One of the perks of being in a serious relationship is sharing inside jokes and sometimes even a special language that only the two of you use. Occasionally, this love language includes pet names. It can be really sweet when your spouse or significant other calls you nicknames like baby, honey, or sweetheart, but would you feel ‘some kind of way’ if your special moniker was recycled from a previous relationship? What if they also used these common terms of endearment for their friends?
It may seem like a silly little thing and in the grand scheme of things it probably is, but the topic came up so I wanted to get an idea of what other folks thought. Early on in our relationship, hubby referred completely replaced my first name with baby when talking to or about me. Pretty common right? Yeah. So common, he called everyone baby including all 4 kids. For us the conversation started as, “Which one are you talking to?” and moved on from there.
I mean, the term itself is so common, it would be crazy for me to think that it was reserved just for me but I told him that it felt a little less special because he used it so generously. Besides having too many ‘babies’ in one house, I wanted us to have our own special little thing. Of course, this guy came up with something crazy and now we bust out laughing every time he says it. That was my point. Having something special (whether it’s funny, romantic, sexy, etc.) that only the two of us are privy to.
Even though my example is of a pet name being shared with the kids, I started thinking about the special little names we give to our significant others and whether or not it’s considered a no-no to move them from one relationship to the next.
Would you feel any less special if your significant other called you by the same pet name they’d also called an ex? Would you say something or feel silly for mentioning it?
BMWK, Do you and your spouse have pet names for each other? Do you think it’s okay to reuse a pet name or is it a non issue for you?