what's your nickname? mine is....

I was going over a draft for another post and it struck me; I have quite a few nicknames. My name is Jennifer. When I was growing up my grandmother frowned upon nicknames. As the story goes it may have had something to do with her family having a farm animal named Jenny back in Ireland. Heaven forbid a new friend called the house and made the mistake of asking for Jenny. They would be hung up on with the polite response "you've dialed the wrong number" click! I for one think it had more to do with the fact she felt people should be called by the name they were baptized, period. It's a Catholic thing.

When I was seven my family got their first beach house. During that summer while the house was full with all of my siblings and cousins I had an unfortunate encounter with a jar of Fluffernutter. Do you remember the marshmallow fluff that you could spread on a sandwich with peanut butter? By the end of the summer of 1966 I was not only Jennifer but I had then picked up another name Fluff; but only to my cousins and their parents who we shared the house with that summer.

At some point during my teenage years my parents and my brothers started to shorten my name and began calling me Jay. Jennifer had become very popular by then every other baby born was called Jennifer. I've often wondered if they shortened my name to avoid confusion. If you called the name Jennifer in the supermarket or the beach 37 different kids would come running.

When my husband and I married it was a package deal. Since the three children had contact however limited with their mother we had to decide upon a name for me out of respect to her, mom was never an option. We had to come up with something pretty quick so Jen was born and became my newest nickname.

That folks has been what I've been called by most people ever since.

What about you, do you have a nickname?

Do tell.