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My daughter (15) just said to me "It's so weird how you all had nicknames at school"
Apparently that's not a thing now? She can't think of a single person with a widely-used nickname.
Mine was Saucy, (surname Brown, brown sauce), then there was Fat Farmer (who was neither), Rat Boy, plus all the usual surname abbreviations like Greggsy etc.
Has the nickname been consigned to history? Any great or cruel ones from your past?
We are in our early 30s and have Dobbo (fairly explanatory as it's his surname shortened), Bhuna (likes a curry) and Rainbow (let's just say he had an, erm, interesting one night stand at a certain time of the month).
At university a former mate was called "Peado" for no apparent reason...
I never had one luckily or perhaps annoyingly, probably due to my first name being a little odd.
Still, I have the last laugh now as my name is a star wars character in the recent films. If that character had been in the first bloody films I'd have had an epic time at school but no, Lucas bloody robbed me. Bastard.
Only the shortenings of my surname to first syllable plus s on the end. True footballer style.
At University, I was a rare beast - a footballer that played in goal willingly, so was very sought after once that was known on my Freshers fair form for the football club. Because my hair is slightly curly it was then decided I had a alikeness to England's #1 of the time, and so became Shilts.
Nearly 40 years on, to my Uni friends I am still Shilts. I swear half of them don't even know my real name.
This however is magnificent
Lucas bloody robbed me. Bastard.
Your name is Neepers Panpick AICMFP.
I was Farahs (like the stay-press trousers which were de rigeur at the time) at middle school, then became Faz at high school. My brother was also known as Faz by his mates, and my eldest was nicknamed Fazzini by his rugby team mates, and none of them know my username from here. Funny how this stuff works. 🤣
Penfold (from danger mouse) or Thelma (from scooby doo)
Short, dark haired and really thick glasses......
I can't say I enjoyed school, having significant speech issues certainly didn't help
Your name is Neepers Panpick AICMFP.
School was tough enough thank you. lol
vd
Full Member
Urko – the nasty gorilla in Planet of the Apes.
Should have been gonorrhoea surely?
I was called FA Cup because of my large ears
I was also called Canesten because I was an irritating ****
Always Daffy, as in bad luck, as in Daffy Duck(ed).
An ex of mine had a the nickname red cord, as in something you pull in an emergency. She was in a couple of years lower than me and I didnt really know her at school - she has blossomed but it still followed her around when she went back home to Stamford.
A similar vein to LeeW, I had a football teammate post University whose mates called him Gravy, 'cos Gravy will go with anything.
I was also called Canesten because I was an irritating ****
I feel quite lucky to have swerved that nickname, as it would have suited me.
Was always the generic ones, i was argee, simply due to that was my initials 'RG' and i was in primary school at the time of the Falklands and the word argie was used a lot back then.
Ones i remember from school and so on, the dooker, named as he had a skin condition that looked like he'd been dooking for chips, the knicker knocker, named after being caught taking undergarments off washing lines, and a myriad of ginger related insulting nicknames.
My daughter (15) just said to me “It’s so weird how you all had nicknames at school”
Nicknames just aren't necessary any more
When I was at school (late 70 - late 80s) There weren't that many first names on the menu for parents it seems. There was a table where everyone at it was called Andrew. Andrew, Steven and Mark seemed to cover about 90% of the boys in the class. It seemed very group of there girls-pals were called Julie, Joanne and Nichola. So most nickmames were a contracted version of a surname just to distinguish which Mark, Andrew or Steven you were. So my best friends Steven, Stephen and Mark were known as Tommy, Cecil and Kenny as a result. Oddly my name wasn't even in the top 100 name choices in England at the time - but I was known as a short version of my surname too.
Fast forward to the present day... I did a residency in a primary school a recently. A particular large year group that had to be split into two classs - over 40 kids. No two kids shared a first name. No odd or unusually or made up names - but no shared names.
