nicknames given as mangled pronunciations of real names

September 11, 2007 5:40 AM

I'm looking for examples of nicknames given to people by family/friends who mangled the pronunciation of a given name.

I apologize if this is too chatfiltery, and delete if necessary, but I'm looking for examples of the above. Like Beatrice Quimby, called "Beezus" by Ramona, or Jesus Christ Allin, called "GG" by his brother. (Or in my own family's case, my mom Ellen was called "Neen".)

The more degrees of separation the nickname seems to be from the actual name, the better. Thanks!

posted by Lucinda to human relations (110 comments total)

Actual name: Eunice.
Mangled (by a neighbour's child) to Go-gie (rhymes with hoagie).
posted by Amy NM at 6:00 AM on September 11, 2007

My family called me Shanrat for the longest time because that's how I pronounced my own name, Saundra (pronounce sondra.)
posted by headspace at 6:01 AM on September 11, 2007

kath=taff
posted by taff at 6:01 AM on September 11, 2007

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is affectionately known within her family as 'Lilibet'.

Her Majesty Queen Me was known to his niece and nephew as 'Dankel'. The bloody kids could say 'Barney the bleeding Dinosaur', but not Daniel...
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 6:04 AM on September 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

My best friend is named Sabine (suh-bee-nuh). My little sister couldn't handle all those syllables, so it became just Beana.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 6:13 AM on September 11, 2007

A friend of mine was legally named Jennifer, but because her two-years-older sister could only manage "Jenna" and her parents thought it was cute, Jenna became her name.
posted by orange swan at 6:16 AM on September 11, 2007

My BIL Steve used to be known as "Uncle Cheese" by my son.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 6:16 AM on September 11, 2007

I have a uncle that is known as Weegee or simply "Weeg".

His given name is Anthony. This angered my 110% German great-grandfather to no end, so he started calling him "Luigi".
posted by xena at 6:17 AM on September 11, 2007

My brother couldn't pronounce my sister's name (Linda) -- he turned it into "Yondo," and that has become her nickname.
posted by nancoix at 6:18 AM on September 11, 2007

My SO couldn't pronounce her aunt Emilie's name (sounds the same as Emily), so she called her Mim. 30+ years later the entire family, including her siblings and grown children, all call her Mim. The favorite variation is actually Mad Madam Mim. hee.
posted by spinturtle at 6:27 AM on September 11, 2007

A weird nickname once removed: my mother had the same name as her grandmother, whose nickname was Jinxie. My maternal grandparents tried to nickname my mother Jinxie as well, but it didn't take -- as a little girl, my mom mangled the pronunciation, and thus, her name her whole life has been Decie. Friends, family, acquaintances, work colleagues -- all call her Decie. It's how she introduces herself, and the only name most people know her by. Only complete strangers and telemarketers call her by her given name -- which has no relation whatsoever to her nickname. Her given name is Virginia. Yeah, WHAT?
posted by tigerbelly at 6:27 AM on September 11, 2007

When I was a child I couldn't pronounce the names of my parents' lovebirds, Hugo and Luigi, so I called them Bugle and Weegie. The names stuck.
posted by iguanapolitico at 6:29 AM on September 11, 2007

A friend named Louise was known as Gigi (pronounced gig-ee). I'm not sure how they even got that.
posted by la petite marie at 6:29 AM on September 11, 2007

I had a friend in high school whose name was Rochan (Rō' shan), we called him Roach.

amusing note: my father heard some of my friends & I talking, & took me aside when he heard the name Roach. Seems he got pretty upset, thinking it was a drug reference nickname & didn't want me to hang around this "Roach" fellow. He was pretty embarassed when I explained the nicknames origin to him.
posted by Laura in Canada at 6:29 AM on September 11, 2007

My cousin called my grandmother (Marjorie) "Dray", in an attempt to apparently comment on her gray hair. That spread to the whole family, and as a result for my entire life I have known her only as Dray.
posted by jeffxl at 6:31 AM on September 11, 2007

