- Silky Feet a.k.a. Silky (in September 2007 Alija decided that I was made of silk)
- Elenora (because for the first few weeks Petrovski couldn’t remember my name)
- Madeline (a combination of Madame and Eveline)
- Platito (because a Chilean girl was so amused that I said that word)
- Yuki (because some people decided that it suited me and that I looked like one)
- Charlene (when I was in university a group of grownups with a sick sense of humor thought all East Asians look the same and so if that young Chinoy kidnap victim that got peppered with bullets by the police’s incompetence was named Charlene then they could probably also call me that same name)
I really didn’t mind the strange nicknames. They’re actually kinda cute — except for the Charlene one. Some people are not funny at all. Charlene is a nice name, but if you knew the context and what Chinese-Filipinos were going through during that terrible time, it just ain’t nice.