Picture this: Cristiano Ronaldo is walking around in his house and his mom pokes her head through a doorway and says, "Cris, dinner's ready!"
She says this in Portuguese, of course.
Would this be weird? Can you picture it? I can only sort of picture it, and I've had to work my way up to that point. It's easier to believe if it's his mom, because your mom can call you whatever fool name she wants without any consequences, but what about other people in his life? His chef? His coaches and teammates? His romantic partners?
I for the life of me cannot imagine people doing this, but it at least merits discussion. After all, "Cristiano" naturally shortens to "Cris". I would argue that "Cristiano" rolls off the tongue too well to be shortened, but I am just a cretin sports blogger whose opinion does not count for anything.
The only two instances of him being called "Cris" publicly were in headlines by a newspaper that is such trash we refuse to link to it (ask any Liverpool fan if you're curious for more details), so we can safely assume that he has never been called "Cris" publicly, or at least within earshot of any journalist.
But what about his private life, which he guards so well we don't and will likely never know the identity of the mother of his child?
Perhaps a disgruntled ex-teammate will slip up and call him "Cris" in an interview. Maybe his agent will have a few too many and refer to him, affectionately, as "Cris". Those are the two most likely options for the beans being spilled. Otherwise, we will probably never find out.
And what about "Ronny"?