My friend's sister was named Catarina but their grandmother (Korean) couldn't pronounce it and ended up calling her "gahk-du-gee", which is basically a Korean picked daikon dish.
posted by like_neon at 6:33 AM on September 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

My father's given name is Jurek (yoo-reck). His older brother pronounced it "lulu". The name stuck, and my grandma still calls him that.
posted by pmbuko at 6:36 AM on September 11, 2007

Note quite the same as the above stories, but my Mom, a Southerner, thought her aunt Nell's name was "Aunt Nail" until she was nearly 15 because of the intensity of the accents in her extended family.
posted by saladin at 6:37 AM on September 11, 2007

My great-grandmother was named Anna; my dad put together Anna and Granny and got "Banny." It stuck, and the whole family ended up calling her Banny.
posted by bassjump at 6:40 AM on September 11, 2007

When I taught kindergarteners at an after school program, I went by the handle "Miss Kimberly". One of my kids couldn't say that so he called me Miss Kim blah-blah.
posted by kimdog at 6:43 AM on September 11, 2007

My friend's brothers couldn't pronounce his name (Withers) except as "Wizzers," so he became known as "Wiz," a name he managed to live up to.

Along similar lines, on the show "Leave It To Beaver," at some point it's mentioned that Wally couldn't pronounce "Theodore" expect as "Tweeter" (or something close to that), so that somehow evolved into "Beaver."
posted by kimota at 6:45 AM on September 11, 2007

My Aunt Isabel is known as Ipie (EE-pee). Has been this way since she was a child.

My cousin, who's given name I don't remember, is called "Tuttie" because when she was born her brother couldn't say "cutie".

Another from our family is when my brother started calling me "Tuffny-Ree" because he couldn't say my given name. Thank God Mom put a stop to that.
posted by onhazier at 6:52 AM on September 11, 2007

My mother's name is Coleen (unusual spelling of Colleen), nickname "Cooker" due to her younger sister's mangling.
posted by thebrokedown at 6:58 AM on September 11, 2007

My daughter mispronounced my brother Philip's name as Uncle Fool. My husband, Geoff, when in New Guinea was called Jepp by his Phillipine staff. Both names stuck. My nephew (3) is currently saying Fuckadile, which gives us Steve Irwin, Fuckadile hunter.
posted by b33j at 6:58 AM on September 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

My nanny's name is Sylvia, but I couldn't say it, so she ended up being "Dewia" (to this day).

I used to call my mom "Momma", but I had a cold one day, and yelled out "Bubba!" She made fun of me, and then got stuck with the name Bubba (to this day).

My personal favorite renaming was when my cousin was born, my parents sent a letter to my brother at sleep-away-camp telling him that the baby was named Hugh. A month later, when my parents picked my brother up, he asked them, "Why did they name the baby "Huh"? We still call Hugh "baby huh".
posted by nursegracer at 7:02 AM on September 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

My eldest son had a tough time pronouncing Jeremy, so his little bro became Jermy. Jermy became The Germ somewhere along the line.
posted by buggzzee23 at 7:03 AM on September 11, 2007

Not quite the same thing, but my cousin, being taught to call her grandmother "Oma", somehow mixed with perhaps Granny(?) become "Nomie" (sounds like gnomey). It spread to all the other grandchildren of her relative age group until the adults began referring to her that way as well...
posted by DecemberRaine at 7:08 AM on September 11, 2007

My best friend's Argentinian grandparents were supposed to be Abuela and Abuelo, but thanks to mangling from the first grandchild they became Baba and Atos.

My aunt and uncle's grand kids somehow came up with Bumpie and Wowie out of Grandma and Grandpa.

