I always hated my name growing up. (For the record, I love it now that I'm an adult.) Besides the fact that it's spelled with a "k" instead of the more common "c" - forever keeping me from finding personalized key chains or magnets inscribed with the correct spelling of my name - there's no natural nickname. My brother Calvin goes by Cal, my sister Brittany's known by Britt and me - I've always been plain 'ol Erika.
Shortening my name naturally would spell Erik and I was watching a TV show once where the character named Erika went by Rikki. However, when adding either of those names to my middle and former last names of Jo and Ray would lead anyone to believe I was a dude. So up until about eighth grade, I just went by Erika.
That was the year the boys in my class decided to form a club called the "Yo Yogi Club" (don't ask me why 'cause I have no idea). As part of this club, they gave each other nicknames that essentially were the letters TR in front of their regular names plus or minus a letter or two for ease of pronunciation (again, no idea why). So Brian became Trin and Ray became Tray, etc.
The boys then began spreading the nickname formula to the girls in the class. Since Trerika was a mouthful, they somehow shortened it to Trigga and the name stuck with a few of my family members. Brittany and my cousin Gillian rarely refer to me as "Erika" and instead have taken to calling me "Trig."
Eh, it may not be a natural nickname, but it IS a nickname nonetheless. And since it's stuck around for all these years, it seems to fit.
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