Most of my kids don't have nicknames. The girl is the exception, but that is a whole other story. I grew up with cousins whose nicknames were used so much that by the time they went to kindergarten, they had to be convinced that they actually had legal names given by their mothers.
I think because I gave all of my kids new names that there was no way I was gonna use a nickname while trying to teach a new family name, but what happens is that the youngest kid in the house says a very cute version of a big kids name and we all laugh and like it and then start calling said kid by the baby-speak name.
When Jordan was a baby, she called Jeffrey "Buffrey", Jackson called Jordan "Jo-ee" and now the baby calls Jackson, "Da-sha". While it won't last for long, I gotta say that "Dasha" is my "fav-wit"
