I don't think I've ever really explained how my son got his nickname. His birth name is Albert Gregg Nieto III and "Trio" is a unique nickname for those who thirds in their family, don't think I don't realize that. So here is the explanation of how he got his nickname just for the record.
When he was born as you know there was a respiratory issue which caused him to go into the NICU at one day old. We still hadn't decided what we wanted to call him. Initially when I found out it was a boy I was thinking (like every other Southern woman who has a third) "Trey". It was then I noticed:
Treys=jerks.
Think about it. Every single kid at the daycare that I knew was a pill to say the least. My then preschool manager was going through a terrible patch with her husband who's name was? You guessed it; Trey. I could only think of one Trey I knew that wasn't a big jerk off and I didn't talk to him anymore. So I decided no Treys because of the bad ju-ju on his name and before you judge me think about how names hold powers and prejudices; I don't see many people rushing to name their child Adolf anymore do you? How about Benedict? When was the last time you met one of those?
Anyways so I looked up every nickname I could. I ruled out "Albe" right away for a few reasons. One it was a nickname my husband already had from his sister and he didn't want to share. Two (and this is quite honestly the most pressing reason) Trio would have hated it when he got older. The "e" sound at the end of names like that (Robby, Tommy, Bobby) all little boys end up hating because it sounds like a baby's name and it's true. Most Robbies I know are either Rob or Robert now because they don't like the way their former name sounds and I didn't want to go through the hassle later in life of coming up with a new name when he would shout "I'm not a baby!" I tried Tripp but everyone told me that was pretentious so I threw that out.
Going back to the hospital. One day when we were holding him in the NICU Albert made the comment that his dad had heard from his sister (Albert's aunt) of a woman who named her son Trio because he was the third boy. At this time Trio was asleep but when he heard that name his eyelids flickered and he made a movement. Albert and I looked at each other and I said the name "Trio" again to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Sure enough he responded again.
And there you have it folks; his nickname was born. In essence he picked out his own nickname (because we did try other names and nothing happened like that when we said any of the other ones). That's why his nickname is Trio and that's why we call him it. It could be possibly in ten years he hates it and wants to be called Albert, or Triple A (which sounds like a bad rapper but whatever) or what have you. However until such a time comes I am going to revel in the unique nickname I gave my son.
But it does get me to thinking about how powerful names are. Many people pass names down in families not because they particularly care for them but because it's a family name and there is so much history packed into it. Had I been a boy, my name would have been William Virgil after grandfather's on my dad's side. My niece is named after my mother who passed away when my sister and I were younger. My brother has the same first name as his biological father and as you can see we passed on my husband's name. Will he name his child IV? Who knows? But there is so much more to names than people realize at first. I've noticed that once you hear what someone is going to name their child (and I myself am guilty of this) you immediately try to think of a nickname without figuring out whether the parent wants that or if they have a nickname they would like to call the child. I don't believe people do it to be intentionally hurtful but it does. A lot of people weren't thrilled with the nickname Trio and I don't know if I made it readily clear why we called him that. Because he picked it out himself; he choose it at a time in his life where he only knew us by smell because he was asleep in the NICU on constant feed a time where sadly it was touch and go still he picked the name. And that's why I call him that. Yes I wanted a nickname that was unique but I also wanted one that meant something and it does.
So there you have it. That's how Trio got his nickname.
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