in my husband’s Harley for a smaller one plus one for me and at age 55 I learned to ride my own.
Learning as a later in life female rider turned out to be quite an experience – I over thought everything. Chatting with a few of the women riders on Delphi, we realized many of learned differently than the men. So we started out own groups and within another year I had formed an online club for women riders. Over time we met, learned our real names, and became good friends. In fact, I am still friends with many of those women, fifteen years later.
So, now I was Froggy Donna. In 2004, my husband succumbed to the cancer. In 2005, I took several cross country trips with a goal of riding through all 48 states. I managed 42 (27k miles), missing only the six New England states due to weather.
Fast forward to 2007, I was now 60 and eligible for Social Security as a widow. I sold our house and most everything in it, bought a 29′ Class C motorhome and took off as a full-time RVer. I sent off for a vanity tag for my motorhome and asked for LILYPAD. I ended up with LILIPAD. Okay, that worked. When I sent off for my motorcycle tag, I applied for (and got) FROGGI.
So that’s the long and short of it….all my long-time motorcycle and RVing friends all met me as Froggi and still refer to me that way. My frog collection may have shrunk, but the nickname still lives.
Now when someone asks how I got my nickname, I ask them if they want to hear the short story that’s a lie or the long story that’s the truth. Most opt for the short story.
The short story: When I smell smoke (and sometimes other odors), I lose my voice – go hoarse, like a frog.
Do you have a nickname? How did you get it? Do you like?
30 thoughts on “What’s in a nickname?”
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I am so glad that you were able to give yourself a nickname! Why not? I am Michele, called Shellie as a child and in high school I changed in to Shelley in honor of the poet. I thought it looked more romantic that way. No one calls me Shelley any more but I am Aunt Shell to my nieces and nephews.
I like Shelley, too. I wanted to change my name to Dawna in junior high but my mother forbade it. LOL!
I loved reading the story of how you got your nickname! My full name is Marguerite but I very rarely ever get called it. My nickname is Min. The story of how I got my nickname is on my blog but in a nutshell it came from a neighborhood friend when we were very young kids. She couldn’t pronounce Marguerite, instead saying Minimeat. It got shortened to Mini and eventually Min … and it has stuck. Have a great week Donna! 🙂 x
Min is adorable! Marguerite is so often changed to Maggie or Megs. Minimeat – what a fun memory!
My name is Jennifer. I prefer that name. I refuse to be called Jenny, I don’t know why, it just never suited me. Anytime someone tried to shorten my name, I would point out that my mother named me Jennifer. I’m in my late 50’s now, a long time ago I gave up trying to tell my friends that my name was not Jen. So my friends all call me Jen now.
I have a cousin Jennifer, when she was two (and I was 16 or 17), I got in the habit of calling her Jen-Jenny-Jennifer. She now goes by Jen.
My youngest was Jennifer Rose (Rose for my mother). When she was in college and waitressing, she started going by Rose because there were too many Jennifer’s. I often called her Jenny Rose.
So very cool. My name is Patrick and I hate Pat but in high school I was known as the Cookie Monster. It began when our cross country coach had me call in the results of our latest meet to the newspaper and trying to be funny, I said finishing third was Cookie Monster and they printed it. So to people who have known me for a long time, I am known as Cookie Monster. #MLSTL
I love quirky nicknames (now that I have one) and I love Cookie Monster!!!
I’ve never had a nickname – nobody ever shortened it (although my friend Leanne gets “Lea” always). I loved your story Donna – you’ve led such an interesting life. Could I also say that the thought of trying to reverse that RV and trailer made me break out in hives! You inspire me every time I read one of your posts where you casually mention all the things you do.
Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM 🙂
Um, backing up that trailer was a no-go for me. I’ll never forget pulling into the parking lot of a Waffle House (24 hr restaurant that is known for breakfast all day long), thinking I could just pull through out the back into the larger grocery store parking lot. I got in and nope, blocked. Waffle Houses are known for truckers, so I popped inside and asked if anyone in there could back a trailer and explained my issue. Within 10 minutes, a kindly gentleman had my rig turned around for me. Needless to say, I was ultra conscious of being able to exit any place I pulled into!
Hi Donna/ Froggie, love the nickname. We were fulltime motorhomers for quite a few years. Much has happened since then and that time was before I became a blogger. I was baptised with a few via 3 brothers and 1 sister, though most couldn’t be published here 🙂 Thanks for the laugh on a Wednesday afternoon.
Hi Suzanne, thanks for stopping by. We are now snowbirds, having bought a home in Tennessee. We figure we have a couple more years of that but in 2021 we are hoping for a 3 month summer cross country trip to visit the western half of the US one more time.
