What’s really in a nickname?

Do we even really consider them “nicknames”?

My family thinks it’s really strange that I’ve always had nicknames and all my friends have also.

It really is their fault… I mean there are like 3 million Jennifers in the world. I even recall the story of when I was born and the nurse asked my Mom what my name would be. My Mom said, “her name is Jennifer”… and the nurse replied with, “really? There’s already been twelve other Jennifers this week”.

There were at least ten Jennifers in my grade growing up so to be different we all had nicknames.

The first ones were JT or Jen T. Then there was junior high where I was SuperTube and TubeSocks on the co-ed volleyball team. Then in high school I was Flo for a bit then I started working restaurants which led to TubeSwing and eventually just Tubes. Tubes stuck with me all through my Outback years… actually, some people didn’t even know my real name.

After Outback I was just Jen… then I had a stint in the virtual world as Ketura... and now I’m Nutscraps or Scraps.

My sister thinks it’s really strange. She doesn’t understand why we don’t just call each other by our names. She doesn’t have nicknames and none of her friends do either.

Why do some people have nicknames and others don’t?

Is it because I am a part of a fantastic-creative-free-living-spirited-left-brained bunch and my sister is a financial analyst (square)?