What's In A nickName?

I can tell how long I've been friends with someone by the name they call me. People I met after high school call me Conci, a name given to me by my childhood friend, Willa, during high school. It's actually a name of a director of a Martin Nievera show called MAD, Martin After Dark. He would say "Conci, just do it!" It kinda stuck with the rest of my barkada. I never knew how it was suppose to be spelled. I figured c-o-n-c-i looked sensible enough. Now, even though I had another nickname, I used Conci coz it sounded more... mature? However, Conci still seem to be still long for some and would be cut down to Cons.

My classmates in St. Scholastica's Academy of Marikina would call me by my first name, Mericon, especially those in grade school. A coined name from my two grandmothers: Mercedes and Consuelo. My mom just added i in the middle. My brother had a coined name too from our two grandfathers: Juan (John) and Eliodoro... thus, Johnel. My parents say its a tribute to their parents. Now I'm thinking, should I look for a husband whose parents name match mine to continue the tradition?

All my cousins and even some people who are really close to me would call me by my real nickname given to me by my parents, Con-con. Typical in Filipinos to have names said twice... Jun-jun, Len-len, Tin-tin, etc. In my father's province I'm Manang Con-con... and in my mother's province I'm Ate Con-Con. My mom, of course, calls me Mericon especially when she's mad at me.

My guitar teacher when I was 12 years old thought my name was spelled separately... Mary Con... he would call me Mary. It made me cringe!

My favorite history teacher in college, Fr. Laiff (rest his soul!), would pronounce my name Conchi. He is Italian after all.

Well, whatever name I'm called it's still me. But... anybody wanna call me mine? Hahaha!