Both my MCs - sisters - have rather long names. Cecilia (age 18) and Eleanor (age 23). They need nicknames so readers and their family don't have to wade through the entire name every single time. At the moment, Cecilia is 'Cee' and Eleanor is 'Elle.' The problem is I can't stand either of those options, but I'm having trouble thinking up alternatives. I was thinking maybe 'Celie' for Cecilia...? I am also thinking I'd like for their Dad to have given each of them a pet name that only he uses for them (technically resulting in both girls having 2 nicknames each - one is their dad's pet name, the other is a shortened name that everyone else uses). Ellie and Lonnie aren't options for Eleanor. Sorry if this is a completely insane thing to be creating a thread over. I'm just genuinely stumped on this topic! Looking forward to hearing your suggestions!
Cece? Ceil? Lea? Pet names are nice, if it doesn't get too confusing. But if only their dad uses it, it should be fine.
I unabashedly love character nicknames. The most important thing for me is that they make sense in speech, not just text - like, with my accent, I would never call a Cecilia 'Cee' because I'd pronounce her full name like 'Suh-seel-ia'. I might call her Ceels, or Ceecles (just personally I tend to lazily pseudo-pluralize names)? Celie/Celia would work for me too. El/Elle for Eleanor would come most naturally, but I did know a woman who went by 'Laney' (derived from the pronunciation 'El-ain-or' rather than 'El-an-or'). Is that different enough from 'Lonnie'? When it comes to parental pet names I don't think they have to make as much sense. In my experience a lot of parents call their kids food items (which is weird now that I'm thinking about it) like pumpkin or bean. They're more terms of endearment than really names, so I'd think of them as more about the parent's personality than much to do with the kid - it's matter of what they think is cute/nice, and they might use them for other kids or pets, too, so it's kind of non-specific.
When I was a kid, I had two friends, a brother and a sister, whom everyone called Pickles and Mugs. They were family nicknames that became everyday nicknames because the brother and sister called each other Mugs and Pickles.
For Cecilia: Cecil, Cecily, Cici, Sissy, Celia, Lea, Cilla, Cis For Eleanor: Nora, Elea, Ella, Nell, Nonie, Ellen I'm going to be honest and say that I personally don't like the way either "Cee", "Ceelie", or "Elle" look or sound, whereas I love both "Cecilia" and "Eleanor". I had an OC called Cecilia once, who was called Sissy, in one book I have a Cecilia who doesn't shorten her name and an Eleanor who's always been called Ellen, and in my other book I have a Cecilia who calls herself Cis. Re the dad names, you could have something to do with their personality: "Brains" for a clever child, etc. You could also have something babyish and have the kids protest that they're adults now, but the dad can't break the habit. (My parents still call each other "Mummy" and "Daddy" in front of my brother and me.)
Pet names can be inspired by traits and events. My wife's pet name given to her by her uncles is 'Rum Rum'. Its a sound she would make when playing 'car' that they thought was cute.
For Cecilia you can also have Celia, Cely and Lia. For Eleanor maybe Lea, El, Elle, or Lean. For me Ellie is really the most natural but you say that's not an option... Pet names are nice. My mother used to call me Little Poppy. You can call them based on physical traits or personality, or just a random cute thing. Flowers, animals, food, colors, adjectives, etc =)
I have three sisters. Emilee, Hilary, and Lindsey. You'd think they'd get classic nicknames, right? Emma, Hil, and Linds? Well, you'd be wrong. Emilee is often called Mo. It comes from playfully mispronouncing her name ("what's up Em-mo-lee?"). Hilary is Hoots. I have no idea where that one came from. And Lindsey often goes by Helen, her middle name. I tried to pretend I was a sister to Cecilia and Eleanor, and I found it most natural to call Cecilia by Sis (I pronounce it Si-seal-ya) and Eleanor by Lynn. Or even Lynnie. Hope that helps. Edit: As for the dad nickname, it can be literally anything. My dad calls me Two Ton (because I was almost ten pounds when I was born) or Skippy (essentially calling me a dork). He calls my step mom Sparky, from Aladdin ("Alright, Sparky, here's the deal..."), and my sister is (cough) Prep Dog..... She couldn't pronounce pretty properly when she was a kid, so it sounded like she was saying preppy. Turned into Prep Dog somehow...
Aw but I like Lonnie . And I like Cee and Elle. Sissy works well for Cecilia cos it could also mean little sister. Nellie for Eleanor? Love the idea of odd, random names from Dad - via 'Dad logic'.