My childhood family nickname is Cheezel. I can’t remember why my brothers and sisters called me this (my name’s Cheryl), but I hated it and hated especially when my older sister told everyone at school my nickname! 🙂
I named my first two kids so they wouldn’t have nicknames….well, that didn’t work out. Darren is now in his 50s and still called Dar and his younger sister, Sheri, is Sher most of the time. Thanks for stopping by…Cheezel reminds me of Cheese-its…oh my!
What a great story! My name is Deborah and as a kid I got Debbie – which is quite obvious. Nowadays I’m rarely (if ever) called Debbie, but get Deb quite a bit. My blog – Debbish – is named after a nickname I earned at University however when – back in the 80s I (we) had the habit of adding ‘ish’ to the end of everything… my two best friends (and flatmates) at the time started calling me Debbish – and still do often!
I think that happens a lot – I remember the actor/singer, Ricky Nelson, when we wanted to be Rick Nelson. I still think of him as Ricky. Now Debbish, that is unique and fun! Love it.
Abfab tale! I’d always choose the long version!!! Do you have a home base with your RV or are you entirely nomadic? This is what I’d love to do ‘though so far, I’ve lacked the courage! Great post thanks Froggi! xx
Hey Pam, we were full-timers for ten years but bought a house in Jan 2017 here in Tennessee. So now we are technically snowbirds, going further south in the winters. That said, we are opting to stay home this winter to save towards a huge 3-4 month cross country trip in 2021.
I love the long version story!
I never had a nickname, except from my mom who still calls me Pumpkin. When I was younger and until college graduation, I was Patty. Then I thought I needed something more mature, so it was Pat. On my family side, nieces & nephews still call me Aunt Patty. Hubby’s side, Aunt Pat. I have to stop and think when signing BD cards! A few times I contemplated switching to Tricia or Trixie… Pat is so boring a name (and I get Mr a lot if they don’t know me). I’d also hoped hubby would create a (loving) nickname for me… but nope. Ah well, love your nickname and love the story, too.
I took a motorcycle riding class last year. I was the only one who had zero riding experience, was the shortest person in the class, and was the oldest person in the class. I did pass the class (everyone was super supportive in the class!) and got a license, but realized that the fear I felt was too much … so am not buying one. I am letting go of that dream, safety and security mean more to me these days.
visiting from #MLSTL
I vote for Trixie (I was a huge Trixie Beldon fan in my early years, I loved her more than Nancy Drew). Not to worry about the motorcycle, it isn’t for everyone and that’s why I always suggest someone take the safety course first. Now me, I wrecked in our neighborhood the first week of practice. Couldn’t ride for 6 weeks (bike needed a new wheel, I needed my ribs to heal – nothing broken, just bruised from going over the handlebars onto the grass). But that entire time I replayed what I did and didn’t do, I KNEW I would ride again. I miss is now but settle for riding the passenger seat of our Harley trike. Hugs!
What a great story, Donna! Thanks for sharing both the long and short versions. #MLSTL
Glad you enjoyed it…I thought I had blogged it in the past but guess I always just intended to. LOL!
Hi Donna, I’ve never had a nickname, but Johanna gets shortened to Jo and Joey. When I was younger I was very into horses and desperately wanted to be nicknamed Flicka. I think I asked a few people to try it out – but it they’d laugh (me too) and it didn’t stick. I’ve been reading through your very interesting blog this morning, and stumbled on Stu’s knee replacement post – very helpful as my hubby Dave is on day 2, still in hospital having had his first one done. I’m trying to find all the good stories I can and Stu’s is positive and actionable. Thanks Stu! Thanks also Donna for commenting on my blog Lifestyle Fifty today – I think we found each other through the lovely ladies at #MLSTL.
I was a HUGE horse lover as a kid. Watched Flicka, read every book I could, even would race around the winter beach pretending I was a horse. LOL!
Hope Dave continues to do well, the biggest thing is getting the pain meds timed so they kick in during PT…and DO the PT even at home. Stu doesn’t even think about them anymore (except when going through cruise/airport security).
I loved reading your post and about how you got your nickname. you’ve had a very interesting life also, and will be back to read more. Sharing this to FB.
Thank you, Christina. I hope to see you again!
I loved reading about your nickname, Donna, as well as your many adventures in life. Some are wonderful, some not so much, but a full life all the same. My nickname is Candi, with a given name of Candice. No one calls me that except a couple of cousins I never see. 🙂 #MLSTL
I love Candi (and especially it ending in the letter “i”).
I love the story behind your nickname, Froggi! Thanks for sharing it. I don’t have a nickname really, except that some people shorten Christie to Chris–not many though. I’m pretty much just Christie.
Thanks, Christie. I thought I’d never have one, but there it was. LOL!