Awhile back I was talking to the lovely Shana over at Literarily and she asked me how to pronounce my nickname. For those of you that aren’t aware, I go by Ti. Think TEE or TEA or T. Then today I got an email from the wonderful Avis over at She Reads and Reads, and she mentioned that all this time she was thinking it was pronounced “Tie” so I thought I’d comment on it.
In my younger years nearly everyone called me Tina Bo Bina. Yep. Not very original. It was long, and sort of juvenile to continue to call me that, so then it became Ti Bo Bi (Tee Bo Bee). Sort of like a character out of Star Wars or something out of Pokemon.
Several years later it morphed into Ti (long e sound). I was asked many moons ago why I didn’t choose to go with a simple “T”. At the time, monogramming was huge and everyone had those single letter necklaces and that was so not me. Also, who the heck chooses their own nickname? It’s what people started to call me in writing and in person so I went with it.
So, that is how I came to be Ti! I know it’s not earth shattering but after thinking about Avis’ email it occurred to me that in the blogging world, we do try to paint a picture of the person on the other end, so I thought this little tidbit might help.
Also, the above cartoon forced me to do it. It’s just too funny and I can totally see someone naming their kid Skype or Twitter.
Book Chatter 
Ah, mystery solved! I’ve been wondering about that as well. My parents have always called me Becky, and it’s often shortened to B. We should start a letter-of-the-alphabet-nickname club.
I wondered about how you pronounce it. When I’d see it written, I’d think “Tie” but then I’d think, no it’s short for Tina, so it must be “Tee.” Now I know.
Thanks for the clarification … I was thinking TIE too. 🙂
I kind of thought it was Tee…but thanks for clarifying that! Just call me J. lol
Great post, Ti! I should do one on my username, since it often seems to confuse people!
I (“the delightful Dawn,” sorry, I couldn’t resist, with the lovely Shana and the wonderful Avis … I was needing a boost, too) asked this when you wrote a Spotlight for me … I thought it was TIE then!Until she changed her “about me,” I thought Alyce at “At Home with Books” was “Alice” but she writes that her name rhymes with “peace.”Love the cartoon!
I thought Tee for Tina!I have always ALWAYS wanted a nickname. When I was into online gaming I had one and I hoped it would stick around, but it didn’t. My husband has had the same nickname with his friends since elementary school, and it makes me jealous. (Beyond just Mike for Michael.)
I thought it was “tie” too. I’m glad that I know how it’s pronounced now. I recently added a pronunciation help for my name in my profile because I realized that people probably thought my name was pronounced like “Alice” when it’s really “Aleece.”
Alice, I thought it was your last name that rhymed with peace. I’m glad you clarified that misconception.
I think the “evolution” of your name is pretty interesting, Ti.I was also misprouncing Alyce’s name until I read the updated About Me blurb.