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I didn't have a really formal nickname growing up, though I was sometimes called Ames and Ramie. :) I think that might be part of why I like them so well; my sister, whose name was the same length as mine, was a Boo for a very long time. I'm sort of jealous of people who can remake themselves in an instant by choosing Liza over Libby, or Nan over Annie. I feel a bit better about it now, since I get called by my initials a lot here in college. :)

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I love nicknames because it's like owning a reversible coat. He might be born a James, but he can be a Jim or Jimmy in an instant. Besides the flexibility, it's a question of image for me. I'm made uncomfortable by terribly formal or stereotypically upper-crust sounding names. (For example, there's a girl here named Briggs--yes, Briggs!--and I'm glad I don't know her personally, because how awkward would it be to call someone Briggs?) William is yuppie, Anglophile, or just hard-assed. Bill and Billy are far more down to Earth sounding. I'd simply much rather associate with an Al than an Alexander--he sounds more up my alley.

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I think the final main reason I like nicknames is because I love jazz and blues, and the genres are full of people with nicknamey names. There's Bessie, Billie, Ella, Dizzy, Jelly Roll, Benny, Charlie, Dave, Buddy, and Willie, among many others. On the other hand, there's Miles, Eric, Louis, Lester, Oliver, Sidney, Robert, Lionel, and Scott, but their names are all to the point. Nicknames sound sharp and witty to me.

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Of the names you listed, only Hallie is the one who'd escape a nickname from me, if they were my children. The others would be Billy, Ed, Mick, X, Xie, Flip, and Della.

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When the truth walks away, everybody stays--'cause the truth about the world is that crime does pay. So if you walk away, who is gonna stay? 'Cause I'd like to think the world is a better place.

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I'd like to leave the world as a better place.