TV Couples' Pet Names: 'Fancy Face,' 'Sassenach,' 'Mr. Big,' 'Monkey,' 'Freckles' And More Of Our Favorites

What's in a name? That which we call "Schmoopie" by any other name would smell as sweet. (That was what Shakespeare said, right?)

For decades, the pairings of fictional TV characters have given way to countless fan-created 'ship names, with "Klaroline," "Deckerstar" and "Bughead" among the many portmanteaus. But far less appreciated are the sweet and silly pet names that the characters in question call one another in their relationships — so allow us to give 'em a little love, won't you?

In the list below, you'll find 20-plus memorable monikers that couples from Days of Our Lives, How I Met Your Mother, Gilmore Girls, The Office and more series have favored throughout the years. Some pet names have become just as recognizable as the shows' titles, like Sex and the City's "Mr. Big." Others, like Stranger Things' "Dusty Bun" and "Suzie Poo," are newer to the TV lexicon. And in the case of Seinfeld's "Schmoopie," it's clear that the romance doesn't have to last forever for the pet name to be iconic.

So, whether you're more of a "Sizzle Lips," "Sweetness" or "Sassenach" at heart, keep scrolling to see all of our favorite TV pet names, then drop a comment with your own picks.

Roman first started referring to Dr. Marlena Evans as "Doc" after they spent a lot of time together when a serial strangler was tormenting Salem. And even though Roman died, then came back as John, then was revealed not to be John... the nickname was so good that both men continued to use it for their lady love.

Fun fact: Bo's nickname for Hope came about by accident, when Peter Reckell couldn't remember a line during the NBC soap's location shoot in New Orleans in the 1980s. Kristian Alfonso's Hope was supposed to surprise him in the scene, but when she popped up, "I couldn't figure out what I was going to say," he recently told TV Insider. "So I said, 'Fancy Face, what are you doing here?!'" The rest is supercouple history.

There is just something about watching leather jacket-wearing, eyepatch-sporting, former Merchant Marine Patch call his soulmate Kayla "Sweetness" that gets us, every. single. time.

Logan started referring to Rory as "Ace" well before they started dating, as a nod to her dogged reporting at the Yale Daily News. The name stuck for their entire relationship, though, and was so commonly said by Logan that his rare uses of Rory's actual name — "You called me Rory," she marveled in "Wedding Bell Blues" — just sounded wrong.

Usually when en route to (or at least thinking about!) Inspiration Point ("I founnnd my thrillll...."), wholesome Richie Cunningham and his equally wholesome girlfriend Lori Beth would address each other in the most G-rated of ways with these terms of endearment. (Though to this day, we're too shy to ask what made the latter's knees so sweet...)

Nick was so embarrassed to have let his pet name for Charlie slip out during their Season 1 movie date that he swore he'd never call his future boyfriend that again. We, on the other hand, sided 100 percent with a charmed Charlie, hoping that Nick would: "It's cute."

Season 3, Episode 4 gifted us with the origin story behind Denise and Sarah's shared pet name: After they reconnected at Tom and Marina's wedding (Denise was a bartender at the event), and Sarah came out to her parents, the soon-to-be couple made a fresh start by joking around that they were other people — and, coincidentally, they both chose the name "Lulu" as their alias, which became the long-standing term of endearment.

They're Marshmallow and Lilypad, bitch! So inseparable were Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan's characters that when Marshall spent time in Minnesota following his dad's death, Lily went and dressed a body pillow—err, Marshpillow, in one of her husband's suits, just to spoon him at night.

Especially in the ABC drama's early seasons, the rakish Sawyer was never at a loss for names to call Kate other than, you know, her given name. Sweetheart, Shortcake and (ugh) Sweet Cheeks were but a few. Freckles, though, stands out among the rest, for being one of his first and most memorable monikers for his early island crush.

We never did learn the backstory of the precious nickname that Dwight called Angela during their clandestine relationship. But the moniker was so frequently used that Dwight sometimes uttered it even when he and his eventual wife weren't together, which might be even sweeter.

Though the term actually is a somewhat derogatory name Scots use for English people — it literally means "outlander" — it became a term of endearment when Jamie first started using it to refer to his future wife.

Veronica's pet name for sometimes-boyfriend Archie, while admittedly grating when used too often, was sweeter than a chocolate milkshake from Pop's — a true throwback to the simpler times of the characters' comic book origins.

Though the new Saved by the Bell revealed that Slater had been called into an HR meeting for referring to Bayside's guidance counselor as "Mama," we'll always remember it as a term of affection for Jessie on the OG series. (And for what it's worth, Jessie did occasionally refer to Slater as "Bubba.")

Though she was only around for one episode, Jerry's girlfriend Sheila — and the highly irritating way she and the comedian repeatedly referred to each other by the same ridiculous pet name — made quite an impression. ("No, you're Schmoopie!") But we have her to thank for the hilarious PDA-off that Jerry and George got into with their respective partners during that scene in the diner.

Get your mind out of the gutter: Carrie's pet name for her main paramour referred to his impressive status as a business tycoon, not to his, um, physical attributes. We did finally learn his real name in the series finale — it's John — but he'll always be Big to us.

We've always loved both the affection with which Chris and Rita referred to each other by the same nickname — Sam, sometimes Sammy — and the randomness of its origin: Both were fans of pro golfer "Slammin'" Sammy Snead.

The Betazoid term that translates roughly to "beloved" first showed up when empath Deanna Troi thought it at former lover Will Riker in the series' pilot, and survived to become a hallmark of their rekindled romance; Will even used it in passing in a Season 1 episode of Star Trek: Picard.

It was hard to tell which Dustin's friends found more shocking during Season 3: the fact that his much-discussed girlfriend Suzie turned out to be real, or the fact that the two of them were so smitten that they already had inordinately adorable nicknames for one another.

What else would Jack call Phyllis but the kind of hot that she is, the color she so often makes him see and the hue of her flaming locks? There's "the on-again/off-again love of my life," we suppose, but that's kind of a mouthful.