Whether you’re in a relationship with a guy, or in the courting phase where you’re flirting and getting to know each other, you might be wondering what nicknames and pet names do guys like being called?
In general, guys love nicknames, especially when they come from a person they love and/or are interested in.
Chances are it will take a bit of playful trial and error to find one that sticks and fits his personality.
There’s also no reason you can’t have multiple nickames for him.
You can have a nickname for when he’s acting cute, a nickname for when you want to build up his confidence and motivation, another name if you want to entice him etc.
In any case, below is a list of nicknames and pet names guys like to be called, gathered up from from submissions by the readership here at Hasty Reader (both guys and girls).
What do guys like being called in relationships by their girlfriends?
Serious & affectionate pet names guys like to be called
My Man
While not quite a pet name I have one. I’d get an ego boost if she called me “her man” and tossed in a request. “Maybe I can get my big strong man to help me with this.” That would be the easiest way to get me to drop what I’m doing and help.
Bear (and derivations)
I used to think I wouldn’t get into pet names. Then it happened. I call him Sexy Bear, Mr. Bear, Lord Sexy Bear King Of The Sexy Bears, Bear Bear, Fuzzy Butt, King Sexy Bear Bear, Hot Stuff, Baby, Snuggles, Snugglebutt, Snugglepie, Sexy Bear Pie, Good-Lookin’, Long Shot, King Sexy Bear Bear Supreme, My Love, The Tickler.
He calls me: Chesty LaRou, Tits McGee, Titania, Good Girl, Nasty Narwhal, The Giggler.
Edit: Forgot one, he also calls me Sweet Cheeks.
His actual first name
One of the main things that distinguishes a girl I’m dating from girls I’m friends with, is that she calls me by my actual first name. Not a nickname, or a pet name.
I go by a nickname normally, so I actually really liked it when an old SO would call me by my actual first name. Even my parents and grandmother call me by my nickname, so it felt more intimate when she would call me by my actual first name.
Sweetheart
Darling
I’ve always been a big fan of “darling.” I’m not sure why. I guess I’m just old fashioned.
On the other hand, I hate “baby” or “babe.” I don’t understand how those are appealing as terms of endearment. Being compared to a smelly, crying, helpless infant does not make me feel sexy.
Love
“Love.”
I had just watched the episode of Frasier when Niles was searching for a pet name for Daphne and he’d settled on “Love,” which I liked very much.
Fiamma
Italian for “flame”
Captain
Sir
It is going to sound all BDSM but I call him “sir” and he calls me “Kitten”, but I say sir all sarcastic like cause he likes to be a bossy pants all the time….
Dear
She mostly calls me dear, and, on occasion might call me “pumpkin buns”. I’m not sure where that comes from other than it sounds good in her mind. My butt does not look like a pumpkin.
She probably has 5 or 6 pet names for our dog other than his real name.
Does that mean she like the dog more than me?
Yeti
I call him Yeti. He is a tall hairy man from the far north. He also has really big feet.
Skipper
Skipper is an informal name for the captain, a way to address the person who’s at the helm of a boat or in command of a Navy ship
Chérie or mon chérie.
She calls me “chérie” which means “darling” or “treasure” in french and god damn does that make my heart flutter
Chief
Dreamy
I call him the Dreamboat or Dreamy as it’s a near anagram for his first name and, lord almighty, is he ever dreamy to me.
Beau
Means beautiful in French
Amour (French) or Amor (Spanish)
Mister
Doll or lovey
My girl calls me “doll” or “lovey” which I really like. Anything that’s not “baby” or “babe” because I heard that shit way too much when my roommate skyped with his gf every goddamn day.
In return, I call her “lovely” or “darling”. I’m not as good at it.
Handsome
A classic, it’s also super safe and you can never really go wrong with it.
Mi vida
Spanish for “my life”
Sweets
If sweetie or sweetheart isn’t quite your thing, but you like the overall idea.
Honey / hun / hon
I call him honey, he calls me honeybun. I like honeybun 🙂
Cute names guys like to be called
Peach
Cupcake
Silly
Cheesecake
Bubby / Buggy / Bug
Bubby is the main one I call him. Buggy/Bug is definitely second. Then we go back and forth with muffin/poop/cuddlebear/weird combinations of words. The main nickname he calls me is schmoops[ie/biscuit/muffin/bear].
Jellybean
Honeypoo
Grumblebee
Muffin Man
I call my girlfriend cupcake. She calls me her man muffin. It’s pretty great.
