Carly never got a nickname from her parents. Only her sister has a nickname. And Carly gave that to her when she was two from a nursery rhyme. The one where Polly puts the kettle on and Sukey takes it off again. Her sister’s full name is Susanne, but she’s always been known as Sukey. Even her sister’s children have nick names. Unlike Carly and her other siblings. Carly is still jealous of her sister’s nickname and wants to give herself a nice one. She had some at school, but they weren’t very nice. Mostly she was called Fert or Fart. Neither were appropriate or kind.
So, when she was in her mid-50s, Carly went on a course. It was all encompassing. It was for her body, mind and soul. During this course she told everyone she had had a brain transplant. Obviously, this was metaphorical. Or maybe metaphysical? Carly knows you can transplant most organs and even limbs but not brains. Well, she thinks not? Anyway, she is adamant she hasn’t had a personality transplant as she was happy with that aspect of herself. Well sort of. As happy as one can expect at this stage. And when she had this “brain” transplant, she took a new name. A known diminutive of her given name. Take out the letter ‘o’ and replace the ‘ine’ with a ‘y’. When Carly previously drew out her name, she drew a car connected to a washing line by an “o”. Car-o-line. By removing both the “o” and the (l)ine she was radically departing from her former self.
When you take on a nickname later in life, you can actually research this pretty thoroughly. And especially in the days of the internet, you don’t have to go and invest in a baby naming book.
Carly does like making lists. And looking at other’s lists. She finds a large number of nicknames before she decides on Carly. She isn’t sure she has chosen the right one. But she is pleased there are 23 to choose from. A very lovely prime number. Saul’s favourite. Carly has recently found others who are just as obsessed about prime numbers as she is. Her favourites are 7 and 19.
Nicknames for Caroline
Caro – The most common nickname for Caroline. This is what her Mum calls her now.
Carol – Carly never did like this name. She apologises to all Carols out there!
Callie – Is Callie a nickname for Caroline? Seems so. Urgh thinks Carly.
Caddie – Caddie is an old nickname for Caroline. But it reminds Carly of a wooden caddie where you keep things, especially tea leaves. She is not sure that this is how she wants to be perceived going forward.
Cal – A shortened form of Caroline. Sounds like a boy’s name, Carly thinks. She is keen to remain a woman, even in these days of gender fluidity.
Car – Short form of Caroline. For real, thinks Carly, she wants to be a car? Errrrrr, no thanks.
Cara – A sweet, short nickname for Caroline. Carly agrees but has chosen a different diminutive.
Cara Curls – For a Caroline with naturally curly hair – well Carly has pretty straight hair so this would be misleading, she thinks.
Care Bear – “Perhaps, the sweetest Caroline nickname according to this search”. Watch out. This has induced strong nauseous feelings in Carly. She may just vomit.
Carla – This is sold as another popular nickname for Caroline. But it makes Carly think of an opera singer. And one thing Carly cannot do is sing. Once when she was in rock choir the singers either side of her put their fingers in their ears to drown out Carly’s singing. Carly realises that this is a problem with choirs that don’t require auditions. But Carly is sad as singing in this time of lockdown could increase the possibility of spreading coronavirus. Hence it is banned. When she cycles down the Holloway Road in the dark no one cares or can see her singing her heart out.
Carly – The lexicon says this is a cool name for Caroline. Carly is smiling. This is why she chose it. Can you be cool at 50? Carly thinks so. Her children certainly don’t.
Carolien – A Dutch variant of Caroline. “Hardly a nickname” muses Carly. All they have done is swap the last two letters around. Really this isn’t a nickname. Harrumph thinks Carly. It is more like a misspelling.
CaroMine – Carly does quite like this one.
CaroWine – But Carly likes this one even more. It is true that Carly does like a drink but to be defined by it in a nickname you chose in the later stages of your life really is opening yourself up to all sorts of problems.
Carrie – Another common nickname for Caroline. But Carly knows quite of lot of them, and they remind her of Carrie’s war which is sad. Carly has enough sadness in her life without choosing a nickname that would constantly remind her of this. Carly wants to choose a nickname which is about new beginnings.
