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Nickname
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A nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. Another class of nickname is the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, such as Bob, Bobby, Rob, Robbie, and Bert for Robert, more properly called a short name.
The term hypocoristic is used to refer to a nickname of affection between those in love or with a close emotional bond, compared with a term of endearment.
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Encyclopedia
A nickname is a descriptive name given in place of or in addition to the official name of a person, place or thing. Another class of nickname is the familiar or truncated form of the proper name, such as Bob, Bobby, Rob, Robbie, and Bert for Robert, more properly called a short name.
The term hypocoristic is used to refer to a nickname of affection between those in love or with a close emotional bond, compared with a term of endearment. The term diminutive name refers to nicknames that convey smallness in the names, e.g., referring to children. The distinction between the two is often blurred.
As a concept, it is distinct from both pseudonym and stage name, and also from a title (for example, City of Fountains), although there may be overlap in these concepts.
A nickname is sometimes considered desirable, symbolising a form of acceptance, but can often be a form of ridicule.
Etymology
The compound word ekename, literally meaning "additional name," was attested as late as 1303. This word was derived from the Old English phrase eaca "an increase", related to eacian "to increase"). By the 15th Century, the misdivision of the syllables of the phrase "an ekename" led to its corruption into the form "a nekename." Though spelling has changed, the pronunciation and meaning of the word have remained relatively stable ever since.
In Viking societies, many people had nicknames heiti, viðrnefni or uppnefni which were used in addition to, or instead of their family names. In some circumstances the giving of a nickname had a special status in Viking society in that it created a relationship between the name maker and the recipient of the nickname, to the extent that the creation of a nickname also often entailed a formal ceremony and an exchange of gifts.
Slaves have often used nicknames, so that the master who heard about someone doing something could not identify the slave. In capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, the slaves had nicknames, to protect them from being caught, as practicing capoeira was illegal for decades.
One popular but innacurate explanation for the origin of the term "nickname" is that it was in opposition to what has been referred to (in the 18th and 19th centuries, at least, and even into the 20th) as one's "Christian name," i.e., a 'proper name.' This was based on one appellation for the Devil, also known as "Old Nick."
Computing
In the context of information technology, a nickname (or technically a nick) is a common synonym for a screenname or handle.
Nickname is a name to shorten a name. Nick is a term originally used to identify a person in a system for synchronous conferencing. In computer networks it has become a common practice for every person to also have one or more nicknames for the purposes of anonymity, to avoid ambiguity or simply because the natural name or technical address would be too long to type or take too much space on the screen.
Performing arts
Many writers, performing artists and actors have nicknames, which may develop into a stage name or pseudonym. A bardic name may also result from a nickname. Many writers have pen names which they use instead of their real names. Famous writers with a pen name include Dr. Seuss, Mark Twain, Lemony Snicket and George Orwell.
Nicknames for people
To inform an audience or readership of a person's nickname without actually calling them by their nickname, the nickname is placed between the first and last names and surrounded by quotation marks (i.e. Catherine "Cate" Jones). The middle name is eliminated (if there is one). Very rarely is the middle name mentioned with the nickname (exceptions being when the first name is composed of two words, e.g. "Beth Ann").
- They may refer to a person's job or title:
- Sawbones (or further shortened to "Bones", as in Dr. McCoy from Star Trek: TOS) or Doc for Doctor
- They may reference a person's physical characteristics, personality or lifestyle choices.
- In English:
- Four-Eyes for a person with glasses, and train tracks for braces
- It should be noted that in English such nicknames are often considered offensive and derogatory unless the nickname is based on a trait that is viewed positively. All of the above examples would be offensive in the majority of instances.
- Sometimes, a nickname descriptive of the person will be given to one member of a social group that shares a given name with another member of the same group, e.g. "Gay Anthony" or "Little Jake".
- In Spanish-speaking cultures:
- Flaco (thin, weak)
- Palito (little stick)
- El Gordo (the fat one)
- Description of one's physical characteristics in a nickname should almost never be taken as an insult in Spanish.
- In English-speaking cultures:
- They can be contractions of longer names Margaret to Greta
- With many nicknames a letter, usually R is dropped ie: Fanny from Francis, Walt from Walter.
- During medieval times the letter R would often be swapped from ether L or D ie: Hal from Harry, Molly from Mary and Sadie from Sally.
