What’s in a Name?
The first thing I said when I saw Beanie on my first ultrasound was, “It looks like a bean!”
And, it stuck.
Throughout my pregnancy, we referred to him as The Bean. Mostly it was because that was a gender neutral nickname. The Bean. Endless possibilities. Well, really just two possibilities – boy or girl.
Once we knew we were having a baby boy, we still kept referring to him as The Bean. I had a weird feeling about calling him by his name before he was actually here. Something about that seemed strange to me. So, we stuck with The Bean.
And then he was born. And we gave him an actual real human name.
Michael David.
Only we never stopped calling him The Bean. In fact, we started using even MORE nicknames for him. Bean, Beanie, Beanie Weenie, Beaner, Bean Bag, Beanie Bear.
But never Michael.
In all honesty, I didn’t even really notice what was happening. I was intentionally calling him Beanie on the blog to sort of separate him from his real life. But before I knew it, that nickname was taking on a life of its own.
Then last week, my boss said to me as I was leaving my office, “I hope you and Michael have a fun evening!” I stopped for a split second and thought, “Who is Michael?”
And then gasped in horror as I realized I DIDN’T RECOGNIZE THE NAME OF MY OWN SON!
I immediately ran home to Chris and demanded that we banish the name Beanie. His name is Michael. We would call him Michael.
So for three whole hours, Chris and I called him Michael. “Michael spit up!” “Michael needs to burp!” “Michael smells like manure!”
But it just didn’t feel right. It didn’t sound right. He felt like a stranger to me. A tiny, little, smelly stranger.
Where was my Beanie? My little Bean Bag? My Beanie Weenie? My Beanie Bear?
So, I ignored BOTH my Grandmother and Chris’ who said that Beanie was no name for a little boy. I ignored those inner thoughts I had about that kid that I went to high school with who was named Boo. I ignored all those people who warned me that using a nickname as a baby would result in a 53 year old man named after a legume that gives you gas.
I ignored it all and called him Beanie. And I don’t care what anyone says! We’re gonna call him Beanie!
Why?
BECAUSE I’M THE MOM. THAT’S WHY.
27 Comments
Sandy
There will be 15 Michael’s in his kindergarten class but only 1 Beaner…YOU ROCK DUDE!!!
Hilary
We didn’t have a nickname for my daughter in the womb and I felt bad about that. Then when she came out, the nurse who helped with my labor and delivery, weighed her and she was 6 lbs. 14 oz. so when she handed her to me, she said, “Would you look at that adorable little munchkin?” And that was it. I don’t know why, but “munchkin” just stuck. Now she’s almost a year and half and answers to the following: Munchkin, Munchy, Munchkin-doodle, Doodle, and most recently Doods. However, whenever we try to call her by her real name, she usually ignores us. This is one of the hidden benefits of daycare – you can be sure they are NOT calling him Bean so he will learn his name. Takes some of the pressure off you!
Amanda
I felt weird about calling our son by his name for a few months. I felt so much responsibility at giving a person his name. Since it sounded weird to say “Jack”, we wondered if we’d given him the right name. He did grow into it, and he’s the most perfect little Jack in the world. The nickname that we use the most is Boozle. Buddy Boozle. Weird, I know.
Danielle Melnyczenko
Aidan is 3 weeks old tomorrow and on my blog whilst I was pregnant we referred to him as “Little Mezza” or “LM” for short as “Mezza” is his father’s nickname and “Danimezza” is mine. Calling a cute little real life baby Little Mezza just seemed wrong but Aidan seemed too big of a name for such a tiny baby. This week I’ve made a mental note to call him by his name.
Whitney
I always wondered what his real name was. Its funny because Michael doesnt look right. I dont look at him and say yes he is Michael. I look at him and think oh look at little beanie. ha ha. We call Presley Miss P or Peepers or when Im really mad or really happy I call her Presley Denise.
Christina
That’s great! I called my first “Baby Girl” (very original, eh?) for months because I didn’t feel like her name fit. It finally clicked though. We also call her Beala (like the name game song…Michaela, Michaela bo-beala) from that song that I just mentioned.
Our son we called (well, I called) Monkey. More than I called him his name. It just fit.
I think his nickname is just perfect. And you are the mom! And what else needs to be said?!
Sarah
I’ve actually thought about this very topic before. I always figured that you called him Michael more often. I thought, “I don’t know if I’d have the strength to call him anything but Bean, or Beanie, etc.” Haha.
Shelley
You are not alone…I have a “Moochie”, from the very first time I saw her on the ultrasound, I thought, this “thing” is mooching the life out of me because I was feeling so crappy. It stuck and “Moochie” is now 7 years old. We call her “Mooch”, “Moochie”, “Mooch Panooch”, “Moochie Panoochie”, “Moochie Pie” but NEVER Alyssa! I’m not even sure if she knows her name is Alyssa….hmmm, I’m going to have to look into that! 🙂
Alexandra
De-lurking for a moment…but I love the nickname Beanie!
p.s. Is it just me or does Beanie looks like an engagement ring in your ultrasound?
