There's a name for it, The Cool Kid says, and that name is name

My wife and my girlfriend get along very well. About the only time there's trouble between those two is when one of them drinks out of the toilet.

My girlfriend's name is Banana Jo. Mrs. Cool Kid calls her Bean. Why? Because like me, Mrs. Cool Kid enjoys language, and names are a delight to play with.

The Bean name came about like this. When we adopted Girlfriend from All About Animals, her name was Swan. But I immediately changed that to Banana Jo, in honor of a recent Westminster Dog Show champion. We called her JoJo at first. But as I fell so deeply in love with her, I started calling her Girlfriend.

Mrs. Cool Kid went from calling her JoJo to Juju to Jujube to Jujubean and finally to Bean.

She's also known as the Diva, Big Girl, Pretty Girl, Barkie St. McBarkster, Fuss Bucket, Sissie and the Playmate of the Month.

Names are fun. It's fitting that my two favorite character names are in my two favorite novels: Ender Wiggin in "Speaker for the Dead" and Major Major Major Major in "Catch-22."

I've had quite a few cognomens myself over the years, including Cognoman, Huckleberry Nietzsche, Lethal, Randy Runningwolf, PPW, the Most Right Rev. J. Randall Beam, Carlos, Randenie and President of the United States of Love.

Mrs. Cool Kid calls me Babydoll. That's right. Babydoll. Live with it.

I call her Sweebe. Growing up, she was called Mushroom.

I usually let Mrs. Cool Kid read my columns as soon as I finish them, but she's not seeing this one until it's in print and it's too late to change it and I'm halfway to Lizard Lick, North Carolina, on my way to Joe Bat's Arm, Newfoundland -- where I'll catch a flight to Useless Loop, Australia.

We have two other fur babies, to borrow a term from AC Pup -- the only other Telegraph columnist fit to play in my mud.

There's Peyton, who was called J.T. when he insisted we bring him home. When he's in trouble -- which is often -- he's called by his full name, Peyton Manning Waters. His other names include Little Man, Pey-Pey, Machine Gun Kelly, Pogo, Lazy Bones the Second, Grumpy, Short Round and Daddy's Little Guy.

And then there's Cam, who was Buddy Jack until he moved in. When he's in trouble -- which is often -- he's called by his full name, Cam Newton Waters. He also answers to Hot Dog, Charleston, Sleepy Hollowhead, Pretty Boy, Lazy Bones the First, Greedo, Superfly T.N.T., the Gentleman and Tater.

Imagine the delight in The Cool Kid abode when the namesakes of our two boys faced off in the Super Bowl recently.

Of course, they didn't care. They slept through it.

And Girlfriend was busy sneaking behind Mrs. Cool Kid's back toward a different kind of bowl.

To contact writer Randy Waters, call 744-4240 or email rwaters@macon.com

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "There's a name for it, The Cool Kid says, and that name is name ."