There's a survey / data / factoid that makes easy chewing gum journalism each year about the most popular boys and girls names which sometimes has to ignore the fact that the most popular name in the UK is actually Mohammed - not becuase there are an overwhelming quantity of muslims being born in the uk - but becuase name choices in the uk are now so varied there aren't very many children sharing even the most popular names. (also theres a statistical anomaly of grouping all the different spelling of Mohammad together but not also treating John, Sean, Ian, Jean, Jane, Joanne Siobhan and many others as being different spellings of Yohanan)
Out of absolutely nowhere, one of the operations team at work has started calling me Sugar Tits. To be fair to him he doesn't do it when anyone who might pick up the ball and run with it is in earshot.
I've had worse. Was Spud at university.
Still, I have the last laugh now as my name is a star wars character in the recent films.
BB-8?
In the early primary years I had the name Quackers because my best pal at school was tiny and there was a TV show featuring two ventriloquist dummies, Titch and Quackers. i lost that when I moved school and didn't pick up another until in my 40s when some folk at work started calling me Captain - after Captain Manwairing.
In the Outer Hebrides, almost every guy (and a few of the women) has a nickname that stays with them for life. I think it's because you can only have so many Donald MacLeods before it gets too confusing.
To be fair to him he doesn’t do it when anyone who might pick up the ball and run with it is in earshot.
There is of course a subtle difference between what people call you and how you are referred to then you're not there. Perhaps everyone calls you Sugar Tits - he's the only one to have let it slip. 🙂
In the Outer Hebrides, almost every guy (and a few of the women) has a nickname that stays with them for life. I think it’s because you can only have so many Donald MacLeods before it gets too confusing.
And the punchline to that joke is ".... but you **** one sheep."
Apparently that’s not a thing now?
I think it peaked during World War in the RAF.
At school I was Grizzly Gus, named after the uncle in the Three Bears in the Beano. I still have a couple of mates who call me Gus.
I was a short fat kid - Chocodooby was my instant nick name as soon as the Kinder egg adverts hit the screens!
I was called 'Dicky' - unfortunately not because of a particularly large appendage, but because my uncle went to school with one of my teachers who then told everyone that he (my uncle) was caught looking at boys tackle once in a changing room so *he* got the nickname and it was passed on to me.
Thanks, ****.
I was known as Moose for a chunk of secondary school. To this day I've no idea why.
Because of my first name I was called 'moley' at school, that lasted until a certain virus appeared and then it was 'aids'
'No frills' , due to my school pack lunches having those kwik save black and white no frills crisps
On my first night at uni everyone was sharing their nicknames in a noisy union bar. One of my classmates said her nickname at school was Vacant … but we heard Bacon. And instantly that became her new nickname.
My neighbour now is known by everyone as Boof. Haven’t a clue why.
A kid at school was asked his name by a teacher and he said Byron. Teacher said “I meant your first name”, he said Byron. And henceforth we called him Byron Byron Byron.
One of my best mates has been called Snail (or Snez) since before I met him as a 9 year old. No idea why.
A mate now is Dirty Baz … quite a protracted explanation for that.
Mate Chippa was a cabinetmaker.
People I barely know call me Reeksy, although there’s a few others too.
BB-8?
My bodytype these days, yes, but not my name. 😉
A friend of mine in Cadets was given the name Dave, after someone said she looked like Dave Gilmore. The name stuck to the extent that most people in Cadets didn’t know her real name.
A few years ago I was watching a documentary about the Royal Navy. Dave was featured as Officer in charge of the watch. Was delighted to see she was shown on screen as Lt “Dave”.
Had a couple of mates I've always only called by their nicknames but never had any clue as to why they had those names.
Michael was always Dish.
Mark was always Billy.
I only had derogatory ones I think.
Kids are mostly totally evil.
That's a good story franksinatra.
A story on Mark Radcliffe show a couple of years ago made me laugh. 3 female school mate, one called Emma, second one Dale, which is a bit strange for a girl anyway.) Rest of the gag writes itself obviously.
Two friends from school-
“Jack”…because his second name was Dawes.
”Tad” …because he mentioned that his grandfather was Polish.
I have massive ears, and was known as “Milky” (after the trophy)The bastards!
the most popular name in the UK is actually Mohammed – not becuase there are an overwhelming quantity of muslims being born in the uk – but becuase name choices in the uk are now so varied there aren’t very many children sharing even the most popular names. (also theres a statistical anomaly of grouping all the different spelling of Mohammad together but not also treating John, Sean, Ian, Jean, Jane, Joanne Siobhan and many others as being different spellings of Yohanan)
If I remember correctly, Islam has a list of prescribed names that parents are allowed choose from. A fixed pool obviously increases the likelihood of duplicates.
