Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them

Nickname is a name different in original and pronunciation from the original name.

I've had a few nicknames over the years and are mostly still used. I will give you the names in order as they were given to me.

Mandy Pandy

'Mandy Pandy' was given to me by our neighbors (The Van Bergen Family) in Arizona, no one calls me by this name anymore. Nor do I really remember it as I was very young (ages 4-7). My mother was the one who reminded me about this nickname.

Panders

'Panders' was given to me by our neighbors (The Collins Family) in New Mexico and a name that only my father still calls me. I love that my father still calls me this. =) I'm sure it somehow stems off the name 'Amanda Panda'. P.S. Happy Father's Day Dad!!!

Ovitz

Well first of all, 'Ovitz' is my maiden name... As for the name Amanda, you can imagine growing up there were a lot of us. In 1983 (the year I was born), the name "Amanda" was ranked #3! When I moved to Florida in 5th grade, there were 3 girls in my class who's first name was Amanda. This is when people started calling me 'Ovitz'. To this day, their are only two people that consistently calls me 'Ovitz' and that is Zack, Jared, and the random occasions when I run into people back home in good ole Lake Mary, FL.

Spike (aka SpikeOneus)

My first day of college was the summer of 2001. I was living in the student apartments at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). I had very, very short pixie hair back then. On the first day, my neighbor Patrick (neighbor aka Trick) asked me what my name was, I said 'Amanda'. He's like no, I'm going to call you 'Spike'... We became pretty good friends and when we would go out, someone would introduce himself/herself to me and I would say my name was 'Amanda'. Trick was like no, no her name is 'Spike'. I laughed at first, but after awhile it was actually a lot easier. I'd run into people at school and it was easy for people to remember my name, let alone recognize the platinum blonde pixie hair. The only person that still calls me this is my friend Jessica. Sometimes my Mom will say it, but I think it's to make fun of me. ;)

'SpikeOneus' came from Trick's roommate Ryan Lessig (aka Less). He would sing a catchy tune of SpikeOneus.

Bug

This is what Joe and I call each other. I have no idea how it came up... So if you ever hear me say 'hey bug?' when Joe's around, you know why.

PS - My Mom HATED the name Mandy. So NO ONE was allowed to call me that. ;)