Nicknames

kaitie · Sep 4, 2010

Ah, my darling experts of knowingness. I've got another question for you.

I've got a character who uses a nickname for a kid they've picked up. I want him to call her "little bit," but I'm not quite sure how to write that. Caps? No caps? Looks funny with caps to me, but would it be confusing otherwise?

Jessianodel · Sep 4, 2010

I would write it in caps, cuz it's a name right? What if someone's nickname was Jon, you wouldn't spell it jon.

Or maybe people do...But I'm pretty sure it's caps.

whimsical rabbit · Sep 5, 2010

Hmm... Good question.

My protagonist has two different nicknames. One of them is really a combination of her first and middle name's first syllables, so I capitalise.

The second nickname is really the cub of an animal (think 'kitten' for example), so I don't capitalise it.

I'm interested to see what the others say.

vfury · Sep 5, 2010

I wouldn't use caps, personally, because it's not actually a nickname from their name. It should be fine if the reader's able to figure out that it's a nickname.

Kenn · Sep 5, 2010

Definitely capitals if she is going to be called that. Think Tiger Woods, Bing Crosby, The Little Corporal, etc.

If it looks strange, then there is no reason why it cannot be made into one word; Littlebit or perhaps Lilbit, which might be a play on Elizabeth.

Devil Ledbetter · Sep 5, 2010

I agree on using caps. Write her nickname as Little Bit because it stands out as a character's name, where little bit lowercase is more than a little bit confusing in the context of a paragraph.

My rule of thumb is that a "proper" nickname gets capitalized, while common terms of endearments (honey, babe, sugar) are lowercase. But if the character's nickname was Honey, it'd be capitalized.

I'm pretty sure that in The Outsiders, Soda Pop, Pony Boy, etc. were capitalized.

blacbird · Sep 5, 2010

Caps. Otherwise you risk the reader sliding right past it, not recognizing it as a reference to the character, and having to go back and re-read to be sure. Never a good thing.

I've never seen a nickname used without an initial capital letter.

LynnKHollander · Sep 5, 2010

If it's a name, capitalize it.

Chase · Sep 5, 2010

Jessianodel and the last four posters for capital letters are correct. Any name, nick or otherwise, gets a capital. Makes no difference if it's derived from a given or surname. Peggy for Margaret, for instance. Dick for Richard. Dad instead of Father (when used as names, not my dad or my father).

The confusion probably comes from terms of endearment, such as dear, love-of-my-life, numb-nuts, darling, and "Hey, stupid!"

Maryn · Sep 5, 2010

Chase said:
"Hey, stupid!"

You talkin' to me?

Maryn, grinning

Chase · Sep 5, 2010

Maryn said:
You talkin' to me?

Okay, okay! I forgot your nickname for Robert, Bob. You could make a lot of dinero with that impression.

kaitie · Sep 6, 2010

I actually was thinking caps, too, but when I put it in it looked funny and I didn't like it. I really like the suggestion to write it as one word, though. I definitely think I'm going to go with that.

Thanks guys.

seen92 · Sep 26, 2010

It's a name. Caps. It looks silly because it's an unusual name, no?

If you used the phrase "little bit" in a sentence people might get confused otherwise.

"...a little bit went a long way..."

"a Little Bit went a long way..."

same as calling someone Big Red. Uncommon names.

Susan Coffin · Sep 26, 2010

Caps. It's his name for her.

Kyla Laufreyson · Sep 27, 2010

whimsical rabbit said:
The second nickname is really the cub of an animal (think 'kitten' for example), so I don't capitalise it.

This made me wonder: in Breathtaken, my MC's love interest refers to him as 'kitten' the vast majority of the time. (The MC actually complains about it, then decides it sounds kinda creepy when the love interest calls him by his name and tells him to stick with kitten).

In my first draft, I didn't bother worrying about capitalisation for it, but since I'm revising now I've been wondering--should 'kitten' be capitalised? I'm thinking yes, since it is his name for him, but I want to be sure.

ChronicSelfEditor · Sep 27, 2010

If I may offer my thoughts on the matter...

Using a nickname of any kind should be capitalised in my opinion for the simple capitalisation rule that applies to capitalising Mom (when speaking directly to her) vs. my mom (when talking about her). Technically Mom isn't her name so I view it as a variety of nickname. You're essentially using the nickname in lieu of someone's real name and using it when one character is speaking directly to another. So I'd capitalise it.

heza · Sep 27, 2010

The whole idea of capitalizing Little Bit but not kitten, darling, etc. throws me off. Here's the difference I see....

If I'm a character running around in the story and I've been calling this kid "Little Bit," then if I come up to you and say "Have you seen Little Bit?" then you would probably know who I'm talking about.

If I come up to you and say "Have you seen Mom?" then you can be pretty sure that I mean my mom.

But if I come up and say "Have you seen darling?" then you're probably not going to be completely sure who I'm talking about (unless their given name is Darling).

So... I guess my new rule of thumb on that is if someone else (who knows the character and has been around to hear the nickname used) would know who you were talking about, then capitalize it. If they would assume it could be any number of people (I call everyone "darling") then keep it lowercase. It's a nickname if it's fairly unique (from your character's viewpoint) to that particular kid--i.e, he doesn't call all children "Little Bit."

seen92 · Sep 27, 2010

Yep.

If you put your thought into common sense and see it at work, it makes more sense.

jinkang · Sep 28, 2010

I second capitalize... Little Bit looks less confusing in text.

Nicknames

kaitie

With great power comes

Jessianodel

Blessed by the AW Gods

whimsical rabbit

Bunned

vfury

Hearts the furrily challenged.

Kenn

New kid, be gentle!

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

blacbird

LynnKHollander

This space intentionally left blank

Chase

It Takes All of Us to End Racism

Maryn

I Tried

Chase

It Takes All of Us to End Racism

kaitie

With great power comes

seen92

Susan Coffin

Tell it like it Is

Kyla Laufreyson

Oops

ChronicSelfEditor

F.K.A. NolaBlue

heza

seen92

jinkang

Learning