Another friend was referred to as "niña" by her Spanish nanny, but her younger sister could only manage "nana." She's been called Nana ever since.
posted by olinerd at 7:12 AM on September 11, 2007

My wife's name is Jennifer, which was twisted into "Dojie" by her much-younger siblings. It hasn't achieved total saturation, but everyone knows who you're talking about when you say it.
posted by Shohn at 7:13 AM on September 11, 2007

A friend's little brother couldn't pronounce "Leslie" so she is now know to one and all as "Lollie" (as in lollypop).
posted by kidsleepy at 7:17 AM on September 11, 2007

Oh, and when I was little, I couldn't say Jonathan, so my brother became Ton-Ton. (Rhymes with Ron, not with done.) As with Shohn above, it hasn't really stuck, but the family still knows what it refers to.
posted by bassjump at 7:18 AM on September 11, 2007

A friend's son couldn't pronounce another friend's name, Stephanie. It came out Snuffy and stuck, much to her chagrin.

It occasionally gets expanded to Snuffaluffagus.
posted by beowulf573 at 7:22 AM on September 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

When my son (then two) met my best friend again after a long period of not seeing her, I told him, "Look, it's Aunt Tonya!" He looked at her and pointed and said, "Foo-foo!" She's been 'Foo' ever since (he's now almost eleven).

When the same kid was learning how to pronounce his name, Christopher, he called himself "Ter-ter" for a very long time. When his sister came along and later started talking, she called him "Bubby." I think it must have been an adulteration of 'brother' but she called him that until she was about five.

My mother's Aunt was named 'Nona' (long 'a') but everyone always called her 'Noner' (again, long 'a').
posted by cooker girl at 7:25 AM on September 11, 2007

My name is Kate, but when my sisters were very little, they called me Cake-y.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:25 AM on September 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

My grandfather's name was Joffre, but my mom (his oldest child) mangled it as Kokkie (like cocky). His was forever called Kokkie by his other children, their cousins, and his grandchildren. No "Dad" or "Granddad."
posted by Mavri at 7:26 AM on September 11, 2007

Oh, and there are a couple of Roberts in my family called Ber. Also, my cousin Robert called my uncle Robert Big Bert, but I thought he was calling him Big Bird for many many years.
posted by Mavri at 7:29 AM on September 11, 2007

My grandmother got named Gunga, because I couldn't say Grandma and she is still called that 30-something years later.

My Grandfather was named Robert and became Buppa.
Both of these names stuck with the whole family, for some reason.
posted by beckish at 7:36 AM on September 11, 2007

I couldn't pronounce my little sister's name correctly. Somehow I turned Melissa into Mimi (said mee-mee). It stuck with the entire extended family until sometime in high school.
posted by mjp at 7:52 AM on September 11, 2007

My little sister called me Geagan (versus Meagan) for the first few years of her life.
posted by Meagan at 8:00 AM on September 11, 2007

I have a cousin Patrick who is "Paffy."

I also have a niece "Colleen" who was called "Dama" by her younger brother. We have no idea why.
posted by frecklefaerie at 8:00 AM on September 11, 2007

Oh, not to mention my nephew Andrew who was called "Eo" (ee-yo) by his little brother.
posted by frecklefaerie at 8:00 AM on September 11, 2007

We had a neighbor named Anthony and my daughter (a toddler at the time) pronounced his name as "Ampy" (rhymes with "campy")... For some reason, it caught on, and we all started calling him Ampy, even some other friends of his who heard it and asked about it eventually adopted it. He moved away several years ago. I wonder if anyone in his new location calls him Ampy.
posted by amyms at 8:01 AM on September 11, 2007

My uncle Rabbit, his real name was Robert
posted by KirTakat at 8:05 AM on September 11, 2007

One child's tripping tongue rechristened Emily as Mimi, Vanessa as Va-vuh, and Margaret as Maggot.
posted by Elsa at 8:07 AM on September 11, 2007

My grandmother (Elizabeth) was always called Nancy (why, I have no idea), and I believe this is why the grankids call her Nanna (despite it being a legit grandmotherly name). My grandfather (Samuel) was called Bud (again, why?) and so is referred to as Bubba.

My brother William was named after my dad's Uncle Bill (real name, Cornelius), but always called Liam. This was turned into Leo by my very Italian neighbors. Now my parents sometimes call him Leo as well.

