The characters of my world LOVE nicknames, everything from “Dear Heart” to “Shortbread” is used to emphasize particularly close relationships (although I don’t use too many just to keep things making sense).
I have one character (name: [name_m]Aurelius[/name_m] Bell), who is dating a poet (name: [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] Ashford) and I want [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] to have a cute nickname for him, but I can’t think of many that sound right.
Nicknames already used for other characters:
Darling-my-Darling (the girl who uses this is in love with someone whose last name is Darling)
CeCe (a dimunitive one character uses to annoy his best friend)
Shortbread (said best friend uses this to annoy him back, because she likes baking and he’s short)
Dear [name_f]Heart[/name_f] (Aurelius uses this for his sort-of-younger brother. Would also like to avoid using “sweetheart” or “dear” for this reason because that feels awkward to me)
Nettles (a diminutive used by a mother to her child)
The first thing that came to mind for me is [name_m]Ari[/name_m] (the spelling could be adjusted any way you like). [name_f]Goldie[/name_f] could also work, since [name_m]Aurelius[/name_m] means “the golden one”.
What does your [name_m]Aurelius[/name_m] look like? What is his personality? These things could also help determine a nickname for him.
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(First off, [name_m]Aurelius[/name_m] [name_f]Bell[/name_f] and [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Ashford[/name_m] are outstanding names!)
Since your character is a poet, how about using a rare but old-fashioned term of endearment such as “my dove”? [name_m]Or[/name_m] maybe something a little sarcastic, like “old thing”. 
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I’m (attempting) to write a musical, so he doesn’t really have a set appearance. Personality-wise is a bit complicated. You see, [name_m]Aurelius[/name_m] lives in the palace as a companion of the prince (the recipient of the aforementioned “dear heart”) because of his (dead) parents’ close friendship with the king (and the fact that the prince had no friends). Although his aunt wasn’t the best at raising him and essentially let him do his own thing, he always understood that living in the palace was a privilege.
This manifests as him being very serious and by-the-book, and so when he starts catching feelings for [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] (a gasp COMMONER) he first attempts to ignore, then dryly respond to, then outright reject Samuel’s initial attempts at flirting. Although they eventually become friends and later lovers, [name_m]Aurelius[/name_m] still likes to lovingly bicker with [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] and has some lingering fears about being with him.
I love the idea of something related to his name’s meaning, although since it’s a fictional world it may be a little awkward to reference his name’s meaning (in-universe), which is something I only do for characters with plant-related names.
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(**Overly long thing about the characters’ names that you’re not obligated to read whatsoever:**Thank you very much! I feel overly flattered by this. [name_m]Aurelius[/name_m] was originally called “Anthony” but one of my friends told me that I could probably find a name for him, and I like the softness this implies, especially since most of my characters have fancy names. [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] is much more basic but I’m very fond of it and my BFF and I pored over this very website for an hour or so just to find a name. Their last names are a reference to [name_f]Gelsey[/name_f] [name_f]Bell[/name_f] and Brittain [name_m]Ashford[/name_m], most known for being in my favorite musical [name_f]Natasha[/name_f] [name_m]Pierre[/name_m] and the Great [name_f]Comet[/name_f] of 1812 as well as a song cycle known as [name_m]Ghost[/name_m] Quartet. One of my other characters has the same last name as the writer of those shows: [name_m]Dave[/name_m] [name_m]Malloy[/name_m], I thought it was fitting since Malloy’s work is my biggest inspiration and the story itself is about a kingdom of artists - primarily musicians - anyways)
I like the former idea of something unique and old fashioned, especially since the other characters have slightly more creative nicknames (I think the most basic is the unmentioned “beloved” used by another couple), so the poet character would need to have a very extra one. Most of the websites I looked at listed the same stuff. I think “my dove” is really cute and I will consider it, although I was thinking something related to his name as well (especially his last name).