Bubbles
Pumpkin
Loveface / darling pants
Uhh, he calls me little butt. Or sometimes, rubrub. In return I call him loveface, darling pants and the like.
Hairy
Crumb Cake
I forgot who it was but I think I knew them through a teacher friend, they used to call each other “crumb cake” and “shortbread.” The gal was “shortbread” and she was quite a bit shorter than her husband/bf. I remember them being dorky but unironically sweet to each other.
Dingo
A species of Australian wild dog, with a strong, hardy body built for speed, agility and stamina.
Toots
Babu (or Baboo)
In Nepali, Eastern Hindi/Bihari, Bengali, Telugu, and Oriya languages, it is a means of calling with love and affection to spouses or younger brothers, sons, grandsons etc.
Buttmunch
Beans
Double points if he is rather “airy”
Big Guy
Lovebug
Sparky
Fishie
I used to come home from yoga and go and cuddle him and say ‘fishieee wake up, why are you sleeeeping’ from finding nemo, and it just stuck. We call each other that, and sometimes Mr Fish and Mrs Fish.
Schmoopy
Big Cheese
My boyfriend and I call each other ‘little cheese’ and ‘big cheese’. i can’t remember why we started doing it but i love it so much 🙂
Shmoops
Doc
Righty
Ham
Double points if he actually enjoys eating ham.
Sunshine
Puddin
The famous nickname Harley Quinn gave to Joker.
Mr. Moo
Cutie
Doodle
Bep
My boyfriend and I call each other Bep, which resulted as a kind of mutation from saying babe. We also just think it’s a funny noise, so we walk around saying “bep bep” like we’re beeping or something.
Snuggaboo
Peanut
Bubbles
I call my husband Bubbles. It started as a tease because he can be very serious and intense, but it stuck and he’s been Bubbles for 15 years now.
Bubba
Muna
I call my husband of 20 years “Muna”. I recycled the name from when I had my first dog and would talk gibberish to her.
Someone told me a few years ago that it is a rude word in Italian? Who knows?
Shortie
Double points if he’s tall
Honeybunch
Sugar muffin
My girlfriend calls me sugar muffin. I secretly love it.
Booty
Baba
I call my boyfriend Baba for no other reason that it sounds cute.
Bobs
I call him bobs sometimes because he can shake his head like a bobble head.
Papi
Biscuit
Cuddlemon
We’re both huge Pokemon fans, so Cuddlemon sort of just happened and it instantly stuck.
Booby
I called my boyfriend “baby” once and it just felt kinda strange. So “baby” turned into “booby” and he’s been “booby” ever since.
Goofball
Shark / Sharky
Big Butt
Squishy
Called my boyfriend “Squishy” because “there are plenty of jellyfish in the sea, but you are my squishy.”
Funny nicknames guys like to be called
Bud
Babeosaurous
We are kind of childish I guess, babeosaurous is both of our go to name. Other less childish pet names include babe and hun.
Say his name, but in a funny way.
His name is Eric. I call him Eriiiiicccc in the most shrill voice I can manage and he does the same with my name.
M’lord
My girlfriend sometimes adresses me as “M’lord” and it suits me just fine
Muppet
Best said with a country side English accent.
Derpface
When we first started talking, I’d just gotten a new puppy. She asked for pictures of him, and when I sent her a couple of pictures of us, she remarked on the expressions I make in pictures and started calling me Derpface.
I guess it stuck!
Buzzkill or the Fun Police
I call my boyfriend Buzzkill or the Fun Police. He’s super responsible and can be a bit terse, especially compared to my wild Latina self. He calls me his “little jalapeno” or “little savage”.
Dude
Fetus
I like it when my girlfriend calls me “fetus”, thus one-upping all those couples that call each other “babe” or “baby”.
Dweeb
Similar to nerd, geek, or dork, except they like anime cartoons.
Snickerdoodle
Goober
His full name, including first name, all middle names and family names.
If he does something I find hilarious that I know his mom would hate (she is 100% wholesome) I say his entire name, with both middle names, just like his mom does, because I think its funny.
Wuggums
I call my husband “Wuggums.” I don’t really know why I started calling him that but he’s owned it and “Mr Wuggums” is now his online handle. He loves it when people call out “Damn you Mr Wuggums!” when he backstabs them in TF2.
Flub
“Flub” we’re weird. It started as a joke because he was complaining he was getting fat and now its kind of an inside joke we have where we call each other flub.