I think there's some weirdness with the firstname-surname structure also, it doesn't quite work like Western names do. I should look that up really.
In the Outer Hebrides, almost every guy (and a few of the women) has a nickname that stays with them for life.
For a while I had a girlfriend in South Wales, this is very common there also. Her dad was Barry Keys (his name was Barry and he carried a big bunch of keys), his best mate was Mike Taxi (his name was Mike and, well...)
A mate now is Dirty Baz … quite a protracted explanation for that.
Enquiring minds need to know.
A guy I worked with is nicknamed Briefcase. The reason for this, he turned up at work one day carrying a briefcase. Once. Ten years ago.
At school, as per the OP really, everyone was known by surnamey or surnameo. Watty (Watson), Smithy, Jacko (Jackson), and so on and so forth and things of that nature.
One of my best friends had the surname Griggs so was obviously Griggsy, he had a younger brother who was "Griggsy's Brother." One day we were out and happened across some of Griggsy's Brother's mates, the recognised Griggsy and shouted "hey, it's Griggsy's Brother!" What, no, it's Griggsy... ah, right, yes, I see. That was weird.
One lad picked up the name Gandhi. The reason? He wanted to go to the toilet during PE one time and the teacher wouldn't excuse him, so he pissed himself. And Gandhi, famously, wore a big nappy. Different times.
Reading @theotherjonv reply reminds me of three brothers at my school. The oldest was called Gravy, the middle one was called Bisto and the youngest was called Granules.
Boy I went to high school with wore boots (bates in the local dialect) that stuck up at the front slightly, think he probably wore them for a week.
6 years of being called "hard-on bates"
6 years of being called “hard-on bates”
They missed low-hanging fruit there TBH.
In the Outer Hebrides, almost every guy (and a few of the women) has a nickname that stays with them for life. I think it’s because you can only have so many Donald MacLeods before it gets too confusing.
Similar on Islay although I think placenames were often used ie Iain Maclennan Port Ellen
My first name is Gordon, I'm tall at school I was called Big Gordy. My family often went to Islay on holiday where I was called the same in gaelic Gordi Mhor.
I'd noticed exactly the same thing, everyone throughout my schooldays (70s to mid 80s) had nicknames, ask my kids about it and none of theirs do. I wonder what caused it to end.
We had nicknames in the hockey club at uni, assigned via a weird association starting with your surname. One lad ended up with Semtex, although he was from Northern Ireland so we had to check he was alright with that...
The rugby team also had nicknames but, well, because they were the rugby team, they were awful. One particular fellow was given the name lovely name C__tbutter. Worse still, when he got to third year a fresher started who looked just like him. He was duly named I Can't Believe It's Not C__tbutter
the most popular name in the UK is actually Mohammed
That's a myth. Many Muslim families don't actually put Mohammed down on birth certificates; it's just a naming tradition, and given as a second or third extra name, rather than the actual 'given' name (although it will appear as the 'first' name). I had three names as a child, but Mohammed didn't appear on my BC. I shortened my proper name as an adult, because I think extra names is stupid and I never used it anyway. It just got annoying when having to show ID etc.
If I remember correctly, Islam has a list of prescribed names that parents are allowed choose from
Another myth. Anyone can become Muslim, there is no religious requirement to have an 'Islamic' name at all. It's just tradition to name your child after fathers, grandfathers etc, and to not use names from other religions or cultures. But it's worth knowing that many 'Muslim' and indeed 'Christian' names are in fact simply versions of older names from the Middle East region, which would have been prevalent amongst Jews: Jesus is Isa/Eesah, Yesu, Yeshua, for example. Abraham becomes Ibrahim. Etc.
As for nicknames; I went to a mainly white school in a rough part of East London. So you can imagine my 'nicknames' weren't ones I'd choose for myself, nor be particularly happy with.
Mate I met at college was P-hed. He was a big lad, but had a relatively small head. Had known him for about 6/7 years until I found out his name and that was only because we got stopped by the old bill.