80's on the 28th....nicknames

Ever look back to try and figure out where or when you got your nickname? If it's one you've had since you were a kid it's probably something to do with your name. If it's from high school then most likely it came from some extra curricular activity. But if you got it in college then it surely has to do with something stupid that you did.

For me it has to do with my name...more specifically my last name. I've been called it for as long as I can remember. Used to put it on the back of my school sweatshirts and everything. Heck most people probably thought that was what my last name really was. My brother has a similar version of the nickname and my oldest son has taken it on too and even has it as his signature line of his texts and emails. Now granted I did have one that went with my 1st name and occasionally it is brought up by random people but had I been born say 20 years prior it may have had a little more staying power due to the Disney miniseries by the same name; Davy Crockett. But eventually it would have gotten confusing when I got older because Fess Parker (played Davy Crockett) went on to play Daniel Boone in that long running TV series too. So how does someone end up playing 2 different historical figures of the same genera? I guess the same way Ryan Reynolds is playing 2 different super heroes (Deadpool & Green Lantern in case you were wondering).

Oh I almost forgot about the short lived Super Dave; in reference to Super Dave Osbourne during the time he was on Letterman & Carson and that Nike commercial kept it around for a bit longer. But alas that one came and went too.

So I'm stuck with Siggy...with the last name of Sigler it fits. My brother goes by Sig. It's not degrading. It doesn't produce foul language in the Name Game Song (Banana-fana fo-fana) and it doesn't rhyme with any bad words either. Which is why our son Cole is not named Tucker...sorry not spelling it out for you. We understood as parents that the name can make or break a kid. Kids are cruel. My wife also saw the importance of initials....ok more like saw through my attempts to name my other sons Andrew Sam. Remember the last name Sigler here folks. I also tried to get my nephew named that if they weren't going to name him after me. I told them 1st or middle name I wasn't picky but no. Which is why I have been  forced to nickname my nephews. No one is taking me serious....David or Marc would be great names. I would nickname the nieces too but it's just not as funny. Take for instance I have a nephew I call Rusty. Nothing out of the ordinary plus it's cute for a little tyke with a crazy amount of hair. Until you find out his last name is pronounced "tool". Then it makes it hilarious. I gave my brother-in-law options that my sister almost disowned me for. How cool wouldn't it be if your name was Bosch or Milwaukee or DeWalt or Ryobi or the perfect Porter Cable and have the last name like Tool. Talk about a mans man. But again shot down so now he's stuck with Rusty...Rusty Tool. My brother just had his 1st son the other week and I helped prevent the nickname problem. After they refused the Andrew Sam (FYI my brother thought it was great....his grade school teacher wife did not) and again David or Marc nixed so that left them with only the name Max and a bunch of variations. They settled on Max but Maximus was on the table until I brought up Gluteus. What kid doesn't laugh in grade school when learning about the gluteus maximus. But Maximus would have been great for my brother and me. We grew up with Transformers and we would have called him Maximus Prime; which we still may but that would've been cool. But I've stuck with calling him Maximoto. Why; I don't exactly know but it sounds techy and trendy so I'm sticking with it.

Oh just remembered another one. I forgot sometimes you gain a nickname from coworkers. This can be a little tricky depending on if they like you or not. But when a group of you all have the same nickname just followed #1, #2, #3 etc then it can't be too bad right? Well that depends on the nickname and if you can remember how you all got it. Eventually one of our friends got to add a prefix to this nickname because he earned it and he became Dr. Dumba$$. How we got the nicknames Dumba$$ #1 #2 #3 or who gave them to us I don't remember but this was during the college years so who knows. Heck we probably gave it to ourselves. It could possibly have been our our uncanny resemblance to the Three Amigos or quite possibly the 3 Stooges but it maybe one of those unanswered questions.

So in retrospect I still get called Siggy. I don't mind it a bit. Some people may not even know my real name and only know or remember me as Siggy. I think we all know someone like that. My son has embraced this nickname too but I'm not sure if the other 2 will. Maybe someday Maximoto will go by Sig, Siggy or Sig Jr too but I'll leave that up to him since I've already given him a name.