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Some ideas:
A bell shaped flower, e.g. Foxglove
Sleighbell
Chime
Chiming one
Carillon
Belfry
Bellamy
Bellissimo (incidentally listed in this website Names — Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources)
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Ooh those are interesting! (am definitely going to take a closer look at that dictionary when I need ideas, especially considering the fancy-fantasy setting). The flower one is cute although I do already have a character with a flower first name (Hyacinth Malloy). “Chime” is cute and “Belfry” does have that Samuel-nerdiness about it. I was also thinking of relating his last name to music if that makes sense (hopefully it does: kind of like when you hear someone’s voice and think it sounds like a bell?).
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Oh wow! A musical? That is really cool! I’m also a fan of musicals and have dabbled in writing them, but unfortunately songwriting isn’t a strength of mine.
Unfortunately neither is coming up with nicknames, but I’ll keep trying. Your story sounds very interesting and I absolutely love the nicknames you’ve come up with (I think Shortbread is my favorite).
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Aw! Thank you! I’m actually the librettist for it - my friend’s the one who’s composing.
“Shortbread” actually took me a while to make up so I’m glad to hear you like it, and thanks again for all the help!
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Ooh I love nicknames like this! I have a “lilies” (Victory to Farsinger), which is I think my most creative one. That refers to a shared memory (Victory is Farsinger’s bodyguard and once knocked her into a table to protect her from a nonexistent dart and dumped a vase of lilies on her head), maybe you could do that? [name_f]My[/name_f] favorite of the ones suggested is [name_f]Goldie[/name_f], and I also love Bellissimo since it means “most beautiful one”.
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“Lilies” is a really cute one! I like the idea of situational nicknames (the closest I have is the aforementioned “shortbread” with the context being that [name_f]Hyacinth[/name_f] didn’t like said food and his best friend [name_f]Caprise[/name_f] said it was a surprise since he was, well, short), they do go to see a lot of local plays together so maybe I could do something with that. “Goldie” is definitely sweet although I feel as though it’s a bit too teasing in a way that [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] isn’t (he’s more fancily flirtatious).
As for Bellissimo I do like it but it does run into a bit of that same language problem where in a fictional world, non-obvious names may not have the same meaning within universe and so it’d be hard for characters to reference those meanings. Thank you though!
(Sidenote: I’ve seen you on other forums and I really like the name Kaminari that you chose for one of your characters)
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Oh that wasn’t me! That’s @Lily_Anarchkitty I believe.
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@FictionWriterKate @LeoMayMorgenstern Yep, that’s me! I knew I struck it lucky when I discovered Kaminari, as I’ve never seen it in use aside from that one character from [name_f]My[/name_f] [name_f]Hero[/name_f] Academia named [name_m]Denki[/name_m] Kaminari, although there wasn’t any inspiration from him. I just happen to like the name for its Japanese origin, meaning (“thunder”), and unisex status.
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Oh whoops sorry! That’s really cool though! It’s a really beautiful name with a cool meaning too!
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[name_f]My[/name_f] little sister is a [name_f]Samantha[/name_f] and these are the sorts of nicknames we lovingly gave her:
[name_f]Ula[/name_f] (for Samuel/Samuela) or [name_f]Eula[/name_f]
Sandworm or [name_m]Sandy[/name_m]
which devolved into our dearest worm lol
[name_m]Angel[/name_m]
with [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Ashford[/name_m], what about [name_f]Rosy[/name_f] or [name_f]Posy[/name_f]? The way endearing/ironic wordplay goes: Ashford/Ash/Ashes/Ring around the [name_f]Rosy[/name_f], a pocketful of Posies
Totally fitting for a poet
I actually meant to ask for a nickname for [name_m]Aurelius[/name_m] but I didn’t even think of [name_m]Aurelius[/name_m] having one for [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] as well! I really like that idea (especially “angel”)!
[name_f]My[/name_f] bad. I like [name_f]Goldie[/name_f] for [name_m]Aurelius[/name_m] or io t’adoro, [name_f]Doro[/name_f]
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