Did you have any nicknames as a child? How did you feel about them?, Storyworth question, 445 words

I like my name ok now but growing up I always hated it and I wanted a nickname in the worse way.  I begged my parents to call me a nickname.  In high school I wanted to change the spelling to Mari Lu thinking that would make my name much cooler, but that never happened.  i tried to get people to call me Lou or Lulu…that didn’t work either.  In college I decided to be called Mary.  That lasted for a year or so but then I decided that that wasn’t really my name, my parents had chosen Mary Lou for me so that’s what I should be called.  Around that time also, Brian and I were taking a numerology/astrology class at Everyone’s U. We learned that the letters of your name help to determine your personality traits.  I decided that it might be a good idea to keep Lou as it might add to my personality.  It took a while for people to get used to that and I still get Christmas cards from old college friends who call me Mary.  My Mom did end up calling me Mares sometimes.  My sister, Mardean, is Mars and I’m Mares so I guess I did get a nickname from my Mom after all!   

Mary Lou

Having the surname, “Swagerty”, the nickname, “Swag” was a natural choice. However, my dad had that nickname, so I didn’t want to also be called Swag. Swag was my dad’s nickname, so I didn’t want it. Don’t get me wrong…I love my dad. I just wanted to have my own identity. Brian isn’t very conducive to a nickname, so I was just Brian. My next-door neighbor and best friend’s name was Bruce. We hung out together all the time, and we were Bruce and Brian. 

In college, I was the largest (and probably the strongest) person on the swim team. I also had bent-over shoulders and swam the butterfly. My nickname from the first or second week in college was Igor. I think a lot of people knew me only as Igor. I was fine with this nickname…it wasn’t Swag. As time progressed and I had children, they were nicknamed Swag and Swags by their friends. It wasn’t until about ten or twenty years ago that I warmed up the the nickname, Swag. I now use Swag when I build wood objects. I have a branding iron now that says, “Made by Swag.” I think I finally came to terms with using Swag as a nickname, or at least a brand.

Brian