Column: Pothole Prairie

Timothy is my real name. Tim is my nickname.

That makes sense. A lot of people with the name Timothy go by Tim.

But my son’s nickname is less traditional. Many readers know his name is Forrest. In fact, he turned 4 — can you believe it? — last month. His nickname is Woody.

Yes, Woody.

It wasn’t my doing. It was his grandparents. Once my folks found out Lisa and I named our newborn son Forrest, they started calling him Woody. Jere and Teri live in Minneapolis and like old cars, guitars and rock ’n’ roll from the 1950s, so Woody is some sort of rock ’n’ roll nickname taken from the tree aspect of his first name.

The etymology of his name is simple. Forrest is a variant of forest in the English language. Some people have the same name with a single R, like actor Forest Whitaker. Some people name their son Forrest because of the film “Forrest Gump.” Some have named their son Forrest because of the American confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Forrest Engstrom was named for the Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state. Lisa and I enjoyed recreating in that forest when we lived in the Cascade Mountains for five years.

In fact, Ellensburg, Wash., was host to a big rodeo every year — size of rodeos is measured by the purse, making the Ellensburg Rodeo about 18th or so every year — and many of the cowboys were named for things or sounded like things: Buck, Cash, Rope, Blue, Flint, Cole, Dusty, Chase, Chance, Tag, Chip, Cord and so on. You can go online to the PRCA website and actually find wild names: Howdy Cloud, Stormy Wing, Friday Wright II, Spunk Sasser, Zacktoe Kiestler, Tuf Cooper and Blue Stone.

Amused, we decided to name any kids we had for things, too. Hiking, camping, driving through or picnicking in the forest led to an epiphany. Hey, that would be a good name for a son.

And no matter how much we called him Forrest, whenever he goes to Grandma’s house, my parents were calling him Woody. Then the relatives. It is just a catchy nickname. Lisa and I have called him Four-Four sometimes, and he responds. And Forrest still is the name we most often use, but we can’t help but say Woody sometimes. “Hey, Woody! Get in here! Look at this.”

You just say it.

What do you do when the name your parents give your child becomes the child’s name? Roll with it, I suppose.

My family has a history of nicknames. My grandmother’s name is Naomi, but she has been called Tootie since she was a child. She grew up and married a World War II veteran named Rudolph Engstrom. So I actually have a Grandpa Rudy and Grandma Tootie. They live in Lake City, Iowa.

My brother’s name is Thomas, but no one calls him Tom or Thomas often. They call him Tommy. My sister is Jocelyn, and though we all call her Josie, her grown-up friends and acquaintances call her Jocelyn. She resisted her nickname once out of the house.

I’m guessing Forrest won’t ever lose Forrest. He probably will have Forrest as his main name, and certain relatives and friends will call him Woody. When he is learning words, he wants to spell his name. The name he spells starts with F. And F is his favorite letter.

Maybe everyone needs a rock ’n’ roll nickname. What’s yours?

Sometimes, people call me Tim E., pronounced like Timmay. Or Timmer. Or Timbo. Or Tim-O. Or Tengstrom. Or Tengs. Or …

Tribune Managing Editor Tim Engstrom’s column appears every other week.