My mother's previous cat was named Felice, which often got shortened as "Leecy" and eventually "Lucy". To my intense creeped-out-ness, her next cat was promptly named Lucy.
posted by sarahkeebs at 8:29 AM on September 11, 2007

One of the other three Jennifers in my kindergarten class was Jiffy--and was called that all the way through high school.
posted by brujita at 8:36 AM on September 11, 2007

One of my friend's names is "Sasanka", and on a school forum chose the forum handle "Soso". No clue why. So now most of us call him that when we're too lazy to type/say the whole thing.
posted by Phire at 8:43 AM on September 11, 2007

My little brother couldn't manage "marylynn" so I became "me-me".
posted by marylynn at 8:50 AM on September 11, 2007

Among my younger cousins, "Grandma Ruthie" has become "Grandma Foofie." Sometime shortened to "Foof."
posted by clair-de-lune at 8:59 AM on September 11, 2007

My parents called me Gooch, and still do to this day.

My son's name is Caleb, but everyone calls him Champ or Champy.
posted by chump at 8:59 AM on September 11, 2007

Susan -> Sue -> Susi (Sue-see) -> Suzzy (S-ah-z) -> Fuzzy

Mark -> Marky -> Sparky

My family has a long and amusing history with nicknames.
posted by anaelith at 9:01 AM on September 11, 2007

For years and years my extended family called my Aunt Penelope just "Aunt" because when I was little I couldn't say Penelope properly ("penelppope" I think). She hated it.
posted by patricio at 9:03 AM on September 11, 2007

I'm Sarah, and was called both "Sow-er" ("sow" pronounced like the pig) and "Shy-ah" by my younger siblings. My 20-year old brother still calls me the latter.
posted by sarahsynonymous at 9:08 AM on September 11, 2007

Heather -> Hazer
posted by small_ruminant at 9:11 AM on September 11, 2007

Catherine -> Kiffin. The latter remains the usual form of address in adulthood.
posted by kmennie at 9:17 AM on September 11, 2007

My name is Sabrina and a younger cousin called me Biba (bee - bah). It still makes me cringe.

My daughter calls my son Gabriel 'Dee'. We have no idea why.

A friend of a friend was actually named Vernon but was called Coby, as in the beef and in Mr. Bryant.
posted by mitzyjalapeno at 9:17 AM on September 11, 2007

My friend Matthew has family in Ireland who pronounced his name "Matt-chaw". So the nickname "Chaw" stuck.
posted by edverb at 9:18 AM on September 11, 2007

I had a friend in college whose name was Elizabeth. Her family called her "Beth" for short. Her younger sibling couldn't say "Beth", and instead called her "Buff". "Buff" became "Buffy" and that's the name she always used.
posted by clpage at 9:18 AM on September 11, 2007

The band "Geggy Tah" is the band's sister's mispronounced version of "Greg" and "Tom".
posted by IvyMike at 9:31 AM on September 11, 2007

My roommate is named Darrel. Another friend's child couldn't pronounce Darrel, so it's WeeWah now. All the children we know refer to him as WeeWah.
posted by starbaby at 9:51 AM on September 11, 2007

One of my wife's family's dogs was named Candy. Her little brother could not pronounce Candy, so somehow (and I wish I could relate the intermittent stages), he ended up calling the dog 'Whupper' (rhymes with 'supper'), a name the poor dog was stuck with from then on out.
posted by bunyip at 9:52 AM on September 11, 2007

Brother-in-law's first grandkid couldn't say "Grandpa Bruce" and instead calls him "Bumpa." Similarly, my mother, the great-grandmother, is known as "GiGi" (or GG) in honor of her status.
posted by Mmothra at 10:09 AM on September 11, 2007

My brother's name is Erik, but I often call him "Erk" (to rhyme with work). I think this came about because we had a car with the license plate 2ERK301.
He also used to have the nickname "Bird" because our last name has a "berg" in it.

