What's in a name?

Bindi girl

This morning as I was sitting on the deck trying to get my required daily dose of vitamin D, I was watching my little foxy, Bindi, as she sat there turning her head from side to side at the early morning sounds going on around us.  Bindi will be 9 in December, which isn't too old but it's getting up there.  She's starting to go grey around her face and eyebrows but apart from that she's still as foxy as ever.  I don't know why but for the last few months I've been thinking about what sort of dog I'll get next and more importantly, what I'll name her.

I don't know about you, but I had the best time picking names for my children, although come to think of it, Supportive Husband won out in the end!  But the pets have all been named by me.  Bindi was named after the little prickles we get over here called bindis and also because I heard Steve Irwin had a pet crocodile named Bindi and I thought, what a cute name for a puppy.  Some of the breeds and names I've come up with for my next dog are - a German Shepherd called Hera, after one of Zeus' wives; a black and white Maltese Cross called Coco, after Coco Chanel; and this morning I came up with a black Cocker Spanial called Miss Ceili, after Whoopi Goldberg's character in The Colour Purple.  Poor Bindi - I wonder if she knows I'm already thinking of her replacement?

This got me to thinking about my own nicknames - I have quite a few.  When I was a little girl, my Daddy called me Urgs because apparently when I was a baby, all I said was 'urgle urgle'.  When I was about 15, he started calling me Tootsie.  Now, I don't think it was because I look like a man impersonating a woman!  I'm pretty sure it was after a horse that won him a lot of money!  My brothers called me Caz and this name stuck and eventually my closest friends started using it.  When I started uni, this is how I introduced myself and now, this is what everyone knows me as - even the lecturers.  My Mum, for whatever reason, has just started calling me Schmoopy - I don't even know how that started.  And Supportive Hubby calls me Babe, obviously because I'm a babe!

Now this brings me to my real name, which I'm very rarely known as or called.  It contains part of my Mum's name and is a derivitive of an extremely popular English name which means, 'little woman born to command'!  Even when I tell people my real name, I'm inevitably called the popular English version.  No, I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag and reveal it but you're welcome to guess if you like.

With all these names, it's no wonder I'm continually having an identity crisis!  How about you - what's your nickname?