Bad nickname

[speakunique.livejournal.com]

I just found out via facebook that a guy a grew up with just had his second child, a daughter, named Serafina Rose. Very cute, right? UNTIL I was reading through all of his congratulation comments where he replies to one of them that "Fifi" can't wait to meet them. Fifi is a a name for a dog, agreed?

Comments

[pirahan.livejournal.com]

Yes. well I knew a very old French woman named Fifi, but that doesn't count.

[speakunique.livejournal.com]

Old French woman, yes. Newborn to two people of Italian descent, no.

[designingdreams.livejournal.com]

That isn't a great nickname, but in his defense, newborns usually have a thousand nicknames that don't end up being the ONE nickname they're called for life... I mean, I called my newborn at least 20 different nicknames that I don't even remember anymore.

[speakunique.livejournal.com]

Normally I would agree with you BUT his other child, a boy, is nick named Gigi so I feel that Fifi will stick due to the theme.

[designingdreams.livejournal.com]

D-: okay, yea, that's pretty horrifying.

[how-obscure.livejournal.com]

Serafina Rose is so lovely. I hope Fifi doesn't stick. It makes me think of French poodles.

[speakunique.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY!

[charuby.livejournal.com]

As a nickname I think it's cute.

[gf-girlie.livejournal.com]

Yucky. And to find out DS is "Gigi" makes it 283429342 times worse.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

It can be, but so can Bella or Zoe or Rachel (I have known a dog named Rachel). Fifi started as a short version of Josephine. My sister is a Josephine called JoJo; you can say she has a pet's name, too, but she gets a lot of compliments on it IRL because it's cute and spunky and fun, and she's a cute and spunky and fun person---it fits her, and Fifi may fit this little girl. Or it could be something only her dad calls her. It's not as offensive as you think.

[speakunique.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I met a baby Rufus who is so adorable but my dad has a dog named Rufus so it made me giggle when I first met him. It could just be a name that only dad calls her, which is a special bonding thing between them. Now you made me feel guilty, hahaha. I don't find it "offensive" necessarily but I just don't like the name Fifi. I hope they stick with calling her Serafina.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

I didn't mean to make you feel guilty. I like nicknames like Fifi, JoJo, Lulu, or Coco if they're nns for longer names like Serafina, Josephine, Lucille/Luciana, or Coraline, but not as given names. I think I may have jumped on this one because it reminded me of seeing Nameberry posters bag on JoJo as a nickname, so I'm sorry if I sounded a bit harsh.

[dustthouart.livejournal.com]

I don't hate it, as long as it's the nickname and not the full name (so she has to option to avoid using it).

I really like Coco as a nickname (for Cosima) so maybe I'm sensitive to the "that's a dog's name" accusuation. :)

I met a baby Lulu (little sister to Isaac) at toddler group a few weeks ago. I don't know if it was a nickname or not, but she made the name really cute.

[un-attra.livejournal.com]

Hm...Fifi wouldn't be my first choice in a nickname...with a name like that there are way more nicknames that they could do.

[lipsty.livejournal.com]

There are so many lovely nicknames for Serafina. Fifi is not one of them.

[twitchywoman.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's so bad. It reminds me of my parents' cat Fiona who they sometimes call Fifi, so I associate it with someone I love.