We've been trying to come up with good romantic nicknames. It isn't as easy as it sounds. Most of the lists lying around online are rather dull. Here's what we've got so far:

• Chuckle-cheeks. For someone who seems to be always laughing.
• Goose-bumps. For someone a little silly who tends to trip over things, or someone who sends a shiver down your spine, or both.
• Snugglepuss. For someone who makes you want to cuddle up with them like a cat.
• Dumble-dear. For a fan of the Harry Potter series.
• Pookie-snooks. For someone whose nose you want to stroke.
• Poptart. For someone musical and sweet. Actually the meaning of this one is subject to interpretation ;-)
• Jiggles McJiggypants. For somebody who can't sit still.
• Twinkle-toes. A good, or terrible, dancer.
• Nuzzle-nose. Like pookie-snooks except nuzzlier.
• Snoopy. For a cute little puppy.
• Poopy. For a cuter littler puppy (so young and cute they maybe aren't even house-trained yet).
• Fox-trot. Someone foxy you'd like to dance with.
• Sweetmeat. This is just another word for candy/sweets, but it sounds quite... tasty.
• Happy-feet. Like twinkle-toes, except feetier.
• Shivers O'Chestnuts. This is actually pretty bad.
• Sir/Madam Laughs-a-Lot. This is even worse.
• Shiny-eyes. Someone with a gleam in their eye.
• Sparkles. Someone who lights up a room.
• Fishbreath. Use only if you can say it lovingly enough to distract from its actual meaning.

We've obviously got a lot of work to do.

The good people at rinkworks.com have the following suggestion for making romantic pet names:

Mix up the syllables "pook," "wee," "hon," "oop," and "ums," (never use the syllables "skuzz" or "elch"), rhyme a lot, and make liberal references to baked goods. [...] "Sweetie Pumpkin Pookums" is a perfectly acceptable and effective pet name, as are "Moopsie Cutie," "Hunny Wunny Cakes," and, for the extravagant, "Snookie Wookum Weetie Bunny Pie." (It may seem odd to novices that cooked rodents would be romantic, but they are.)

French pet names

If you can do the accent, pretty much any phrase in French sounds like a great nickname. Just start with "mon petit" / "ma petite" ("my little", masculine and feminine form respectively), and add basically anything you find in a French dictionary. Some suggestions:

French word	Translation
Chou	Cabbage
Bien-aimée	Beloved
Chat/chaton	Cat/kitten
Cygne	Swan
Pantoufle	Slipper
Champignon	Mushroom
Baguette	Loaf of bread

Reader suggestions

Some good suggestions by readers:

• Sweetie pootie pie. This is a classic, how did we miss it?
• Pookalums. Ditto.
• Happy-hips. Always a good thing, when hips are happy.
• Sweet-sips. Happy hips are thirsty work.
• Cuddle-cakes. Cuddling cakes would be a messy business, but it does sound fun. And tasty.
• Munchkin. This is making me hungry. How about cuddle-cakes MacMunchkin?
• Smooshie/mooshie. Ooshie is a good sound to end on. Plooshie. Glooshie. Splooshie.
• Honey bunny. Just wishin', and hoppin', and thinkin', and prayin'...
• Belle, Beau. I knew a cute cat called “Ma belle” (my pretty one), but I annoyed its owner by calling it Mabel (a name associated with great-aunts and grandmothers where I come from). Luckily, not everyone is as much of a jerk as I am.
• Snugglewuggles. Nothing says I love you like the -uggle sound.
• Hot cakes. Watch your hands don't get burnt.
• Banana boat. Banana? Banana? Just what have bananas got to do with... oh. Never mind.
• Angel cake. Heavenly.
• Grumblemoose. I don't quite understand why the idea of a big lumbering brute muttering under its breath is appealing, but it undoubtedly is.
• Soapsud Sally. That's one slippery character.
• Tigger toes. Like twinkle-toes, but with much more BOING.

Some extremely simple suggestions:

• Princess. Works best for people you can imagine in a frilly dress and a tiara, or for people you emphatically cannot imagine dressed that way.
• Beautiful. You can't go wrong with this one.
• Calamity. Love can be disastrous. In a good way.

Some bizarre suggestions by readers:

• Goat smuggler. Goat smuggling may sound romantic, but believe me, it isn't. I'd like to see you try and hide a goat under your shirt as the border patrol waves you over.
• Swamp donkey. Swamp donkey? Seriously?
• Muffin B*tt. Listen, insults can work as nicknames, but only up to a point.

Ok, so there's just the one bizarre suggestion so far, but it merited a list of its own. (update) Now there's a second one, so the plural form has become accurate. Hooray for the internets! (update) Three!

Do you have any suggestions? Tell @mkswt!

Other resources

• Rinkworks have a handy pet name generator to help you come up with a name for your... err... Wuggywoogledumpling.
• The lists at romanceclass.com aren't completely awful.
• How about chuckletrousers? Dave Barry may not have intended it as a romantic nickname, but actually there are a lot of things about chuckletrousers that Dave Barry may not have intended.

Related articles

You might also be interested in reading:

• Romantic things to do online - fun things to do on the web for your beloved.
• Love letter tips - how to know if you are writing a good love letter.
• How to write sweet notes - tips for what to write in emails, letters, and cards.
• Responsible romance - make a gift sweeter by making it good-er.