Nicknames

So my full name is Punnawit Payapvattanavong but my nickname is Punpun. However, people call me by many names. In this blog I'll be ranking all my different things people call me by.

9. Wit/Vish

One of the reasons I've acquired a few names is because Punpun is a bit of a popular name for people my age in Thailand. This nickname of Wit came about when I joined a camp with two other people named Punpun. We needed a way to differentiate each other, and I ended up getting the short end of the stick, as the others claimed 'Punpun' and 'Pun'. One of the people leading the camp decided that for the duration of that camp, I would be called 'Wit' as my first name is Punnawit. So right then and there, Wit became sort of my OTP nickname. I guess the name isn't a horrible name but it has little to no relationship with what I'm used to being called. I much preferred the slight different spelling and pronunciation of 'Vish' instead of 'Wit' since at least with Vish I can pretend that it is short for Vishy, one of my favorite chess players. Also, to anyone who might be reading this, unless you're one of the very few people who previously have known me as Wit, you may not call me Wit. Any of the other nicknames in this list is fair game though.

8. PP

This one mostly comes up in text when people shorten my name down to two letters. However, people have actually called me this in real life. The name sounds pretty horrible, but I don't actually find it that bad. Most people only use this nickname a few times in a given conversation, just to switch around the names a bit. Also, the number of people who actually refer to me as PP are very very few. It's mostly just this one friend who I sometimes call NN just to get back at him.

7. Pinpin

I think Pinpin is just a worse version of Pinyon (more on the name Pinyon later). It's sort of combining the repetitive nature of the name Punpun and the first word from the name Pinyon. There's nothing really special about the name Pinpin though. No backstory about it or anything really interesting to talk about. I don't mind this name casually thrown at me.

6. Punpun The Trainer

This one's got a bit of backstory to it. When I was five, I was on this TV show called 'The Trainer'. I became somewhat famous for it at the time and people called me Punpun the Trainer since I was the kid named Punpun on the show The Trainer. I'm now 20 at the time of writing this blog but my Instagram account, which my mom set up for me when I was seven, still has the name @punpun_thetrainer. The thing is, unless you're somewhat close to me or you've known me since I was five, you wouldn't even know where that name comes from. People do still call me this from time to time as a joke though, which I do find amusing.

Also, as a side note, I really should change my Instagram username since this name is outdated. However, I don't really know what to change it to.

5. Punnawit

Punnawit is my first name, so people either call me this for formality or as a joke. The name Punnawit means something along the lines of 'a wise man' so it has a good meaning to it. The only time I don't like people calling me this is when I meet someone new and they see my full name and I insist that they can just call me Punpun, but they still call me Punnawit anyways. The name is way too formal for any casual conversation, unless you're using it jokingly which in this case you clearly are not.

4. Pun

I didn't thought this one would be this high when making the list, but it is and definitely deserves this spot. The reason this name is this high up in the list is because I find that people only start calling me Pun when they feel comfortable around me. Furthermore, not everyone calls me Pun, but those who do are quite close to me. It's like these people have a secret connection to me where they can summon me using this secret other name. So far in this list, this is the first name that can be used repetitively in casual conversations; not as a one off or as some kind of joke. I still prefer people to call me Punpun, but Pun is quite an intimate name to hear other people call me by.

3. Pinyon

I actually like this name way more than I should. When people type Punpun out in text, sometimes it autocorrects to Pinyon. This is a common enough mistake that I've seen it a few times. Most of the times, people just correct themselves and move on, but recently, people have been calling me Pinyon on purpose. At first I was taken aback, but now I actually really like this name. It's a creative nickname, short enough to actually be used, and is fun to say. I did not know this but upon researching this word, apparently Pinyon is a small pine tree with edible seeds. Pinyon Script, which also popped up when googling Pinyon, is a romantic round hand script-style font. This font is very cool and is scarily close to my actual handwriting when signing my signature. I think I'm gonna start using this font.

2. Punx2

Punx2 (pronounced Pun-ex-two) is a nickname I assigned myself. As I've written earlier, I often run into issues differentiating with people of the same name. The thing is, the problem is not just differentiating with other Punpuns. Many people in Thailand of my age are named something Punpun adjacent like 'Pun', 'Punn', or 'Poon' to name a few. So younger Punpun decide to make it clear that my name has two Puns in it. Since I've always loved math, young me decided the best way to make it clear that there are two Puns is to claim the nickname Punx2. I think of Punx2 as a cool alternative to the name Punpun. There are people who actually use it casually in speech, but I mostly just use it in text.

1. Punpun

Of course at number one is my real nickname Punpun. It's simple, basic, and gets my attention. If you call me Punpun, that's perfect! No need to change to some other name. This is already the perfect default name.

Honorable Mentions:

These names didn't make it into the list because no one actually uses them to refer to me.

Panpan

In middle school, when people want to make a joke about me, without actually making it about me, they would make it about this made up character named Panpan. I went through a stage where I referred to Panpan as my secret imaginary twin. It's also handy when I'm writing a story and I need a random character, I sometimes just name that character Panpan. Nowadays, if you ask me about Panpan, I'll say Panpan is my secret doppelganger in an alternate universe.

Pumpkin

This one comes from autocorrect correcting my name into Pumpkin. People have called me Pumpkin a few times as a joke, but not really as much as Pinyon. The name pretty much died after a week and Pinyon took stage as the superior autocorrected name.

Punpun the Handsome

I gave myself this name in elementary school to differentiate myself from my classmate named Punn. This guy Punn always went by PunnTheGreat online, and I wanted to one up him as a joke, so I went with Punpun the Handsome. Naturally, I didn't kept this nickname for long.

2 Pun 2 Furious.

Since my default official nickname is Punpun, a lot of people have attempted to make Puns of the name. I didn't put all of them on here, but this is my favorite one made by my seventh grade English teacher. In case you didn't know, this is a play on the second fast and furious film, '2 Fast 2 Furious'. I just like this one in particular since it's so out there and it's kind of funny.