I also know someone with an Aunt Louise who is called Aunt Wee-Wee.
posted by exceptinsects at 10:12 AM on September 11, 2007

My brother couldn't pronounce the double l in "Kelly", so she became Aunt "Koko". My other cousin couldn't get the "r" sound in "Karen" so she became simply "K.K."
posted by missmle at 10:13 AM on September 11, 2007

My friend Wesley became "Easy" due to a two year old brother of another friend.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 10:15 AM on September 11, 2007

My great-grandmother was also called "Bumpa", from "Grandma", which her first grandson could not say. She was called Bumpa by all of her grandchildren and by her great-grandchildren.
posted by jb at 10:18 AM on September 11, 2007

Jessica Mitford's family nickname was Decca.
posted by xueexueg at 10:21 AM on September 11, 2007

My niece couldn't pronounce my name, and called me Kiko (kee-ko). One day, she came outside and saw a stray dog and said "Kiko!", as in, Kiko, look at that stray dog! My sister ended up adopting that stray dog and named her Kiko. My niece now calls me Auntie.
posted by clh at 10:32 AM on September 11, 2007

Cousin Falasha (named after the tribe of nomads)...Called Fafala to this day, some 33 years later, but only by family. The name came from my southern grandmother, Hazel Belle, who hated all the afrocentric naming that took place in our post-revolution black family and also stuttered something fierce.
posted by notjustfoxybrown at 10:33 AM on September 11, 2007

My maternal grandmother's name was Evelyn. Her youngest brother proncounced it Ovelyn, so for about the next 70 years she was known as Ovie.

Amusingly, her youngest brother's name was Burkhart, which no one in the family could pronounce as anything other than Burkit.
posted by scody at 10:36 AM on September 11, 2007

Real name : Christopher
Mangled toddler cousin speak that stuck: Cuffer

Called Fafala to this day

Could have been worse, it could have been Falafel!
posted by Pollomacho at 10:38 AM on September 11, 2007

My daughter's father's name is Dermot, which got mangled as "Beer-Mat" by one of his nephews.
posted by goshling at 11:07 AM on September 11, 2007

One of my oldest cousins somehow mangled grandma into Ging-Ging. Of course, there are thousands of older brothers down here who became Bubba.
posted by Carbolic at 11:08 AM on September 11, 2007

i somehow mangled "grandpa" when i was a wee one and it came out "bebop." the name stuck for the rest of his life. even my other cousins came to call him that.

my friend elizabeth's sister called her "baki" and that stuck, too.
posted by thinkingwoman at 11:53 AM on September 11, 2007

Valerie became 'Abby Doo' and later adopted by family as 'Abby'.
posted by jacobjacobs at 12:15 PM on September 11, 2007

My brother and I had a grandfather named James, and a grandfather named Verlin. We used the same title for both of them (Grandaddy), but my brother couldn't get a grip on "Verlin". So that grandfather answered to "Grandaddy Burn" for some time. My brother was full of cute, improbable mispronunciations. He called Santa Claus "Claw Ways".

I'm pretty sure I remember referring to my great-uncle Boyd as "Uncle Bird".

Also, one of my former managers ended up referring to me as "Carlotta". He was a sweet guy, so it was endearing, but I don't know how he derived that from my given name, Claire. English was his second language. I don't know what his first language was, but it seemed slightly difficult for him to try to end a word with an vowel + R sound.
posted by Coatlicue at 12:25 PM on September 11, 2007

Jennifer -> Jiffer -> Jif

Also, the black boyfriend of my aunt Janet got
Robert -> Spunzy
(He had spunzy bwack haiuh)
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:32 PM on September 11, 2007

My first and middle names are Martha Lee. My brothers have called me Marfie since infancy; a slightly lispy cousin (who heard my Southern grandmother forever using my first and middle names together) pronounced it Marfie-wee. Both nicknames have had more staying power than I'd necessarily prefer.
posted by mostlymartha at 12:52 PM on September 11, 2007

My last name is wieseler (pronounced we-zz-ler)
my nickname is weezy (pronounced we-z)
posted by DJWeezy at 12:53 PM on September 11, 2007

I've recently heard of 'Gahoo' for 'Grandma', which I thought was pretty endearing.
posted by Space Kitty at 1:00 PM on September 11, 2007