I really like 'Nora'. Although it makes me think of Norah Jones. I'll have to see if I can overcome that association! Bahaha! You're the reason I can't use the name. I'm one of six siblings. Each of us had a 'dad-logic' nickname, that replaced our actual names to such an extent that if someone asked him our real names, he'd have to pause and think about it. He legit had to ask me, once, to confirm the six names for him because he blanked. So the six kids went by Jim (his middle name is James), Bubble (for Naomi), Gator (her name is Allison - so Alligator), Beak (for Michael), Stu (Stuart ... real original) and Herm/Herm (for Emma. Go figure). Now, ages 13 through 24, those are still the names the kids go by in dad's books. Except for me, because "And STOP calling me BUBBLE. I'm an ADULT NOW." during an argument several years ago. A family I knew years ago had a kid called Nathan and his dad called him Bob his whole childhood. He didn't have a reason, it just happened. My brother in law is Liam; my hubby and his sister call him 'Lee Lee'. I love how family nicknames are always so unique and tailored specifically to the individuals. Thanks everybody for your suggestions! I have thought through a lot of those options already and discarded them for one reason or another (I have this weird word/name association thing in my head where as soon as I know or know of someone with a certain name, I can no longer use that name... it's odd, and difficult to explain...)
If you think Cecilia and Eleanor are long names, I don't know what to tell you. I think Cece (pronounced SEESEE) would work for Cecilia quite well. Ellie would work with Eleanor.
Oh, Homer. Bahaha, Rktho! Compared to your characters, no real-world names will ever hold up in a discussion about length! Mine are easy to read, though. Hehe. Just teasing! To be fair, the names Cecilia and Eleanor are quite fancy and formal to readers who belong in today's world of Jessikahs and Emilys. The names are an indication of the sisters' mother's high-brow approach to the appropriate image one presents to society. It's very unlikely, in typical Australian culture, that two girls with 3-4 syllable names, would never be granted nicknames. Us Aussies don't like long names. Even 2-syllable names will be shortened (for example, my siblings Emma and Stuart have been Em and Stu ever since they arrived home from the hospital after birth). Giving Cecilia and Eleanor nicknames will help me slip more honestly into the Aussie tone of dialogue. If their dad calls out from the living room, "Cecilia," or, "Hey! Squid!" The tone of the dialogue immediately changes. Whenever I read 'Cece', I read it to rhyme with 'reece'. It just doesn't translate to that double 'ee' sound you mention. I imagine that's an accent thing, maybe! Aussies don't tend to go for the double vowel sound, in my experience. My sister's name is Alli. Grandma has always called her Ellie. So with that association (nothing against sis or g'ma), I can't give Eleanor that nickname. Again, that weird name association thing I can't explain.
I struggled to answer your poll, since my answer would be: Nicknames are great if they work, have purpose, and are instantly identifiable. I would also pronounce Cece as SeeSee, not as cease. I would tend to think of Ellie as the shortened version of Eleanor.
I like Cee and Elle (C&L), but aside from those - I'd probably go for Ellie for Eleanor and Cilia for Cecilia. Had the story been set in Swedish it would probably be Cici/Sissi but I'm guessing calling her Sissy isn't the nicest thing. I rarely refer to people with nicknames. Of those I can think of only two are short for their names and one of their last name. The others are more "random" - though I'm sure there is a story behind them all. For daddy-nicknames - well, when my dad calls for me and it's important he usually uses "Emelie-Ida", my first and middle name like it's a double name. We don't really have cute pet names in my family. To be honest I don't think it's a very Swedish thing, at all. I could be wrong, though.
I was bored, scrolling through old threads, don't know if you still care, but I've just had an idea. If you go, as Lemie suggested, with Cee and Elle (C&L), you could have words beginning with C and L as dad-logic nicknames. (Cat and Lemur, maybe?)
I didn't answer the poll, here is why- In real life if someone has a nickname, they usually will have more than one. Your family might call you Boxy because you liked to play with boxes instead of what came in them. But your brother may call you Flappy as a kind of put down regarding boxes. As you are growing the Boxy name will get out and kids will modify it and keep changing it, and by the time you graduate high school your comon nickname may be CB for cardboard box. Then 10 years later and more friends later, people will know you by the name when they knew you and the people you work with might call you something completely new. When I write I keep this in mind. When I read and a character has multiple groups of friends that they have known for awhile and only have one nickname, I tend to discount the story because it doesn't feel real to me. Something that does feel real to me is, let's say a boat owner being calld Cappy by everyone. I just figure that the people that didn't like them, and call them Captain Blye or something else, just aren't a part of that story. When someone calls out to me, I generally can place when I knew them by what they call me whether or not I can place them.
Or Carrot & Lox since those were the only things they would eat for a month when they were 1-1/2 years old.
