Naming Names
This morning, I wasn’t able to use my ipod due to some unexpected reasons. I ended up listening to the radio through my phone. I was listening to Mellow 94.7 “The wake – up show”. The dj’s were talking about names and nicknames. The female dj was talking about someone she knew whose name was” Monica “. When this Monica was a kid, people used to call her “Nica” for the reason I think because she’s a kid and suits her best and it sounds cute. When she grew older, she started using her whole name “Monica“because the name sounds like a strong and an independent kind of woman.
Then the guy dj started talking about his own name story. When he was in college, professors call them not only him by their surnames. To me and to the female dj, that’s kinda off. I myself don’t like to be called by my surname unless with a Ms. But he said, professors do this so as not to confuse themselves because there are some students with the same names. Another instance, there are four students named Anna. So they call them Anna 1, Anna 2, Anna 3 and Anna 4. Well lucky me, I didn’t have a classmate whom I shared the same name since grade school. Though I once had a classmate in college with the same surname, Joanna Marie.
It suddenly dawned on me the days when people used to call me “Pot – Pot “. When I was a kid, our neighbors call me by that name. I don’t know where it came from and how it came to be. I never got upon a chance to ask my parents about it. My three brothers have their own silly nicknames when they were kids. The second eldest was Carag. The third eldest was Tonting. And the fourth was Pitok. When they grew older, Carag became Jay. Tonting became Onson and Pitok became Ogie.
The other name I ‘m called is “Len – Len “. I think when I was already 10, they’ve been calling me “Len – Len “. Our neighbors and my brothers and parents call me by this name. When I started high school, it became “Len “. You see, it’s doesn’t kind of suits me if I’m still called Len – Len at the age of 13 or 14. My classmates call me by my full name then.
College, my classmates started calling me “jov “. I don’t even remember who started this but maybe it’s because it’s the first syllable in my name. From then on, all college friends and classmates call me jov until now. But, lately some of my high school friends have been adapting the nickname. Kidong, Kennedy, Jen and Joanne have been lately calling me jov. Officemates, formers, superiors, and mentors call me by this name too. But college friends were actually the starting place of this name.
It’s really funny when I remember what I used to be called. Len – Len was retained minus one Len plus the new addition Jov in my name or nicknames list. Len will always be family and Jov will always be with friends.
