Anyway, I'm trying hard to use it more because it seems like we very rarely call him by his name. To Malians, he's Kimberie, Kimbu, Kimby or Kiberlie, for his proper name. He's also called Djarra Ce(Djarra is his last name, Ce means man), Djarra Ce Nin(little Djarra man), Djarra Den Nin(Den is child, so little Djarra child), simply Djarra or even Kelly, which is my Malian last name. Sometimes its just Den. Oh, and with Kara and the gang, he's Warable, or pattus monkey.
Ian gives everything nicknames. I am often amazed at what he can nickname/shorten or otherwise lingo-ize. Its an endearing trait. I, on the other hand, made a vow pre-child (I could write a book on these vows I made that have been quickly broken...)that he would not be called silly names or talked to in baby talk voices.
Yeah...so the baby talk vow went out the window, as did the nicknames. Here are some of Ian and I's favorites...most to least popular.
Monkey(Ian's favorite)
Bug
Lovebug(my favorite)
Bugaboo
Monkey Doo
Boo Bug Doo
Honey
Sweetie
Monkey Doodle
Love
Little One
Honeybug
Cutie
Snugglebug
Grumpalupagous (when he's cranky)
Sigh. It looks even more cheesy when I write them all out. But such is the love we have for this dear boy. And at least we're not calling him Marsh. Its the only thing I don't like about his name. Its a horrible shortening of it...icky. Please don't call him that unless he asks you to.
2 comments:
Awesome nicknames!
I didn't even think of shortening Marshall to Marsh. I thought you picked a great unshortenable name. Us on the other hand, what were we thinking picking "Benjamin" when we don't care as much for "Ben"? I thought other adults would listen to how we introduce him and follow suit but as soon as you say "this is Benjamin", they say "hi Ben!". We knew it would happen, but I thought we could stave it off until school at least! Oh well.
We have some nicknames too. Most often he is The Man or The Boy and our dog Riley has always been The Girl. I also call him Boo a lot, and I have no idea why. He doesn't even respond to it, so I think it is on its way out. I do admit I call him Crabby Patty quite a bit (from Spongebob, of course) when he is crabby. My dad calls him Bentheman (Ben-the-Man)and my sister calls him Benjin. All kinds of combos floating around our house!
How are Malian names given? Since I am not familiar at all with Malian culture, seems like a strange move to go from Marshall to Kimberlie. Is it the meaning of the name that makes the change?
Thanks! So a Malian name is typically given 7 days after birth at a baptism like ceremony.
Kimby is the name of a kid that was a great friend of Ian's when he was a Peace Corps Volunteer, so we knew that Marshall needed a Malian name, as we had been given when we got here and Kimby sounded fitting. Its a name more often used out west, though, so more people in BKO know Kiberlie or another variant that he's oft called. It doesn't mean anything as far as I can telll.
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