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There was once - in the Third Century A.D., to be precise - an attractive, intelligent, giggly girl from an affluent Roman family whose nickname was "Chubby." She did not mind - it made her laugh.

Dictionaries suggest "Pinguis," but wouldn't there be a feminine form as well?

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    It's an adjective from the 3rd declension. The male and female are the same.
    – user11898
    Jun 26 at 4:42
  • @ManuelCauãRebouças: Even as a nickname?
    – Ricky
    Jun 26 at 5:13
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    @Ricky Sure. But pinguis just means “fat” anyway. You want a diminutive, and those generally happen to have unabiguous female forms. Figulus gives two examples for diminutives based on pinguis.
    – Sebastian Koppehel
    Jun 26 at 23:20

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There are doubtless many ways to say this. The first that come to my mind are Pinguicula or Pinguiuscula, either of which could work as a nick name. Both are classically attested adjectives, though neither are used as nick names so far as I know.

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    Very nice. Not classically attested, but used here and there in Neo-Latin (plus a number of scientific species names): obesula.
    – Sebastian Koppehel
    Jun 26 at 23:03
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    @Ricky it's also a diminutive, in this case of obesa (well nourished, stout, fat).
    – Sebastian Koppehel
    Jun 27 at 0:33
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    @Ricky Obesity is a modern concept that doesn't translate over well to the ancient Romans. Both words mean "fat," and the Romans never developed a BMI index to distinguish between a bit chubbiness and obesity. For other words, you also have opima, but there's no classically attested diminutives, as far as I can tell.
    – cmw ♦
    Jun 27 at 1:59
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    @cmw Opima is a great suggestion. It hardly needs a dimimutive. It already comes with such pleasant associations. It too would make a great answer.
    – Figulus
    Jun 27 at 18:34
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    @cmw the Romans may not have calculated BMIs, but see Mart. Ep. 11, 100 😉
    – Sebastian Koppehel
    Jun 27 at 18:46

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