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I don't think I've ever known someone who went by an unusual nickname on a regular basis, but I've seen them, I suppose. My mother calls my father Bubba, for example, which is only considered unusual as a nickname to some people, of course. This derives from when they lived in Texas together, where they found that nickname to be used by some other people, too.

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My mother also often calls my oldest sister George. To this day I have no idea why. I'm pretty sure I asked her once and she said that she herself didn't remember.

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Also, when my cousin Gina was around probably three-ish, she insisted on being called Little Foot (or so I've been told), after the character in The Land Before Time.

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ETA: Of course, right after I post this, I remember more:
When I was very young I became infatuated with the characters from the Disney movie A Bug's Life. I think for a while there I wanted to be called Dot, like the one character, and since I used to want an older brother, I called my sister (not the one mentioned above) the name of the prominent male character in the movie, Flik).

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ETA again: I know someone who calls her little sister Leech. Her sister has a nickname for her too, but seeing as I am today, I probably won't remember that for several hours...

This message was edited 8/20/2010, 8:28 PM

My dad's uncle was known as Bunt all his life since he was a baby. I've known an adult man named Bunny because his surname is Warren. I'm guessing he was probably ex-army. They go in for nicknames like that.

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A girl at my school started to be nicknamed Weenie. Her name was Christina and someone called her Teenie and then that became Weenie and it has stuck. When her engagement notice was printed in the paper, it just mentioned Weenie which I thought was a bit stupid, but each to their own!

Brownie - an elderly woman my mother knows. At least I hope it's a nn :P

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My cousin calls his sister Booj. They heard it one day when their family was talking about someone and thought it was hilarious and her brother adopted it.

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I used to know a Toastie - the story behind it was not that interesting. He had gotten the nn from his father - so my friend and I called him Son of Toastie.

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Óg is the Irish for young and it is used for junior. As in Sean Óg. So you hear Ógi as a nn sometimes.
My brother went to college with a Jap (his friends reckoned he looked Japanese) and a Bubba(cried a lot as a child). He also had a friend called Chun.

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My great-aunt had a distant cousin called Custard - because he had an unhealthy yellowish complexion. My mother has no clue what his name actually was. Also she knew a Pratie - because he liked potato cakes too much.(Prataí is the Irish for potato).

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Nicknames are pretty common here, especially in communities where people don't move away and people tended/tend to to have the same first name. Nicknames can be passed down like Toastie.

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My grandmother was always called Addie - it was only when she died I found out her name was Ita. She was called after a family friend who was emigrating and who herself went by Addie.

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This message was edited 8/19/2010, 10:34 AM

My biology teacher in high school went by Cookie. It took me at least two years before figuring out her name was actually Carol-Sue. Some others are:

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Squiggy (m)
Lucky (m)
Halfie (m)
Chick (m)
La (f)
Earl (f)
Mushie (m)

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And I know some girls who often go by their last name, so Cook, Parks, Woodworth.

I don't think they're really bad, but my boyfriend's brother goes by Igger / Igg and his sister is Bird / Birdop. Nobody really seems to remember why.
My brother calls his daughter Puddin' Cakers (I can't remember ever hearing him call her by her actual name), but since she's only 9 months old, I wouldn't call it strange.
My dad used to call me SarahPoo, SarahPie, or Miss Kitty (I really liked cats).
I sometimes call my best friend Dumpling, and she refers to me as Chicken (to make us chicken & dumplings - she was Dumpling before I was Chicken).
When we were little, my brother and I used to jokingly call our dad Sparky, in reference to the time he was struck by lightning.
For a long time, I called my grandmother Gummi, and nobody ever figured that one out.
My cousin is called Noodles - a lot more in the past than she is now. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think there was a story behind it.

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None of these people go by those names full-time, and they were mostly childhood nicknames, just like your son being called Pickle.

This message was edited 8/19/2010, 8:26 AM

we have a Aidy Moo (was originally Mousie Moo as he's so small but it didn't stick), Finnie Foo and Calla Coo (which phonetically means Fish Moon in Finnish, so she is also Little Fish).

