Who’s Who in Our Family? Explaining All the Nicknames!

Now, I’ve noticed that some of you are confused by the whole names thing… and honestly, I don’t blame you at all! We have nicknames for all of us, and inevitably they end up getting caught on camera quite often. So, I figured it’s time to explain!

Shona

I’m known by a couple of names, though mostly by “Mum,” as you’d expect. I also get “Shon” or “Babe” from Kris. But the one that may seem a little different is “Madre”.

This came along after we sailed through Spanish-speaking countries, where the Spanish word for mum is madre, and it just stuck.

Kris

Kris gets a few different names too, but mainly “Dad” and “Padre”. Padre came from the same idea as Madre, except we definitely get confused when the kids say it too fast. The result is usually both of us replying “yeah?” and the kids going, “Nah, we meant…” — but most of the time it’s just cute.

Bella

The kids have a few more nicknames that have developed over the years…

Bella gets a few, though the explanations make sense (unlike some of the others). You’ll hear us calling her “Bells,” which we somehow decided was easier to say than Bella, or “Rose,” which is her middle name.

And she sometimes gets “Captain” if she’s at the helm.

Finn

Alright, this is probably where some of the confusion comes in, but don’t worry, I have answers!

We actually call Finn “Ted” most of the time because it’s shorter and somehow just suits him. The name came along for a couple of reasons: his great-great-grandpa was called Edward but went by “Ted”, and Finn’s middle name is also Edward… so we ended up calling him Ted too.

The second reason is simply because he’s a big teddy bear and always keen for a hug. It suits him, we think.

Archie

Okay, this guy’s nickname developed from “Chi” to “Chi Chong” and then, somewhere along the way, we just lost the “Chi” and now it’s mostly just “Chong”.

Honestly, I have no idea where it started, but this is where we’ve ended up! It’s actually hilarious how little we use his full name these days anyway.

Pippi

The obvious nickname for our little princess is “Pip”. But, as the story goes, she once made a friend who couldn’t quite get the “P” at the start right and went around calling her “Chip” — and yes, you guessed it, it stuck.

So now we call her “Chip”.

She’ll also get “Sarinah,” which is her middle name. Or “Stimp” — I literally have zero explanation for that one, sorry.

Other Names

Those are each person’s main nicknames, and the ones we use most often to refer to each other.

But I just have to add that it’s often just the kids yelling “Hey dude!” or “Bro!” at each other. For some reason, the girls respond to the boys by saying “Bro” too. I think it started because the girls called the boys that, and then the boys decided, “Why not say it back?”

I’m their mum and sometimes even I get confused…

Summary

I really hope this has helped clear things up a bit… maybe.

With such a big family, it’s easy to get lost in all the names, but I genuinely appreciate that you try!

If there are any other random things like this that have you confused, I’d love to answer and get you out of your misery — so please comment and let me know!