Nickname Names

An interesting and attractive bicultural choice--the Hebrew version is used for babies born in spring, when turtledoves arrive--especially as a middle.

Giovanni is the Italian form of John, and Gio is its dashing nickname. A lot cooler than Johnny, no?

Best left at the Jersey Shore.

Soft and mellifluous nature-surname name, situated miles away from the dated Marshall.

Gugu is derived from the word igugu, meaning "treasure." It's commonly used as a nickname for Gugulethu.

Francie is one of the most neglected nicknames for Frances, despite having more style value than Franny and Fanny and being more unique than Frankie. We'd love to see it get more use, whether as a Frances short form or as an independent name.

Often stands alone in Israel, but rarely here.

One of those Old World nicknames -- think Sally and Patsy -- that long ago crossed over to the girls' side.

Brother for Biff and Bud. McFly rocker Tom Fletcher transformed this from midcentury short form to modern cool name when he used it for his newborn son.

A cutesy nickname — identical sounding to the more substantial Rue and Roux.

Joining Lennon, Bowie, and Hendrix in the realm of classic rock-inspired names that feel fashionable today is Jovi — as in Bon Jovi. Jovi is a variation of the Latin Jove — another name for the Roman god of the sky, Jupiter.

Will this old-fashioned nickname make a comeback, now that Jane has shed her "plain" image? Janie is cute and approachable, and would stand as well on the birth certificate as Josie and Jessie do now.

Slim may be too on-the-nose for the child of two beautiful models, but it's the name Nara Pellman and Lucky Blue Smith chose for their son, Slim Easy. Smith, who has daughters named Gravity Blue and Rumble Honey, is known for choosing outrageous word names. But Slim — when pronounced as "SLEEM" — can also be a short form of the Arabic name Slimane. This origin is shared with Pellman's middle name, Aziza.

Zsa Zsa is a zippy Hungarian nickname name, sometimes used independently, linked for decades with the Hungarian-born actress Zsa Zsa Gabor--who was born Sari.

Attractive, underused name made famous by the heroine of The Color Purple. Still, if you're going to go to Celie, why not go all the way to Celia or Cecelia? You can always use Celie for short.

William was such a popular name, thanks to the Conquerer, in early England that it gave rise to a range of nicknames, including the distinctly Scottish Wilkie. Heard mostly as a surname these days, it's the middle name of Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick's son James and the first name of writer Collins. While Wilkie could make an adorable short form for a little boy, we'd recommend a more substantial full name such as, well, William.

Seems destined to be the preferred short form of this old French name, with its brief, modern, word name feel.

Kizzy was a character in Alex Haley's Roots; this and other Keziah variations were widely used among enslaved people. In Roots the name is explained by the hero Kunta as 'you sit down' or 'you stay put' in the Mandinka language meaning that 'this child would never get sold away'.

Peaked in the 1940s, but still an amiable classic, a la Joe and Tom -- though rarely used on its own.

Audacious offshoot of Roxanne, the wayward heroine of the musical Chicago.