As young children, we tend to label people with names to describe them because our little brains cannot handle the load when being introduced to many people somehow related to our parents and our pronunciation is just terrible. For example, when I was a wee tot, I had a friend whose name was Michael, but I called him Mike-Mo. Then there was also certain adults who were given names like Scary Guy, Beard Man, Maintenance Guy, etc. Then as we grow older, we tend to shorten our birth name into a simpler nickname because we think it's A) cool B) more grown up C) because our parents yelled at us using our full names and D) all of the above.
However, throughout the course of time, we tend to acquire nicknames from others (and sometimes ourselves) that relate to something we do, who we are, or is a moniker with a nice ring to it. The most common case were we see this happening is in the rap industry as well as sports. Some examples include Eminem, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg (now Snoop Lion), T-Pain, LL Cool J, Johnny Football, Coco Crisp, Megatron, etc. Sometimes the names are given as a tease or joke, but then can become a permanent way to refer to that person because it has so much meaning or it just works. Where am I going with all of this? Well I was pondering over the slew of nicknames I've been given over the years and have decided to analyze them thoroughly highlighting their meaning and what made them last or what didn't.
Joshy (Josh-ee): Given to me by all three of my sisters and various girls. I'm not a fan of this one and it's a rarity these days, but it'll still make an unwanted appearance on occasion. For my age, it doesn't fit the bill, but expresses a playful atmosphere (unless it comes from a guy, then I'll have issues).
Wayne Gretzky: Given to me by my 8th grade gym teacher. As a kid I loved roller skating and street hockey. Whenever we came across this activity in gym class, I always went all out and dominated. I earned this name because I would score often but also because I was the only one to score on my gym teacher. This name didn't stand the test of time because it was only used while playing floor hockey and I never made a career out of it.
Watkins: Used by kids I went to school with in middle school and various people playing pick-up sports. In middle school it was cool to call kids by their last names and coaches have a tendency to do that a lot too. Your last name represents your family and that's something to take pride in. So when used as a first name it can be deemed as a sign of respect because you are representing your family and people recognize that.
Joshwatkins: Okay so this isn't really a nickname, but some names just flow together nicely. Instead of "hey Josh" or "what's up Josh?" I heard "Hey Joshwatkins" and "What's up Joshwatkins?" I have had a handful of people throughout my high school years always refer to me by my shortened first name and last name as one name. It'll still be heard on occasion.
Dallas Clark: For those who don't know, Dallas Clark was Peyton Manning's sure hand tight end in Indianapolis for 9 years and made many highlight reels because of his catches. Tim Chai gave me that one. Whenever he'd throw a football to me, I'd catch it. He would then start rifling those to me and I'd catch those as well. He started calling me Dallas or Dallas Clark. Eventually, Clark left Indy and his age caught up with him, and so the name wasn't very relevant anymore.
Pizza Man: One day a little jr. high kid at my church started calling me Pizza Man. I hadn't the slightest clue where he got that name from, but I rolled with it. After awhile, my curiosity got the better of me and I asked him why he would call me that and he said it was because he saw me carrying pizzas a lot. This is a perfect example of my introduction above. He has grown some since then and hasn't called me that name in a long time.
Joshkins: Believe it or not this name did not come from a girl or a little kid. This one came from the ever happy, ever goofy, ever lovable, ever hungry Zane Biddle. He sliced my first name and last name in half and meshed them together. Every time he calls me that, he says it in a serious, non joking voice. He is the sole user of that name and it's just a small piece of our big friendship.
Joshitowah (Josh-ee-toe-wah): During my first co-op, I had a boss who had quite a character about him. He liked to crack jokes and be as humorous as possible. One day for some reason he decided to take my name and make it "Japanese-like". He called me by this name for the rest of the semester.
