My Several Nicknames

September 18, 2022

Throughout my life, I have had several nicknames. I think the nicknames that I listed below are all of them. What are your nicknames, past and present?

"Bungalow," "Bungy": I am a huge Beatles fan, so my nickname comes from the Beatles song "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill." I don't consider it silly, except when someone calls me "Bunghole," which is still good. You cannot get beer out of a keg without a bunghole. I received this nickname from my dormitory mates at Northfield Mount Hermon School with two campuses in Northern Massachusetts during the 1979-1980 school year. I was a postgraduate student at this prep school after graduating from West Islip High School in 1979 and before starting my studies at Villanova University in 1980.

"Kappa": This is my nickname in Alpha Phi Delta social-service fraternity at Villanova University near Philadelphia. (It's a national fraternity mostly at universities in the northeastern United States, but it is now defunct at Villanova University.) I was the best pledge in my pledge class, so I was honored with a Greek letter as my nickname. I never really used this nickname.

When I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s, my dad called me "Curly" because I had very short hair. He also called me "Speedy" because I was very slow. My mom recently told me that those were the reasons. I thought my dad named me after one of The Three Stooges and also the Alka-Seltzer mascot.

Several of my classmates at Beach Street Junior High School in West Islip, Long Island, New York, when I was a teenager called me "Butterfly" because I wore two Huckapoo (Huk-A-Poo) shirts (pink and purple) with butterflies on them. Hey, it was the 1970s. I may have been called that in sixth grade, too, which was the grade I entered after moving from Babylon, Long Island, New York, to West Islip during the summer of 1972, when I was eleven (11) years old.

"Bull": As a teenager in the 1970s, one day, I called my good friend John on the phone. His sister Lisa answered. I asked to speak with John. She asked who I was. I said "Bill" in a low (tone and volume) voice. She thought I said "Bull," so my friend's whole family started calling me "Bull."

"Barracuda": I used to play roller hockey with my friend John, his cousins, and our friend. Our team was called The Pacers because of John's last name. (my idea) He didn't like the team name, so it never became official. I received this nickname because as goalie, I would gobble up the pucks and because I liked the song by the rock group Heart.

I was called "Dollar Bill" and "Rich" briefly while at Villanova University because my friends thought my family had lots of money. Uh, not so much, but it's all relative. I don't think I was called that in high school.

"Bhakta Bill Dasa" is my nickname for my religion: Gaudiya Vaishnavism (Hare Krishna) which is a sect of Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism). Because I am not a monk, I am not required to totally change my name. I simply put Bhakta (science of devotion) before my first name and Dasa (dedication to) after my first name. Male devotees do this. Female devotees use Bhakti and Dasi.

UPDATE: I forgot "Pummy," "Pumpkin," and "Willy Lump Lump," nicknames my mother has called me since the 1960s, when I was a kid, and she still calls me those nicknames.

My dad also called me "Bubbe" (pronounced buh-BEH, but he pronounced it buh-bee). It's German for the word "boy," and it's also the German name of the Jack in a deck of cards.

UPDATE: I guess I could add "Buckwheat" to my list of nicknames. When my age was in single digits in the 1960s, and shortly after that, I would do "The Buckwheat Look." That's when the character Buckwheat from the "Our Gang" ("The Little Rascals") movie shorts from 1922 to 1938  would look sideways.