The Significance of Nicknames

I’ve often noticed that among the older generations there is a very high occurrence of life-long nicknaming. Paging through the obituary section one sees that practically every man is listed with his formal name as well as his nickname, like Robert “Hank” Smith, or Henry “Buddy” Jackson. The use of these life-long appellations seems to have faded with time, only reemerging as a strong cultural phenomenon with the mass popularization of the Internet.

I started to ask myself some questions to figure this out. Why were nicknames so ubiquitous two or three generations ago? And why did the use of life-long nicknames fade in the late twentieth century? More importantly, what is the significance of a nickname, and what do they mean today?

Continue Reading 3 comments August 21st, 2006