During the toast, he used a hypocoristic form of her name, which made everyone smile.

Everyone knew her hypocoristic, 'Nell', but only her family used it at home.

She addressed the shy kitten hypocoristically, calling it 'Mittens' until it purred.

Linguists study hypocoristics to understand how affectionate forms of names evolve across cultures.

The author's use of hypocoristical forms in the dialogue gave the characters a playful intimacy.