I came here to post the Geggy Tah explanation but IvyMike beat me to it, damn. I have one friend with an aunt Noony (Louise) and one with an aunt Baba (Barbara).
posted by clavicle at 1:10 PM on September 11, 2007

Not exactly the same thing, but when I was 1 year old and we got a puppy, I couldn't pronounce "doggie" (daw-gee), and instead I said "daw-zee". My parents decided to name her Daisy.
posted by gatorae at 1:18 PM on September 11, 2007

One evening, some drunken floormates couldn't pronounce my full name (Rosemary) and therefore it turned into Roro (pronounced somewhat like a beagle whoooo noise).

My Aunt Patsy became Aunt Pasty after a misspelling.

My brother calls me Dave because he always wanted a brother named Dave.
posted by sperose at 1:47 PM on September 11, 2007

My sister Nadine became "Nonnie" when my younger sibling couldn't say it. She lives a double life now -- her husband and family call her "Nonnie" and to everyone else, she is Nadine. She'll be 29 soon.
posted by parilous at 1:50 PM on September 11, 2007

"Waffle", for, of course, Wafaa...
posted by wafaa at 1:52 PM on September 11, 2007

Wow, since this hasn't disappeared yet, I'll offer my brother up: 'Pickle', for our last name. (A three syllable Italian name similar to but way less pronounceable than Piccolo.)
posted by cobaltnine at 2:11 PM on September 11, 2007

My sister, when she was really young, heard my name as "Barsh" and started calling me that.
posted by emelenjr at 2:23 PM on September 11, 2007

My birth name is also Ellen, like the OP's mom. I'm the eldest of three and both my brother and sister have given me nick names with mispronunciations. My brother couldn't manage the L's when he was learning so my family often adopted his manglings. I was Ian ("Aye-en") or Ed ("Edd-en") all through my teens at home.

My sister called me "N" just like the letter when she was learning to speak, and that's stuck with me to "Nelle" (swinging the n to the front), to "Nellen" to "Nelly-bean"

Not a given name, but somewhat related -
We three siblings loved the early version of the computer game Lemmings. When my brother asked to play it, the L tripped him up again and he came out with these really bizarre iterations-

Lemmings -> Yemyings -> (speech therapy, working on L formations) -> Fwemings -> Fwemingoes - FLAMINGOS.

We call the game "Flamingos" to this day.
posted by nelleish at 2:29 PM on September 11, 2007

My mother called her Grandmother Monga (pronounced Mahn-gah), because she couldn't say Grandma. And my late father-in-law was called Kiki by his little cousin, in lieu of Clarence.
posted by SixteenTons at 2:35 PM on September 11, 2007

Jamaal -> Memal (mee-mahl)
Kendall -> Tinno
Jason - > Desun
Gery (female) -> Gee
Britney - Burtney
posted by SoulOnIce at 3:06 PM on September 11, 2007

Brother Kevin had a sailor hat, so family members started calling him Skipper, which he pronounced 'Kipper, and Kipper he remains! Sometimes he lurks here, so hey, Kip!
posted by atchafalaya at 3:34 PM on September 11, 2007

My niece couldn't say Suzy or Sue when she was little, it came out Pooh. Now, all the kids call me Pooh, as do my parents, siblings, and husband.

My Mom is called Bahe by the same kid.
posted by SuzySmith at 4:23 PM on September 11, 2007

When my great-uncle Sherman was born, the siblings turned him into "Sonny". His sister (my grandmother) Phyllis was always "Din Din" to all us kids - my oldest brother, who was her first grandchild, would want her to get down on the floor and play cars with him, and he couldn't say "Grandma", but he could make a car-noise - dnnn dnnn dnnn!
posted by ersatzkat at 5:56 PM on September 11, 2007

When my little brother was a toddler, he referred to my sister Andrea as "Ah-ruh" and me as "Ay-yay" (my name is Amy).
posted by flod logic at 6:30 PM on September 11, 2007

I, on a weird day, christened my friend Rachel with the nickname "Chars". I guess, looking at it, I can see that there's an R, an A, and a "ch", which means it could have been a careless/sleepy pronunciation (honestly cannot recall). This was shortened to "Chz" for easy typing, and later lengthened to Charizard for maximal hilarity. From there it took on all sorts of mutations such as Charzord, Ch0z0xx, etc.