DH's cousin has a Michaela known as Kayla, a Christopher known as Tiffer and another daughter whom I forget. Michaela's son Andrew was nned Pinny as a baby because his legs were remarkably skinny, and when they had a daughter they nned her Minnie to make a matching set. (Her name is Caroline.) Now they've had another child whose name and gender I've never heard, but I'm hoping like mad it isn't Ninny.

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ETA I was at school with a wonderful Erica who died too young: she was always known as Egg or Eggs after her elder sister's attempts to pronounce Erica when she was new; to the extent that when she got engaged, the notice in the newspaper had her as Erica Joy (Eggs), daughter of ...

This message was edited 8/18/2010, 11:03 PM

I know a woman whose family calls her Doobie. I always thought that was really unfortunate. (All I can think of are Dobie and Boobies.)

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There's a guy in a band and his bandmates call him B Real. I have no idea what that means. Whenever it's lowercased though, I always think his name is Breal and I'm always trying to decide if I like it when I realize it's B Real. That's just weird to me.

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My uncle grew up being called Boo Boo. I cringe to hear things like that.

A friend of mine has a cousin named Tootie I've never learned her real name. Her mother is Peaches (her real name is Eileen).
A neighbor goes by Flip her real name is Philippa.
A girl I went to high school with was named Frances but was always called by Frank.
My daughter Branda was called Peanut until I tried to put an end to it it when she started school. It wasn't easy by the way family still called her that for Years.

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My father calls me Pookie to this day. I have no idea why.

Tumbleweed, My nickname because I am prone to falling
Cactus, I don't know how some gets this as a nickname
Rapid Rich, he was a racer.

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I had a friend, female, who went by Weasel. Two of my friends who work at a camp go by their "camp names" in real life too: Canvis, Cube, and Kipper. My family has a few odd family NN, nothing used in real life. I'm Ladybird, my cousin Adele is Ma Belle, Jared is Pup-Pup, Paige is Peanutbutter, and Danielle is Danbo.

I was a Pickle! (plus many more)

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In high school, but I don't remember why.
I have a cousin called Boogerman (he got the nn when he was born; he's 30-ish now).
My brother-in-law is Sarsaparilla (sp?) And dh is Moose.
My uncle gave me, his wife, and all his kids nns...Lulu Bird, BooBoo Kitty, Pick, I don't remember the rest.
Another cousin called me Lucy (unusual considering my name is Jessica).
I used to call my aunt (Tammy)Honey, and me and all my adult cousins and our spouses (and now the next generation) call my uncle (Barry)B.
B called me Pork Chop Suey for a while.
My cousins wife (Felicia) is called Flea.
My baby sister (Felicia)insisted on being called Reina for a time. She was also called Fifi.

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Forgot about my great-grandpa (A.C. for Arthur Courtney) was called Joe (to the point that his daughter named a son Joe after him), a great-uncle (Lawrie) goes by Pete, and my grandma (Elsie) was Aunt Tinker when some of her nieces and nephews were little.

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I also know a Chilli. I think his fn is Charles.

This message was edited 8/18/2010, 8:39 PM

I kinda think these are bad--all are real people who always go by these names and never their actual ones:

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Bootsie
Pootchie
Mookie
Batman
Cheese
Cowboy
Buster
Chop

My area abounds with unlikely(at least to me)nick-names.
My daughter once had a boyfriend nick-named"Microbe". His actual name was Andre.

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Not necessarily odd..very usual is to preface a male name with "Ti", for "Petit"..Ti-Jean, Ti-Paul, Ti-Luc. These last a lifetime. My son's father-in-law calls him Ti-Joe. (his name is Joseph, and he's a fairly big guy. )

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I spend a fair ammount of tme in the (Canadian) Middle East community, as my husband is from there. They have some trying nick-names; I know a couple of men named Fouad, always called Foo-Foo.

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I used to have a boyfriend nick -named Moose.

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I also have an uncle nick-named T.T. His actual name is Edgar.

I know a man called Chick, too. I don't know what it's short for. I also know a man who goes by "Pepper"/"Pep" whose real name is George.

Someone in my family had a friend named Charles who went by Chick rather than Chip, Chuck, or Charlie. I thought that Chick was an odd nickname for a guy.