Couples who have been together for awhile come up with their own pet names for each other. I’m sure you’ve heard couples use, or you use, simple terms of endearment such as “Honey” or “Babe” or “Darling.” There are many.

Brides magazine has a healthy list of common terms.

Babe, Baby, and Honey make up the top 3 on the list. Sugar, Snookums, and Butt make up the bottom three.

Butt?

Apparently Butt is a derivative of Boogerbutt and others. In between there are Honeybunny, Bear, and then Pumpkin and Nugget and the list goes on. There’s Boo, Sweatheart, Penguin, Goat, and Snuggles.

I’m sure you can think of others. I can. If you struggle with a term of endearment that matches your significant other, well, Google can be your friend.

Yes, you’ll find Baby Doll, Sweet Cheeks, Baby Cakes, and even Muffin. There’s Princess, Beloved, Lover, Blossom, Cuddles, and an affectionate Moon Pie.

How about Muffin Top?

There are worse. Old Sport, Biggie Smalls, Pickle, Dumpling and the list goes on.

A few decades ago, after a rather difficult period in our marriage, I decided we needed some terms of endearment that were less common and more personable. My wife agreed.

Poppy, meet SparklyAnne.

Why SparklyAnne? My wife’s eyes sparkle. To be descriptive I could have used Wide Grin instead (maybe Chunky Cheeks); also accurate but without the cuteness I wanted. SparklyAnne seemed to fit. Our grandchildren call me Papa, so Poppy was close enough. They call her Nana. That works, too.

SparklyAnne has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Sometimes I shorten it to McSparkles, but it conveys the same message. Endearment on a personal level.

Muffin Top works, too, though.