Posted on: Monday, September 3, 2001

Nicknames may be going out of style

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Nicknames are usually born of twin forces: necessity and affection. And nicknames have received a fair amount of attention in recent months because of the reputed nicknaming propensity of President George W. Bush — himself often referred to as Dubya because of the necessity of distinguishing him from his dad and previous president, George H. W. Bush.

Dubya supposedly hands out nicknames as if they're going out of style — for example, he has newly dubbed his wife "First," short for "First Lady."

But here's the thing: Nicknames actually may be starting to go out of style.

Playgrounds once populated with Susies and Bobbys are now filled with Suzannes and Roberts. Sure enough, Larry Bisig, whose name was first shortened from Lawrence to Larry, has a 6-year-old son named Lawrence who is called simply ... Lawrence.

"I'm not sure he would ever go by Larry," says the elder Bisig, of Kentucky.

The family, out of fondness rather than necessity, did give the little guy a series of nicknames, including B-son. But those names were retired recently when Lawrence announced that he'd prefer Lawrence.

It's happening in some quarters in Hawai'i, too. Anne Jordan dislikes it when people refer to her 1-year-old daughter as Pua when in fact her given name is Pualani. "When you cut the name in half," the Mililani mother said, "you cut the meaning, too."

Because the child was given the name by her tutu, Jordan said, it's important to keep it whole.

Pamela Redmond Satran, one of the authors of a new book, "Baby Names Now: From Classic to Cool, the Very Last Word on First Names" (Griffin; $12.95) says she and her co-author correctly predicted a no-nickname trend way back in the late '80s in their first naming book, "Beyond Jennifer and Jason" (St. Martins Mass Market Paper).

"It started as part of the yuppie-inspired move toward more serious names with historic significance, (like) Elizabeth (and) Henry; names that sounded upper-class (like) Cooper (and) Morgan. And it's also a reaction against all the Susies and Bobbys of our own childhoods," she says.

Christine Rose, a genealogy expert in California, says that ever since 1998, when she wrote a slim volume called "Nicknames: Past and Present" (Rose Family Association), she has found people eager to talk to her about their nicknames. And she found some feel strongly about being called by their given name.