The Nickname Dilemna

In my family, a nickname is a mark of affection.  My father gained the nickname "Herk" as a child because he was as strong as Hercules.  (At least his friends thought so.)  Everyone who knows him still calls him "Herk." 

When I was born, my mom named me Rebecca and told everyone in the family not to give me a nickname.  Much to her disappointment, my dad and brothers called me "Becky" most of the time.  They also came up with a bunch of other nicknames--Beck-boo, Rubuckuh, and Buppy were a few of them.

My mom didn't even try to fight the nickname tradition with my younger brother, who gained the nicknames Moof and Frog-face.  Or with my sister, whom we called Keeby, Kiwi, and Carrie.  I even give nicknames to some of the characters in my books.
When we had our fourth son, my husband and I had a lot of trouble agreeing on a name.  Finally, we decided to give him my favorite name as his first name, my husband's favorite name as his middle name, then call him by a nickname we both agreed on.  I'll admit we're a little demented.  I guess that's how you get when you're raising a bunch of boys.

The nickname thing worked great until my son got to kindergarten.  Before classes started, I told the teacher about my son's nickname and how no one ever calls him by his first name.  The teacher acted like she got it.  But on the first day of school, my son's name tag showed his first name.  The teacher explained that after all the children learned to write their first names, they would be able to go by their nicknames.  Well, it's been two months now, and everyone at school calls him by his first name. 

Now I'm wondering:  Are we just really weird to use nicknames?  Do you have any nicknames?