Nickname

In Bengali society, for example, people will often have two names: a daknam (pet name) which is the name used by family and friends and a bhalonam which is their formal name.^[9][10]

In England, some surnames have nicknames traditionally attached. A man with the surname 'Clark' will be nicknamed 'Nobby'; the surname 'Miller' will have the nickname 'Dusty' (alluding to the flour dust of a miller at work); the surname 'Adams' has the nickname 'Nabby'. Several other nicknames are linked traditionally with surnames, including Chalky White, Bunny Warren, Tug Wilson, and Spud Baker. Other English nicknames allude to a person's origins. A Scotsman may be nicknamed 'Jock', an Irishman 'Paddy' (alluding to Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland), or 'Mick' (alluding^{[clarification needed]} to the preponderance of Roman Catholicism in Ireland), and a Welshman may be nicknamed 'Taffy' (from Welsh Dafydd, David). Some nicknames referred ironically to a person's physical characteristics, such as 'Lofty' for a short person, 'Curly' for a bald man, or 'Bluey' for a redhead.

In Chinese culture, nicknames are frequently used within a community among relatives, friends, and neighbors. A typical southern Chinese nickname often begins with a "阿" followed by another character, usually the last character of the person's given name.^[11] For example, Taiwanese politician Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is sometimes referred as "阿扁" (A-Bian). In many Chinese communities of Southeast Asia, nicknames may also connote one's occupation or status. For example, the landlord might be known simply as Towkay (simplified Chinese: 头家; traditional Chinese: 頭家; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thâu-ke), Hokkien for "boss") to his tenants or workers, while a bread seller would be called "Mianbao Shu" 面包叔 (literally, Uncle Bread).

A nickname can be a shortened or a modified variation on a person's real name. These are sometimes called diminutives. People may decide to use these nicknames on their own, or may accept them after being called them by others. These nicknames take different forms:

• Contractions of longer names: Margaret to Greta.
• Initials
  : using the first letters of a person's first, middle and/or last name, e.g. "DJ" for Daniel James.
• Dropping letters: with many nicknames, one or more letters, often R, are dropped:
  Fanny from Frances, Walt
  from Walter.
• Phonetic spelling: sometimes a nickname is created through the phonetic spelling of a name: Len from Leonard.
• Letter swapping: during the
  Will (which in turn comes from William); and Peg and Meg from Margaret. In the 19th-century frontier United States, Mary and Molly were often given the nickname Polly
  .

• Front of a name. Sometimes a nickname can come from the beginning of a given name: Al from Alan/Allan/Albert/Alfonse/Alfred/Alden/Alexander, Art from Arthur, Chris from Christopher/Christina; Dot from Dorothy, Ed from Edward, Edmond, Edgar or Edwin, Iz or Izzy from Isaac, Isaiah, Isidore, Isabel, or Isabella; Joe or Jo from Joseph, Josephine, or Joanna.
• End of name: Drew from Andrew; Xander from Alexander; Enzo or Renzo from Lorenzo; Beth from Elizabeth; Bel, Bell, Bella or Belle from Isabelle/Isabella.
• Middle of name: Liz from Elizabeth; Tori from Victoria; Del or Della from Adelaide.
• Addition of diminutives: before the 17th century, most nicknames in English had the diminutive ending -in or -kin, where the ending was attached to the first syllable: thus Walter → Wat → Watkin, Robert → Rob → Hob → Hobkin, Thomas → Tom → Tomkin. While most of these have died away, a few remain, such as Robert → Rob → Robin, Henry → Henkin → Hank, John → Jankin → Jack, and Nicolas → Colin.
• Many nicknames drop the final one or two letters and add either ie/ee/y as a diminutive ending: Penny from Penelope, Edie from Edith, Davy from David, Charlie from Charles, Mikey from Michael, Jimmy from James, and Marty from Martin.
• Initialization, which forms a nickname from a person's initials: A. E. Housman from Alfred Edward Housman, or Dubya for George W. Bush, a Texan pronunciation of the name of the letter 'W', President Bush's middle initial. Brazilian striker Ronaldo was given the nickname R9 (initial and shirt number).^[12]
• Nicknames are sometimes based on a person's last name ("Tommo" for Bill Thompson, "Campo" for David Campese) or a combination of first and last name such as "A-Rod" for Alex Rodriguez).
• Loose ties to a person's name with an attached suffix: 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).
• Use of the
  second name
  .
• Use of the generational suffix, like "Junior", or nicknames associated with a particular generational suffix, like Trey or Tripp for III.
• Combination of the first and middle name, or variations of a person's first and middle name. For example, a person may have the name Mary Elizabeth but has the nickname "Maz" or "Miz" by combining Mary and Liz.
• Doubling of part of a first name. For example, forming "NatNat" from Nathan/Natasha or "JamJam" from James.

Other nicknames are not based on proper names, but rather describe some characteristic about a person. These may be complimentary terms, like "Flash" for a fast runner, or they might be derogatory, like "Stinky" for someone with body odor. They may also be based on things like geographical origin, like "Tex" for someone from Texas.

A nickname may refer to the relationship with the person. This is a term of endearment.

• In
  Japanese culture, Japanese honorifics
  are designed so that a term of endearment conveys the exact status of the relationship between two people. Recipients are allowed to restrict use to a certain person.
• In addition to using the title of "grandmother" or "grandfather," or the proper names of their grandparents, children may use terms like "MeMaw" or "PopPop," with the grandparents often claiming which nickname they want to be referred to as early in a child's life.[13]

Many geographical places have titles, or alternative names, which have positive implications. Paris, for example, is the "City of Light", Rome is the "Eternal City", Venice is "La Serenissima", and New Jersey is the "Garden State". These alternative names are often used to boost the status of such places, contrary to the usual role of a nickname. Many places or communities, particularly in the US, adopt titles because they can help in establishing a civic identity, help outsiders recognize a community or attract people to a community, promote civic pride, and build community unity.^[14] Titles and slogans that successfully create a new community "ideology or myth"^[15] are also believed to have economic value.^[14] Their economic value is difficult to measure,^[14] but there are anecdotal reports of cities that have achieved substantial economic benefits by "branding" themselves by adopting new slogans.^[15]

By contrast, older city nicknames may be critical: London is still occasionally referred to as "The Smoke" in memory of its notorious "pea-souper" smogs (smoke-filled fogs) of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and Edinburgh was "Auld Reekie" for the same reason, as countless coal fires polluted its atmosphere.

Besides or replacing the demonym, some places have collective nicknames for their inhabitants. Many examples of this practice are found in Wallonia and in Belgium in general, where such a nickname is referred to in French as "blason populaire".

In the context of information technology, nickname is a common synonym for the screen name or handle of a

In the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) text-based messaging system first developed in the late 1980s, a nickname (or "nick") was required for every client that connected to an IRC server.^[16]