To return the favor, she combined my name, Simone, with my friend Talia's and referred to us as a pair, Somalia.
posted by crinklebat at 6:35 PM on September 11, 2007

I was two years old when my sister was born. Her given name, 'Kristen', quickly became 'Kiki'.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 6:38 PM on September 11, 2007

And to add a little Guatemalan flavor:

Arnoldo - Nono
Vilma - Pima
Hector - Yeto
Manuel - Meme
Victor - Toyo

The weird thing is all of those are not only aunts/uncles of mine but also siblings.
posted by papafrita at 7:00 PM on September 11, 2007

Not a given name, but my maternal grandfather is known as "Bambi" among my cousins due to my older cousin's inability to pronounce "Grampy".
posted by loiseau at 7:16 PM on September 11, 2007

Joba Chamberlain, rookie pitcher for the New York Yankees, was born Justin but has been called Joba for years ever since a young cousin started referring to him that way (connected to using Joba to refer to her brother Joshua). He's changing his name to make it official.

I had a schoolmate named Patrick but referred to as Packy all through elementary school thanks to his brother's mispronunciation.
posted by EmilyClimbs at 8:18 PM on September 11, 2007

When I was little I couldn't pronounce my name (Mary Margaret) and I turned it into Maggie Marger (hard g) - one of my aunt's still calls me Maggie Marger and uses that name on gift tags and suchlike to this day (I am now 34).
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 9:04 PM on September 11, 2007

Oh how they have mangled "Kathy"...

Kaffee, Koffee, Acky, and Pyapi.
posted by IndigoRain at 9:07 PM on September 11, 2007

When I was a kid, my younger sister's attempts at "Geoff" were coming out "Seff"... and somehow that became "Zeff"among various uncles.
posted by evilcolonel at 10:06 PM on September 11, 2007

I couldn't say my cousins' names - Nicholas (pronounced Nicolah) and Christopher - when I was a kid. They became Colala and Tofferfer.
posted by melisande at 3:43 AM on September 12, 2007

A childhood friend's mom's name is Susan, but she goes by Dugan to one and all since that's what her little brother called her as a child.
posted by weezetr at 3:50 AM on September 12, 2007

Geraldine -> "Derneen" as a result of childhood pronunciation mutilation.
posted by nthdegx at 8:34 AM on September 12, 2007

Great-aunt Susie was nicknamed Tudie or Tutie by young relatives. Aunt Kathy became Kacky, and Uncle Burt became Uncle Burp.
posted by Smalltown Girl at 7:22 PM on September 12, 2007

My cousins had a Brazilian nanny named Rosana, pronounced ho-ZAHN-uh. One cousin couldn't pronounce it so he called her Zozazie (zoh-ZAH-zee).

My best friend's nephew somehow managed to turn her brother's name, Craig, into Dude.
posted by radioamy at 8:50 PM on September 12, 2007

My mother's cousin Jim has always been called "Dim-Dim" since his brother couldn't seem to pronounce the "J". Poor man is now pushing 70, still called Dim-Dim.

Same as Smalltown Girl above, my cousin's Aunt Kathy is called Aunt Kacky.
posted by xsquared-1 at 7:22 AM on September 14, 2007

My grandmother is referred to by all grandchildren as Moggie. Courtesy of oldest grandchild.

My father and siblings called their grandmother Ganie (gah-nee).
posted by timepiece at 7:30 PM on September 14, 2007

Chiming back in belatedly because I just remembered another one: my friend Seth's nephew had trouble pronouncing his name, which led to the altogether excellent nickname of Uncle Death.
posted by scody at 10:09 AM on September 23, 2007 [1 favorite]