Lori at I Can Grow People
I just figured that Bean was kind of your blog name for Michael. So many other mom bloggers give their kids nicknames I assume to protect them a little from all the scary people on the interwebs.
We really didn’t have an in utero nickname for Porter. We didn’t find out the sex before hand, so we just called our baby “baby.” In fact, I still say things like, “We will have to do that before the baby gets up” even though our baby now has a proper name. And since we really can’t shorten Porter to a nickname we also call him a variety of things: Little Buddy, Little Boy, Little Man, Little Guy, Puddin’ Pop, Sweetie-pie and on occasion, P-Bo.
Heather
I love nicknames.
Corinn
We have a 7 week old named Porter, but we NEVER call him Porter. His name is Bug. And that is what he is called. Sink Bug, Love Bug, The Bug… and the list goes on. I fully expect for him to introduce himself as Bug on his first day of kindergarten, but it’s okay. I wouldn’t have it any other way 🙂
danielle
BEEEEEAAAAAAANIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE! See? It just works. Michael, well you can’t do that with Michael. There just aren’t enough vowels in there. I love it. Me and my husband look at the pictures of The Bean and we laugh and laugh because it is, indeed, perfect. I’m tempted to get pregnant just so I can say “Beanie” all the time!! Haha.
Holly Decker
dont worry, we arent judging you.
i SWORE and SWORE that i would only call my kid Charlie, but my goodness, its almost like its not sweet enough or something and i have been calling him Chachy (like from happy days) and i cant freakin stop.
anyways, i feel better that you shared this post because i was under the false impression that you only called him BEAN because this is the freaky scray internet and you were trying to protect his true identity, and in real life you called him Michael. but now i know that you are attatched to the name bean, and i love you for it. because i am too! 🙂
Mindee@ourfrontdoor
Eh, he’ll eventually grow into his name. We’ve had all kinds of nicknames for our kids over the years but they all answer to their “real” monikers now. Besides, once he’s old enough to yell at you’ll be calling him MICHAEL DAVID!!
Sarah H.
So I was thinking–the transition from Beanie to Michael is very difficult. Perhaps Beanie to Mikey? Maybe?
naomi
‘Bean’ is awesome. And even if it does stick with him for the rest of his life. It’s always cool to have a nickname.
Nona
Bean is perfect I had a nick name but my parents interduced me as Jilene (my name). I have 3 adult daughters one name Erin Jean
and I call her that Erin Jean, she doesn’t let anyone but family say this. I think its funny how she does this. Enjoy everyday even the sick ones!!
Lily
I think ‘Bean’ and all the other permutations are wonderful and fit him perfectly! I seriously doubt he’ll have identity issues -kids are smart enough to figure that out – look at all of the other things they have to figure out in life. Also I agree w/ a previous poster that they’re calling him michael @ daycare. In China it is very popular for children to have nickname until old enough to be able to use their ‘real’ name (when they go to school). I think bean is great but, yes you’ll have learn his real name LOL!
Kelly
Throughout my pregnancy, we refered to Amelia as a foodstuff based on what size we thought she was at the time – Lima Bean, Fig Newton, etc. After she was born (2 months ago today!), she really liked to be swaddled, and she looked like a baby burrito. And, well, that’s what stuck. I call my poor, poor daughter Burrito.
TeamHaynes
Aw, what the heck? Bean is cute! He’ll be Michael one day but for right now you have all the control. I say go for it!
the inadvertent farmer
And you birthed him so that is all the reason you need! Kim
Ginny
My poor little brother was a very large baby when born, but also premature, so he was very jaundice. Due to his size and color, my mom called him Pumpkin. My 6’4″, in the Army brother is still Pumpkin to our mom.
Ginny
And, I just realized I have the same name as you sister…I’m glad my first comment could add some confusion. 🙂
votemom
our firstborn was/is a Bean. she’s really an Emma. and she’s now 22. but i still call her “bean” or “beaner” or “emma-bean”.
bean is a GREAT name. incidentally, so is michael ;o)
Katie
Oh, thank you! thank you! thank you!! This makes me feel so much better!! – Katie
Jenn
I just read this today… and it makes me feel so much better that my 20 year old brother is still called Binky… I can’t call him anything but Binky, it’s just too weird, even though he’s a full foot taller than me now and outweighs me by a good 100lbs. (He’s 11 years younger than me.)
So if The Bean’s Mama calls him Beanie forever, I don’t think he’ll mind. 🙂