What Is Your Nickname?

A repost. As originally published on EV Mail News for the week of October 10-16, 2011.

http://www.evmailnews.com/eastern-visayas-mail-issue-of-october-10-16-2011

"And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them." -Exodus 6:2-3

Names are very important. In some cultures, they believe that a person's life, his character and personality, his destiny and future, depend largely on the name given to him at birth. There are also some societies that give names that mean something to their people. No matter where our names come from or in what type of culture or society we live in, people tend to agree that names are very essential and are very dear to the heart.

As I was writing this, I googled the most "unpopular" names for babies. Not surprisingly, no parents in their right minds would call their babies Judas, Demon or Satan. I've never met or known of any parents who would be eager to name their baby as Lucifer, Hades, or even Saddam (this last part is pure speculation on my part, who knows, Saddam may be considered a "hero" by his own family and "friends?").

It doesn't really matter if these parents are godly or not but for some good reason they stay away from these types of names. We love our children too much for us to knowingly "burden" them with names that have negative and evil stigmas that come with it. I'd like to believe that all good parents won't voluntarily bind their children to a "bad name" for the rest of their lives.

We can say that we all agree that names are important but how about nicknames? Are they as important and significant to a person's life journey? Nicknames might not be as essential as our real names (for example, the agents at Customs or in any Immigration office would not bother to ask for your nicknames unless you're known to have an infamous one like "Scar Face"), and yet they are a part of our lives.

To an average person, it is normal to have a number of "pet names" which they have "acquired" throughout the course of his life. For me alone, I've had a few nicknames which I've "gone through" over the years. Some of those nicknames are not in use anymore (for obvious reasons) and some others have been forgotten already and a couple of them may somewhat be "irrelevant" to who I am now. Let me explain.

Parents and adults have the tendency to call babies with "silly," funny names. I guess it comes with the territory. When we take care of little, cute, cuddly miniature human beings, adults can't help but be silly at times. We resort to "baby talk" (the gooh gooh, gaah gaah), excessive cuddling and "panggigigil" (translated as "excessive thrill" or "overly adoration" --sorry this is the closest I can get), and giving babies weird nicknames.

So when I was a baby, some members of my family began calling me Dit-dit. To this day I've no real idea where it came from or what the nickname means. When I went to grade school until I graduated from college, my classmates just called me Mara or Mar, which is perfectly understandable since that is my name after all. When I started working, some of my close friends began calling me Mayang. I love it because I know the people who call me that are very good friends.

In Chicago, my friends at work call me Mara-pooh or Mara-sweet. They are the only people in the world who call me that. Then there is another group of friends who sometimes call me MJ, short for Mara Jean, which is really not my actual name but it sounds right and I love it. There's another friend who calls me Mara-san just for fun (and she's not Japanese in any way). I know that those who call me by these nicknames are some of my great friends. And then of course, I'm just plain Mrs. Dizon or Meldrick's mom to my son's friends and classmates, which is perfectly fine with me.

These are the nicknames I've "earned" through the years and as you can see each one of them has a story attached to it. Each nickname is "tied-up" with a particular group of people that have touched my life one way or the other. So, when somebody calls me Dit-dit (which is very unlikely now), I would know that that person comes way back since my infancy. The only people I personally know who used to call me Dit-dit are my Dad, tita Lalaine Jimenea and my late grandma Corazon (my Dad's and tita Lalaine's mom). To those who know me as Mara Marcos, I'm a hundred percent sure they are from my hometown in Tacloban City. And if I hear someone calling me Mayang here in Chicago, I would truly freak-out because the only people who call me that are hundreds of miles away from me.

These are the stories to my nicknames. You see now why I said that even "pet names" are very important in one's life? Without them, I will never be the Mara I am today, I will be incomplete. All those names are intrinsic parts of my whole being. I'm glad I got to have nicknames which mean something, not only to me but to the people I care about.

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." -Romans 8:15

"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." -Galatians 4:6-7

I'm also very happy to learn from God's Word that since I am His child and because He is my Father, He has made me to know His "nickname" and I can call It out anytime I need Him. Abba in the Aramaic language means father. But it does not just simply mean father, it is an address of esteem and is used with deep affection. It's a non-formal way of calling a father with personal intimacy. It can be loosely translated as like calling your earthly father as Itay, Tatay, Daddy, Papa or Dada.

With this endearing term, God has given His children a much more open and a personal access to Him as the same way as to call Him 'Tay or Dy. God wants a closer, meaningful relationship with us that's why even if He is the Almighty, Holy God, Creator of heaven and earth, the King of kings and the Great I AM, He still wants us to call Him Abba, Father. What an amazing grace! This is nothing I deserved at all. I thank God I can call Him Tatay and also for He knows not just my name but all my nicknames too!