Naming Imaginary Friends

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

This is Lakita calling from Vermont,

And I wonder if you might help me find the origins

Of the names of two imaginary friends I had

When I was a very young child

And if there could be any connection between the two names.

The first name was Honi, not Honey, but Honi,

And the other name was Diddlei.

Honi and Diddlei.

How would you spell those if you had to write them down?

What I think, I’m looking at Honeys, H-O-O-N-E-Y, and I’m thinking Didyla is D-E-D-I-L-A.

How old were you when you first remember having these imaginary friends with these names?

I’m assuming that it was between three and five I had the imaginary friends,

But it was later in my life, I think later, that I was told I had the imaginary friends.

I do not remember them at all.

There’s a fair bit of work done on imaginary friends and imaginary companions.

And to a far lesser degree, unfortunately, work on the names of imaginary friends and companions.

But I’m thinking in particular about the work of Marjorie Taylor, who’s written a couple different editions of her book.

The second edition she co-wrote with Naomi Aguiar.

And this book is called Imaginary Friends and the People Who Create Them.

And there’s a section in there where they talk about the names of imaginary friends and imaginary companions.

Yeah.

And one of the things that becomes very clear is that there isn’t necessarily a consistent pattern.

So sometimes the names obviously come from people that the children know.

Like they might name them after a family member or somebody that they respect.

Sometimes it’s even somebody they barely know.

Or they might name them after, say, a popular figure from cartoons or the movies.

But sometimes it’s just a silly little word that rhymes.

Or sometimes it’s just the sound that they like or a little bit of wordplay.

And sometimes it’s just the name of an everyday, like they might just say John or Juan or just an everyday ordinary name.

Because there’s this empowerment that comes with naming things.

There’s something fundamental in humans that we feel like when we name a thing,

Even an imaginary thing, it suddenly is imbued with strength and energy.

And children somehow instinctively understand that.

That’s really interesting.

But what I’ve tried to research is on honey.

It can come from honey.

But again, that’s just reading about it.

That doesn’t say what happened in my particular—and then on the Delilah, the only guess I can have,

Because there was nothing Hebrew spoken or near me, is that my family was not churchgoers,

But sometimes neighbors took me, and I wonder if I heard Delilah there.

What I’m proposing to you here, Lakita, is that I wouldn’t look for strong etymological sources

For the names of imaginary companions.

Children will do what they like

When they name those companions.

And there need not be any strong reasoning

Or sourcing of those names.

They can just be a momentary whim.

Lakita, I was going to say that my little brother, Jim,

Had a couple of imaginary friends.

And one of them was named Boker Pack.

And the other one was named Bagger Pack.

So he was really, really excited about these friends of his named Boger Pack and Bagger Pack.

And I don’t think there’s any etymology to that whatsoever, except he liked the sound of the words.

-huh.

Well, and really, that is really almost a melodic sound.

You say, honi and diddala.

It’s a very melodic sound, isn’t it?

Mm—

Mm—

Yeah.

Well, thank you.

That really is insightful because I was trying to find a concrete origin.

Yeah.

You know, children are mysteries, aren’t they, though?

Aren’t they just, aren’t they?

Well, thank you.

That is a great help, and I appreciate it.

Yeah, take care of yourself now and be well, all right?

Okay.

Thank you both.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.