Jeff Gordon: when I was ten years old, there was a Saturday morning cartoon called NASCAR Racers. Me and my siblings thought it was one of the coolest shows ever and never missed an episode. In the cartoon, the drivers raced on insane courses, had turbo boosters, crashed each other, and could even bail out of their cars in "rescue racers." In February 2001, I was told the biggest NASCAR Race, the Daytona 500, was going to be on. Now I had heard of Jeff Gordon and saw bits and pieces of races before, but never enough to be interested. I sat through that entire race and was hooked. I saw cars beat and bang, go airborne, and make impossible passes to win. It was also the race the Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt, was killed on the last lap. For the next few years, I ate, slept, and breathed NASCAR. I would always wear Jeff Gordon caps and people started calling me Jeff Gordon or just Gordon. I don't have the passion for NASCAR like I used to, so the name has faded with time.
Watty (Whatt-ee): College is where many young people begin to discover who they truly are. You meet some people there who will or can become best friends for a long time. Well there were two guys I met with engineering majors like mine and we became fast friends. We refer to each other by our last names, but for me, one of them called me Watty and the name stuck for them. They haven't called me anything else since. I don't mind it at all. And it's usually pronounced by raising your voice as you say it and drawling out the "ee" sound.
Makarios (mak-ar'-ee-os): From the fall of 2011 to the summer of 2012, as many of you know, I did a Christian Internship. During this time, we studied Greek. Now the cool thing of Greek is that many of their letters are used as symbols in mathematics (alpha=acceleration, theta=angle, mu=friction, etc) and being an engineering student, I see these symbols a lot. Well during the first few weeks of learning Greek, we would use Greek words in our bible projects to better understand the bible and because we weren't experts in reading Greek yet, we normally would skip them. Well as we read in turn, I noticed I would have a Greek word in my portion. The word was makarios and I could pronounce half of it from my mathematical background. My turn came and the word rolled off my tongue as if I spoke Greek. The room, including Rex, was shocked. I sat there and grinned until I couldn't hide it any longer. I told them I looked the pronunciation up and they laughed. For the rest of that year, the brothers in the brother's house called me makarios on and off. I actually found out that it is a legit Greek name and the actual word means happy or blessed.
Tim Duncan/Timmy D/Timmy: This semester at college, I have played a lot of basketball. I am left-handed and have a decent hook shot. One game I played, my hook shot was untouchable and i hardly missed. The group I played with called me Tim Duncan referring to the NBA player who has a killer hook shot. They still call me that even when we don't play, but they shorten it to Timmy D or just Timmy.
D-Jack: I also play a lot of pool in college and I play with a lot of the same people. This one guy I play with is really into football and the NFL like I am and so we talk a lot of Browns and Eagles. Recently, the Eagles released one of their star players (I won't get into details here). His name is DeSean Jackson and his nickname is D-Jax. Up until the time the Eagles finally released him, this guy would bug me about it. Finally, he did get released, and because of all the conversations about it, this guy started calling me D-Jack. This just goes to show that our naming people by descriptive names as kids continues throughout our lives and can be crucial in our relations with people.
J-Watt/Jwatt (Same pronunciation, two different spellings): This nickname has basically become my real name among the Cleveland bros as well as many other college bros and sisters in the church. It came about one summer when we were playing a lot of basketball in the meeting hall parking lot. We decided to give each other monikers. Johnny was the Mailman and David was the Waiter. Tim Chai said "What can we call Josh?" Then before anyone could respond to his question, he said "We'll call you J-Watt." That was seven years ago and the name has stuck like glue and it is by far my favorite. It was a sign of acceptance for a young high school kid with some older high school and first year college kids. It's a sign of the bond that has grown between us throughout the years and it's even cooler when other people from other churches use it because to me that's an acceptance and a sign of respect for who I am.
You never know how you can effect someone when you take that extra step. Parents take careful thought into naming their children because names have meaning and it's what people are going to know you as or call you for the rest of your life. Names can be powerful, even something as simple as a nickname. Experiment, see what works and what doesn't, take pride in your birth name, family name, and hey even a nickname. You never know, it could change your life.
