Origins of Nicknames
I think it would be great to see a blog dedicated to the origins of nicknames, specifiically detailing the process behind how someone gets a certain nickname.
For example my friend Jim’s nickname evolved as follows:
1. ‘Jimbo’
2. ‘Jimboat’
3. ‘boat’
I’m sure there are a plethora of other more interesting nickname stories and name process stories out there. For several years during my adolescence, this guy named Zeek called me ‘Chachi’. He came up with that nickname b/c I had longer hair and wore a bandana when playing basketball to keep it out of my face and he liked Chachi from happy days.
Would anyone care to share their nickname stories? Also, how did the name, nickname come into existence?
Tags: nicknames, personal stories
July 5th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
From Wikipedia.org
Etymology
1440 CE, misdivision of ekename (1303), an eke name, literally “an additional name,” from Old English eaca “an increase,” related to eacian “to increase”. [1]
In Viking societies, many people had nicknames heiti, viðrnefni or uppnefi 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.
July 6th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Thanks Keni. Very interesting history.
July 11th, 2008 at 6:51 am
I would love to know someone named Boat.
My name is Johanna, and a lot of people call me Han. My roommate had a funny tendency in high school to structure words as “second syllable + the word ‘of’ + the first syllable,” so I became “Han of Jo” … eventually we got lazy and it was shortened to Han (pronounced like “hand”).
July 11th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Thanks for sharing that Johanna. Cool process. It seems like it could have easily went from “Han of Joe” to “Hand Job” in certain circles of friends, glad “Hand” is how it ended up”.
Cheers,
David