Comments on: Apodos: A Latino Art Form. What’s Your Nickname?

By: trigu3na s0y

trigu3na s0y — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:20:54 +0000

My apodos that mainly just my Dominican mami and my oldest hermano called me growing up were Chichióque(means God has shared blessings), Chichi and Cheech(which are obviously derivatives of it. I had an idea why they’ve always called me that but it turns out my imagination was wrong! lol My step-dad also still calls me Sunshine, even in my adulthood, and I call him Papa Bear. Anyway, thanks for this post! Also, I agree that it could be considered a Latino art form, yet I’d like to note that in Dominican tradition, the apodos we give our children can also be due to superstition, I won’t get into the eery part of the reasoning on here (google: Dominican tradition/superstition) but typically the apodos we give have nothing to do with that child or persons real name but more to do with how they look, a physical characteristic so they’re personal identity is kept secret. By using their real name it risks someone trying to curse them. I’ve read similar reasoning in other Latin American/Caribbean cultures. Just some interesting info to share!

By: Handmade Con Amor

Handmade Con Amor — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:52:57 +0000

That´s a good one…apodos! Ok, so my dad is Chino (Victor), my mom…hold on to your hats, is Toya, Toyis, or the mexican version I recently integrated, Toyitzin but her real name is: Maria Victoria Patricia Alessandra Rosa (aha, for real…!) Sisters: Mina, Minis (Sabrina), Gaviota (Gabriela) and me Guaya (Claudia). Ufff, I feel better now…

By: Carrie

Carrie — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:05:51 +0000

Can I tell you all how much I love and adore the sharing of your apodos?

Giselle, my aunt calls my cousin pulgita too. I love it…and indeed, non-Latinos have a hard time wrapping head around it being sweet…hell, even I do sometimes.

Jessica, good thing your mom didn’t work at Wal-Mart or Osco!

Bonnie, I am all about the Bon Bon, pero Boner, no guay!

Chivet, cua cua cua!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 06:31:02 +0000

So true!

Lets see my name is Jessica Marie and I am known as YayYa (Most Common), Mami, Mari, Jayka, and the craziest one is Penny (because my mom worked at JC Penny when I was little?!?)

By: Giselle S.

Giselle S. — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:44:44 +0000

My Cuban grandmom used to call me “pioja” or “pelusa.” I once told an American friend that it meant “lice” or “tiny lint ball” in English and she was completely confused as to why that would be endearing. My grandmom still calls me by these names when she hasn’t seen me for a while or during sentimental moments. It is amazing how being called lice or tiny lint ball is so comforting. And so Yaya!

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:23:19 +0000

I am laughing out loud!! My nicknames were Bon, Bon Bon, and the unfortunate Boner. Oh, yes and Big nose Bonnie..I still have a complex.
I have a Tio Tito, and I am not so sure that was his real name or his nickname.

By: Sr Pena

Sr Pena — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:18:13 +0000

Soy maestra de espanol basico aqui en los Estados Unidos, y siempre llamo a mis estudiantes mijo, mijito, papi, papito, nene y la version femenina a las chicas. Al principio me preguntan que es eso, les digo q es como decirles Honey. Y tambien us el diminutivo -ito & -ita en sus nombres (ellos adoptan un nombre en espanol para la clase).

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:35:21 +0000

I love this! My name is chivet. So much so that when my little sister was in fourth grade a teacher said she saw her sister, Elizabeth, and my little sister said she didn’t have a sister Elizabeth.

And a few years ago my cousin Jasmine asked me why our Tio Cheke called me something weird earlier that day, but she couldn’t remember what it was….Changa fea? No. Gorda? No.

Ummm….Elizabeth?

Yeah! Why did he call you that?

I then had to explain to my 9-year-old cousin that Elizabeth is my name, but chivet is really my name…you know ;-)

By: Carrie

Carrie — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:19:00 +0000

These are awesome and priceless and creative and poetic! Thank you all for sharing them…and maybe someone can give me a good way to describe the “Negro, negrito, negrita” apodo to American friends….hmmm?

Here’s what I call my daughter: Bug (because it felt as if a bug crawled across the inside of my belly the first time I felt her move); Nena; Beba; Shushi; and Boobie. I have no idea why I call her Boobie, which is the one I use most.

Be sure to click over to La Flaca Chantel’s post about nicknames.
http://yucababy.blogspot.com/search/label/nicknames

And, here is the NPR story link she mentions, which is great:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4492754&sc=emaf

By: Elisa Molina

Elisa Molina — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:44:03 +0000

jaja. I love this. Yes, apodos are common in the Dominican Republic. To tell you that when I was little my family used to call me Elisita. Then, when the Chavo del Ocho became part of mainstream TV in DR, I used to be called ‘La Chilindrina’ – gotta love that one! As I grew up, I was then called Chilin, since I used to cry when I was called la chilindrina because I didn’t think I was that ugly – Dios! Now, at work I started calling people Chichi as in bebe and to this day that’s what I am called…”chichi, can you send this bla bla bla”; I was very impressed to see that my close coworkers called each other that as well and has become common in the team (excluding the boss of course).

Great post!