They Call Me Lots of Things

"What's in a name?" Shakespeare posed the question in Romeo and Juliet, and we mostly don't give it much thought...until we have to name some new family member. I guess I've always been somewhat fascinated by the process and what people think about their given name when they are old enough to have serious thoughts about it. i mean, there's your name, and then there's your "playground name," the one all the kids call you when adults are not around. This has come to the fore recently for me.
First of all, there's a grandchild about to be born: the first girl. Her given name will be something very specific as dictated by her maternal grandmother and the folkways of Cambodia. Needless to say, it won't be "Mary." The middle name is important because I suspect the playground name might emanate from that one. But, that's not for me to decide unless I buy the naming rights. However, there are some interesting ones out there: "Braidy," for example, or "Tiki."
The scorekeeper for tonight's volleyball matches was named Tanika...probably not so odd in the worldwide scope of things, but she lives in a very small town populated by primarily Eastern European descendents. I knew there was a story there so I asked her why her mother chose the name. My search of the geneaology of names indicated that "Tanika" was a girl's name that originated in India and means "rope." Uh, sure...why would that be a girl's name? None of the kids in Slumdog Millionaire had that name so I was puzzled. Of course, there are a gazillion people in India, and I suppose it's possible that they ran out of typical names and began naming children after inanimate objects like "Floor" or "Cat" or "Ganges." However, when I asked Tanika about her "playground names," she said with a wry smile, "Oh, they call me LOTS of things." When I pressed for specifics, she volunteered "Tiki" and "Braidy," the second owing to the fact that she wore her hair in braids during softball games. HEY! "rope" "Braidy": almost makes sense now that I establish the connection.
Anyway, back to her naming day: I expected something exootic, given the ancestral background of the parents. Turns out, her mother had a dream that the baby would be a girl, and she would name it "Tanika." My guess is that the dream followed one of those pregnant woman things with pickles or ice cream at 2 a.m.
My father-in-law's name was Rembert, but everybody called him Humpy. Since he had good posture, I asked where the name originated, and he said it was a baseball term used when he was a kid for a batter who had a hitch in his swing. Now that makes sense.
I asked my mother why she picked my name, and she said that she selected it because it was unusual and nobody she knew had used it. Thanks, Mom. I'm constantly being asked about "My brother Darrell and my brother Larry," characters in an old TV show. I don't even want to TELL you my playground names. Some things should never see the light of day.
"Braidy" could be OK. "Tiki" makes me think of torches with citronella fumes coming out, or one of those giant wooden heads we see in every movie about Hawaii.
I won't tell anybody that "Tanika" actually means "rope." That probably shouldn't get around.
After all, "What's in a name?"