Usually a nickname comes after one acquires their real name. Not always!
When my sister was expecting her first child, I became a little annoyed with referring to the baby-to-be as “it”. I decided to give the anticipated bundle of joy a nickname. So “it” became “Zeus”. Zeus was on my mind because of a fake TV show that was a bit on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Much to my surprise, it stuck.
Ever since then, we’ve had nicknames for all the expected siblings and nibblings. When my sister was expecting her youngest, she went with “Neptune” sticking with the theme of Greek and Roman gods.
With our eldest, we once again found inspiration in late night talk shows. One of our favourite chat shows was The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. We particularly loved his cold openings featuring a menagerie of puppets. One was a pig by the name of Gustave Flaubert. Another was a crocodile by the name of Wavy Rancheros. Thus was born the nickname “Wavy Flaubert” – Flaubert for short. Even after our eldest was born, it took us a few weeks to choose a name, so in the interim we continued to use the name “Flaubert”.
When our next child came along, there were a few contenders. However, what stuck was “Mr. Baby”, selected by our eldest. “What if Mr. Baby is a girl?”, we asked. “MR. BABY” was the adamant response. At least it was better than the alternate suggestion: “Salami”.
Mr. Baby it was.
A Deck of Ancestors 
Funny! How do the kids feel about the nicknames? Are they still in use?
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Once in a while they come up. Moreso with people we see infrequently, as it still seems “new” to them.
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