Cat – Carly considers this a stretch, but it is a legitimate Caroline nickname. Actually, she wishes she had chosen this. She totally loves cats but too late now. Her work signature file always has some black cat image somewhere in it anyway. Never mind!
Cathy – Carly has been told this is a nickname for Caroline. But this is a stretch. It is clearly one for Catherine.
Cawol – This name is listed as suitable for a baby girl named Caroline, because if she could talk, this is exactly how she’d pronounce her name. Oh dear, Carly cannot bear this. She really might puke this time.
Caz – This is popular in the Antipodes. And Carly already has a friend who uses this nickname. Carly just got there too late!
Coco – This is listed as a cute or funny Caroline nickname; it depends on your tone. Carly isn’t really sure about cute. There is something that irks her. And it always reminds her of Coco Channel. Carly is popular but she isn’t famous! But maybe one day……
Leena/Lina – This is from the end of Caroline. Carly doesn’t really like names beginning with an L which is the 12th letter of the alphabet. C is the 3rd (prime) and much better and the C letter itself is much curlier she muses. L is too straight and angular. Not at all cuddly.
Arrow – From (c→-ARROW-line). Carly looks at this and just thinks this is mad, mad, mad. She doesn’t want such a ridiculous nickname. The derision of having Arrow as a nickname is unfathomable. Like her childhood nick names of Fert and Fart.
Olie – This nickname is using the middle of Caroline. But really it is a boy’s nickname so no thanks to this one.
But to change your name in your 50s is no mean thing. It is most likely (and hopefully for Carly) over halfway through your life. Carly for sure wants to live up to 100 but probably not much more. Who really does? So, when Carly changed her name, many people she knew got annoyed or irritated. Some got downright angry saying that it was too big a proposition for them to follow. They lectured her that she was far too old to do this. But Carly retorted “why not now?” And then followed this up with “if not now, when?” Actually, Carly used much worse language to be honest and stronger sentiments than this rather meek questioning style.
Certainly, her children won’t use Carly. But they didn’t use Caroline anyway. And “Mum” from them will always be fine with her. She is their mother and not their friend. Boundaries are important to Carly, and she feels it is important to maintain them at all times. She also wanted her name to align with her children’s names. She now rhymes with them. They all ended with a ‘y’. They have all left home now, but this way she could remain close to them. She thinks they will vomit when they read this. Gosh what a lot of nauseous feelings floating around!
All the younger people easily manage the change to call her Carly. And of course, all the new people she meets do this as well. Most see taking a nickname is important and respect this. But some don’t. Some blatantly refuse and say she doesn’t look like a Carly. Others take the piss. Like the father of her children. He signs off an email as Artichoke. Now this is just plain silly. Carly is a real name. Artichoke is a vegetable and not a nickname for Ades. She is not sure what he is trying to do. Half of her thinks he is trying to upset Carly (her sad side) and the other half to rile her (her angry side). He is probably just trying to be funny. Anyway, Carly feels somewhat invincible and continues to keep her new name despite protestations from others.
Since becoming Carly, she often didn’t respond to this name when she first changed it. For 54 years she had been called Caroline. She didn’t even mind that name. But it was very common, and Carly likes to be original. Carly knew at least 30 Carolines. All born in the 1960s and 70s. Also, she had a change in her marital circumstances, so this seemed another reason to take on a new persona. And there was a Carli who had fancied her ex-husband when they were students. This didn’t now matter!
Funnily enough she did learn after about a year to respond and answer to being called Carly. But for the first month she wore a badge with Carly is big writing. No SHOUTY capitals or underlining. This is another one of Carly’s obsessions besides not using abbreviations. These are grammatical obsessions. She also loves purple, prime numbers and spirals. These are her non-grammatical obsessions.
People kept approaching her asking why she was wearing a badge everywhere with her name on it? Had she lost the plot? “No!” admonished Carly. It just helped everyone remember to make the change. Including Carly herself. Only at the beginning.
Carly thinks about other famous Carlies. She really admired Carly Simon, a famous singer who sang “You’re so vain – I bet you think this song is about you, don’t you?”. There were other Carly references online such as the American teen series iCarly and an app for cars. Carly had heard of neither but was happy to take them on as part of her reincarnation! Needs must, Carly said to herself, banishing Caroline to the mists of time.
