Random name notes:

Garson is a terrific name; I, too, went to school with a Trey who was really Cumbersome the Third; there is no conceivable way anyone not both legally blind and criminally insane could possibly think of addressing ND as Andy, is there?; Annabel is such a lovely name that it'd never occur to me to attempt to nick anyone who carried it; and I'm sure I've told the story of the fellow named Gareth whom I once met who grew up in the cornfield heartlands and got sent to the principal's office on his first day of kindergarten because the teacher thought he was defying her and telling her a made-up name instead of his real name, because everyone knew there was no such name as Gareth.

That's all I got.

My brother's name is Kip, but that was so unusual back in the '60s and '70s that it was just viewed as strange, not preppy. His band director kept mistakenly calling him "Skip" for four years, and the little old lady who lived next door always called him "Kippy," which he detested but never corrected her due to respecting her age.

My cousin Phillip (who has the same name as his Father) was briefly "Flip". Thankfully, we all got over that quickly.

Trudy, I'm sure it won't surprise you to learn that my sister was considering this for the WCN (World's Cutest Nephew).

addressing ND as Andy

Whoa. Dude. Look what you did there.

My full first name is Frederick. Always been Fred, except for a few years when I was Pete (first syllable of the last name) because I didn't want to be Fred, Jr. anymore. That phase ran from about ages 10-14 or so.

And Beej, this child in the '60s got too much "Fred Flintstone" to be anything but sympathetic to the "Bonny and Clyde"-type jokes you mentioned. Luckily I grew up in an area where the funkier side of soul never caught on, or I'd never have made it through the chart life of "Freddie's Dead."

"Fred Flintstone"

Mercy. I feel your pain.

What was it about that period? Do kidstaday make Britney jokes?

Trudy, I'm sure it won't surprise you to learn that my sister was considering this for the WCN (World's Cutest Nephew)

Surprise, no. Frighten? Li'l bit.

I have the burden of Ginger on Gilligan's Island.

But don't kids do that with EVERY name? I got "Hey, Robin, where's Batman?" and Robin Red Breast, etc. One brother got Crispy and Critter and variations thereof and the other got Panda bear, and Brandy, Mandy and other rhyming girl's names, also Candy Cane. Kids just do that, no matter what your name is.

My family is terribly terrible with names. There's what is down on your birth certificate, what you're called by family, and insert random other name here.

I have one aunt who I introduce to friends as "Denese, my Aunt Ann." Because she's my Aunt Ann, but she's Denese to you, bucko. Basically, her mother wanted her called Ann, but the woman who filled out her birth certificate preferred Denese. I have relatives that have dropped the Galileo entirely from their names, or shrunk Horace or Herschel to initials, or changed genders and therefore names. I have relatives (and me, to be honest) that were given "Well, just call her [blah] then!" (I was "it," which got expanded under pressure to "ita," and I have another cousin who was "the no name baby" and ended up "Nonaine" for her troubles. Then you have my sister who's essentially "Cathy." Not "Catherine." Just "Cathy." Which is totally not her name, by the way. It's just a parallel. It was reasonably recently that my father realised (read: found out) she was legally "Cathy."

My parents never let us have nicknames, despite my father going by his mother's maiden name except to his side of the family that called him "Brother Less" because he had a brother named Moore. My mother (the middlenamed Delores Delrio) is "Del" to family.

The most I have is either "fluffy bunny" or "hot and sour." Either of which I'm good with. My sister got re-diminutised, because people just like doing that.

eta:

Oh, yeah--I was "ita ita pumpkin ita" in grade school for a second--I swear, if you didn't get teased about something it's because you were too busy doing the teasing.

Oh, and I joined the "People Who Always Have To Spell Their Names For Other People" group on Facebook as soon as I saw it existed. They also need a "People Who Always Have To Spell Their Sister's Names For Other People" for lo I did spell hers more often than mine. People think they can spell mine (and are often wrong). They know they can't spell hers until they hear it spelt, and then they get it right for eternity.