Names will never hurt me?

At this time of year we have lots of pumpkins and they remind me of two things my school days where, probably because I had big hair and a larger than average head, a small bunch of girls gave me the nickname ‘Pumpkin Head’.

At the time I didn’t really appreciate the nom de plume but in hindsight I realise, I was getting a lot of attention which I could have basked in. 

Why do we give others different names? To most people I’m known as ‘bid’ even my family. 

When I was young friends used to call each other by their surnames, occasionally adding an extra letter or sound. Peach became Peachy and Leigh became Leigh Lie. I was simply known as Biddle, ‘bid’ came latter.

Some names were meant to be derogatory and hurtful. I remember one boy who had a rather short fringe and an exceptionally high forehead being christened Bill Tuphead. He also suffered a lot of bullying.

I like ‘bid’ I particularly like the way the letters mirror each other when written in lower case and there’s an ‘I’ in the middle. 

Another name I was given, when I was in the scouts was ‘Duck Face’ I hated this and as soon as everybody knew I hated it they used it more and more. Fortunately, I grew out of that phase. 

So, inspired by my pumpkin memory, I was wondering if anybody out there wanted to share their naming stories, whether they are painful, humorous or bizarre.