The Other Name

Lefty Frizzell (Wikipedia photo)

My name is Tony! It always has been.  I get tired of people asking me, "Isn't it Anthony?" I can, in retrospect, understand their asking when I was a child. But this has been going on for more than 60 years! My name is not Anthony. This declaration leads me to think about nicknames. That name we give someone other than their given name. I know Tony can be a nickname. As can Joe, Tom, Jack, Harry, Pat and others derived from the given name. The names Joseph, Thomas, John, Henry and Patrick lend themselves handily to nicknames. Does anyone know how this started?  I don't quite understand it.  If a boy is going to be called "Jim" why not name him "Jim" instead of James? Probably if he was named "Jim" he would have to go go through life being asked "Is it really James?" This would even work in New Jersey and Chicago where they tend to prefer one syllable names.

What about those other nicknames that are based on physical characteristics. Slim, Fats, Chubby, Shorty, Red, Lefty or Rabbit. Everyone remembers Slim Pickens, Fats Domino, Red Buttons, Lefty Frizzell and Chubby Checker.  I've known fellows whose nicknames were  Shorty and Rabbit. Shorty was height challenged while Rabbit was very fast afoot. I've also known Four-eyes, Snake and Turtle. Turtle earned his nickname because he wasn't very fast.I 'm not real sure about Snake.

Perhaps the military does the best job of reducing sir names to nicknames. Robinson becomes Robbie, McKenzie becomes Mack, Smith becomes Smitty and Kolinsky becomes Skee.  The military also gives nicknames according to occupation.  For example a Gunners Mate is known as "Gunny" and a Hospital Corpsman is known as "Bones". The Commissaryman becomes Cookie and the Electricians Mate becomes Sparky. I was a "Twiget" or "Pin-jockey", and Electronics Technician.

The field of sports have given us scores of nicknames. Dale "The Intimidator" Earnhardt, "Mean" Joe Green, "Refrigerator" Perry, "Catfish" Hunter, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Billy "White Shoes" Johnson.

"Shoeless" Joe Jackson (Wikipedia photo)

Some of these are quite easy to understand.  Earnhardt was simply intimidating on the racetrack. was a fast race car driver. "Mean" Joe was exactly that on the football field but much nicer in Coca-Cola commercials. (see below) "The Frig" was simply a big Bear on Chicago's football team. Of course the white shoes of Johnson were obvious and Jackson wore no shoes.  But I never did figure out the "Catfish" moniker.

Another interesting thing about nicknames is in every instance, except those derived from given names, are gender specific. How many girls or women have nicknames? I can't think of any. Why is that? I can't imagine a woman referred to as "Chubby" or "Slim"?  But then there was Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan.  But that was in the movies.

Did the Native Americans have nicknames?  What would have been the nickname of Red Cloud?  maybe simply "Red"? What about Cochise? "Coch?"  Actually, most of my research shows that most nicknames are products of Western Civilization. I'm not sure where the Native Americans fit in the East-West classification.

I believe this nickname phenomena is probably a cultural thing.  Maybe Anglo-Saxon.  But then  I'm not certain because "flaco" means "skinny" in Spanish and there's the great squeezebox player named Flaco Jimenez.   And he's not fat. And not of Anglo-Saxon ancestry.

I do know that my name is Tony and not Anthony!