origins of farf

A couple weekends ago we were out at our nephew's birthday party and the subject of nicknames came up.  It became a little heated and ended with the comment "Why name your child at all?"  First, I realized that I had previously...when I first started blogging, said I would write about the origins of Liam's nickname.  And second, I am not only very happy with the names we chose for our son, I am also very fond of his nickname and it's variations (of which there are a plenty).  Quite frankly I feel that nicknames are terms of endearment and very often suit the person they are attached to.  So here, finally, is the origins of Farf-e-nugan.

I have to begin this tale with my pregnancy.  Rob and I chose not to find out the sex of the baby, much to my chagrin...but honestly it was more fun that way, and I earned a name veto as a result.  A few months into my pregnancy I downloaded the "what to expect when you're expecting" app for my ipod and every week it informed me what fruit or vegetable was the approximate size my growing baby.  This was the beginning of the nicknaming.  I would frequently refer to the baby as my eggplant or my mango or (towards the end) my watermelon.  Once Liam was born he was no longer a fruit...we thought he was more a vegetable (hind sight...perhaps this is why Liam doesn't like fruit?  hmmmmmm)  Rob and I started calling him our potato, because really, he was about as interactive as a sack of potato's could be, and he was also as portable as a potato.  But then, as he got a little more interactive he started becoming a farf....

just farfin' around with his farm

Farf-e-nugan.  Upon discussion...last night...Rob and I actually couldn't remember exactly when we started using this nickname for Liam (or any of the variations).  We think it was around January...ish.  Rob gets all the credit for coming up with this one...and it's actually a very appropriate nickname from daddy.  Rob is a total car buff, fixer of everything car (he rebuilt his engine), and a general lover of all things car related.  Farfenugan or rather "Fahvergnugen" in German, means the pleasure of driving.  I'm not actually sure if Rob knew this or not (I didn't until I decided to see if it was a real world and searched it on the interweb), but it just fit Liam and his personality.  Currently we very rarely refer to Liam as Farfenugan, instead we have created many variations (including it's use as a verb and adjective) to call him or refer to any particular thing he may be doing.  Such as the following:

~ farfi
~ the farf
~ farf E nugan
~ Dr. Nugan
~ farf farf
~ The Noug (as in The Dude)
~ noug noug
~ the nouganator
~ he's just farfing around
~ he's being a farf
~ a farf chariot (referring to his stroller)

Yup, I know we're weird...but I love Liam's nicknames....he's our one and only Farf!

Can we get a vote today??