- Letter swapping for nicknames is common, usually the letter R, for another letter. ie: from Robert: Hob, Dob, Rob, Bob and Nob, from Richard: Rick, Dick and Hick, Bill from Will which in turn comes from William and Peg from Meg which is derived from Margaret.
- Sometimes a nickname can come from the back of the name (ie: Drew from Andrew, Fred from Alfred and Beth from Elizabeth)
- It can also can come from the front of the name (ie: Alex from Alexander Sam from Samuel/Samantha and Ed from Edward/Edmond/Edwin)
- Another possible nickname can come from the middle (ie: Liz from Elizabeth or Della from Adelaide)
- Before the 17th century most nicknames had a diminutive ending ether "in" or "Kin", in which the ending is attached to the first syllable. (IE: Watkin/Walter/Wat-kin Hobkin/Robert/Hob-kin or Thompkin/Thomas/Thom-Kin.) While most of these have died away, a few remain such as Robin (Rob-in, from Robert), Hank (Hen-Kin from Henry), Jack (Jan-kin from John) and Colin (Col-in from Nicolas).
- Most nicknames usually drop the final one or two letters and add ether ie/ee/y as an ending ie Davy from David, Charlie from Charles and Jimmy from James.
- In some cases another name may be used as a nickname for example on the show Dead Like Me the main character was called George which was short for Georgia.
- It may allude to a person's mental characteristics, (though often used sarcastically):
- They may refer to the relationship with the person. This is a term of endearment.
- A nickname can also originate from someone's real name. These are usually used to make names shorter and thus easier to say.
- CJ for someone whose initials are C.J. This initialisation almost exclusively ends in J.** 'Tommo' for an Andrew Thompson.
- To avoid confusion between peer groups with the same given names, surnames may be used.
- A nickname can be used to distinguish members of the same family sharing the same name from one another. This has several common patterns among sons named for fathers:
- The first bearer of the name can be referred to as Senior, Daddy or have "Big" placed in front of his given name, as in "Big Pete".
- A son named after his father (but not after his grandfather) is often referred to as Junior, Chip (also a diminutive of Charles, but in this case in reference to "a chip off the old block"), Skip, or Sonny.
- The third generation carrying a name (usually with III after his name) is often referred to as Trey, Tripp, or Trip (from Triple).
- The fourth generation carrying a name (usually with IV after his name) may be referred to as Ivy (as in IV) or Dru (from Quadruple).
- The fifth generation carrying a name (usually with V after his name) may be referred to as Quint, Quince or Quincy (from Quintuple).
- It may relate to a specific incident or action:
- It may compare the person with a famous or fictional character. Examples:
- Napoleon or Hitler for someone with a dictatorial manner
- It may be related to their place of origin or place of residence. Example:
- Gloucester, Paul from Gloucester or PFG for someone named Paul who comes from Gloucester.
- It may refer to a person's political affiliation. Examples:
- A famous person's nickname may be unique to them:
- Opa for the Dutch lifesaving KNRM-hero Dorus Rijkers. Dorus became a Grandpa (Dutch:Opa), at the age of 23 (by the marriage to a widow with eight children), and soon everybody called him Opa.
- Gazza for English footballer Paul Gascoigne (though used more widely in Australia for Gary) and similar "zza" forms (Hezza, Prezza, etc.) for other prominent personalities whose activities are frequently reported in the British press. See also Oxford "-er" for a similar but wider phenomenon.
In Anglo-American culture, a nickname is often based on a shortening of a person's proper name, a diminutive. However, in other societies, this may not necessarily the case.
In Indian society, for example, generally people have at least one nickname (call name or affection name) and these affection names are generally not related to the person's proper name. Indian nicknames very often are a trivial word or a diminutive (such as Bablu, Dabbu, Banti, Babli, Gudiya, Golu, Sonu, Chhotu, Raju, Adi, Ritu, etc.).
Nicknames of geographical places
Particularly with geographical places, it is important to distinguish between nickname and title. A nickname is almost always a brief term that is either friendly or derogatory and can be substituted for the real name at will. A title is usually a multi-word term, often created for promotional purposes, sometimes created as a putdown, that cannot be substituted for the real name at will.
Most of the "city nicknames" are not nicknames; they are titles. For example, Kansas City is titled (or dubbed) 'Heart of America' and 'City of Fountains'; it is nicknamed KC. People will use KC frequently in everyday speech as a substitute for Kansas City; it is the popular nickname for the city. By contrast, the term 'City of Fountains' is uncommonly used as a title (not a nickname).
See also
External links
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