![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Tree-Knocker.jpg\")
\nKnock, Knock
\nWho\u2019s there?
\nAl
\nAl who?
\nAl give you a kiss if you help me break through this brick wall!<\/p>\n
\nKnock, Knock
\nWho\u2019s there?
\nAl
\nAl who?
\nAl give you a kiss if you help me break through this brick wall!<\/p>\n
Yes, that is truly a dumb knock-knock joke but it makes me think of what I\u2019d do if I was able to identify some folks by their given names.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s Al? Is he Alvin, Albert, Alfie, Alexander, Alexa, Alfred or someone else entirely? Although Al typically is a male name, I\u2019ve known a female that used it. <\/p>\n
Why do we even use nicknames? Wickipedia states hypocoristic, a synonym of nickname, is an “affection between those in love or with a close emotional bond, compared with a term of endearment.”<\/p>\n
I completely understand the use of endearments but nicknames cross over into the public realm and for genealogists, can be a nightmare! I speak for myself; Lori is my nickname. Why my parents didn\u2019t place that name on my birth certificate I don\u2019t understand. I asked! The response was, \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d Geez. My formal name wasn\u2019t a family name so there was no reason they couldn\u2019t have. My mom said she was going to name me Patty, after her friend, but when I arrived I didn\u2019t look like a Patty and my birth certificate name just came to her. Wonderful! She never could explain to me what a Patty looked like.<\/p>\n
I seriously considered even getting my name legally changed a few years ago when government requirements tightened and I had difficulty proving who I was as none of my legal documents matched. Hubby goes by a nickname, too, but his official records all used the same name so he had no problem. He has successfully kept his nickname out of public records. <\/p>\n
My problem began before I was out of diapers \u2013 my parents applied for a social security card for me using my nickname. I had no problem obtaining work (or paying social security all my working life!) under that name until 10 years ago when the laws changed for license renewal. To beat the system, I had to add \u201caka\u201d on my bank accounts, mortgage and credit cards and place my birth certificate name on my official records. I\u2019m so paranoid about being identified correctly that when I did my burial pre-planning a few months ago I made sure I included my given and nickname on the document. Problem was, my name is too long so I had to use whiteout and try again. Nothing like a genealogist messing up their own record!<\/p>\n
Even though we took great pains to name our children so they wouldn\u2019t have the nickname dilemma, nicknames are now back in vogue. Did you know there are online generators to help you select your own nickname? Who knew! Reasons for giving yourself a nickname are because you think your birth name is boring, there are too many people with your given name in your social group and you\u2019re being confused, your name is too long or it\u2019s difficult to pronounce. Some folks are even changing their names as they begin a new life experience. I can only imagine how much fun this will be for future genealogists to correctly identify individuals!<\/p>\n
On the flip side, these sites could help you in figuring out the birth name of your brick wall person. Check these out if you’re stuck identifying someone in your family tree:<\/p>\n
1001+ Cool Nicknames<\/a> Knock, Knock Who\u2019s there? Al Al who? Al give you a kiss if you help me break through this brick wall! Yes, that is truly a dumb knock-knock joke but it makes me think of what I\u2019d do if I was able to identify some folks by their given names. Who\u2019s Al? Is he Alvin, … Continue reading “Knocking Down Nicknames”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[386],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brick-walls","tag-nicknames"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=525"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":535,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions\/535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Origins of 10 Nicknames<\/a>
\nCommon Nicknames<\/a>
\n800+ Nicknames<\/a>
\nNicknames for Boys<\/a>
\nVintage Nicknames for Girls<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"