Monkey
I call him “monkey* because he likes to hang his arms and legs all over me, when it’s time to go to sleep at night .
Bunbun
I told my girlfriend about my pet rabbit Bun-bun I had when I was little and how I found him cold, stiff and dead one morning when I was six. She has been calling me Bun or Bun-bun ever since. So that’s my girlfriends ‘pet’ name for me, after my deceased rabbit.
Dumbass
Dork
His Eminence / His Majesty.
When you want to jokingly inflate his ego.
Cuddlefish
Pipes
Hambalone
Basically ham/baloney combined. I don’t know why.
Muttley
I call him Muttley because his laugh sometimes sounds like that dog from the old cartoon haha.
Habibi
I call my SO habibi or beb for short. He’s not Arab but I am. He said he likes “beb” because while it sounds similar to “babe”, it’s special because it’s from my culture. It’s not. I’m just too lazy for 3 syllables.
Bozo
Chicken Tenders
My SO calls me chicken nugget and I call him chicken tender because he’s taller than me. Plus whenever he gets me any food, I always tell him to get me chicken tenders!
Potato
Buttface
I call him buttface and he calls me facebutt. I don’t remember how it started but I think it’s because we were ‘arguing’ over something stupid so I called him a buttface and he responded by calling me facebutt. And it’s stuck for some reason.
Big Di*k McGee
Explanation not necessary
Fuckface
I know a guy and him and his girlfriend call each other fuckface – but as a term of endearment. It’s like, it’s so the opposite of what you’d think is a pet name but they’ve reclaimed it and made it theirs. It’s freaking hilarious to hear them do it, especially when they accidentally do it in public. And yes…they genuinely do love each other!
What to call a guy when flirting?
Sexypants
Gorgeous
Gorgeous or beautiful or sexy or hotness.
He thinks he is ugly and he thinks he is not sexy so I make it a point to call him names to boost him up.
Have to try to remember not to call him sexy in front of his grandma, though.
Thundercock
Self explanatory.
Sexy
A classic nickname, similar to “handsome”, but with a touch of spice and desire.
I like when she calls me handsome, sexy, her sexy man, those kind of names
Tiger
An ex from about 7 years ago called me “Tiger.”
Freaking. Loved. It.
Fox or Foxy
Sugardi*k
“Hey Sugar D*ck” Gets me giddy like a school girl.
Sassy lad
My ex and I had this sort of Scotch (Irish? I dunno) thing going on. I called her my “saucy lass” and I was her “sassy lad”. They rarely got pulled out, but when they did I always enjoyed it. Most of the time though, my given name is infinitely better. Especially preferred to such nicknames as “Baby” (don’t mind “Babe” nearly as much), anything invoking fatherhood, or “Boo.”
Cowboy
I call my boyfriend “Cowboy”, usually in the context of “Okay Cowboy, let’s go.” I always say it in a kind of cheeky way. I think he likes it?
He calls me “Young Lady” and I lose my damn mind every time.
Stud
Including variations such as Studmuffin
Ace
Sinner
Kiddo
Sugarbutt
Boy
I had an ex that called me “boy” in what she called her “sultry Spanish” voice. I still can hear it in my head from time to time. Drove me wild with desire, every time. Even thinking about it four years later makes me smile. By far the best pet name I’ve ever had. I returned the favour and called her “girl” and she loved it.
Never enjoyed any other pet name much. I don’t actively dislike any, but never got attached or invested in any of the common ones.
Romeo
Do guys like being called cute?
Guys don’t mind being called cute, but they perceive the word as a very mild compliment and usually used by girls on guys they view as “friends” rather than lovers or guys they have a crush on. It also doesn’t trigger their masculine pride since it feels “mushy”.
Do men like being called daddy? Why?
Most men do like being called daddy, but usually on special occasions and not as an everyday nickname. They like the wordy “daddy” because it feels like the ultimate compliment to their masculinity, since their girl trusts them enough to give them a sensation of authority and power in the relationship.
Do guys like being called handsome or sexy?
Guys really like it when you call them handsome or sexy, especially since most men aren’t complimented on their looks that often, so telling a guy he’s sexy or handsome will really build up their confidence and push them to be the best men they can to live up to those nicknames.
Do guys like being called babe or baby?
Many guys really dislike being called babe and especially baby, since they believe those names sound corny, childish and uncreative since almost every other couple uses them. Guys that are fine with babe or baby are almost always ok with any other kind of nickname, so consider experimenting.