Tuesday, April 16, 2013

N is for Nicknames



Nicknames are common around the bays,  where there are often a  limited number of family names. Children are often named after relatives, saints or biblical characters, its fairly common to have more than one person in the community with the same name.  So to alleviate the problem, nicknames are often used.  The names are sometimes after occupation - "Carpenter John", sometimes after where they live "John Up the Hill",  certain characteristics "Stunned John", "Small John".  Nickname can also come from a long forgotten incident "Foxy John".


Nicknames are so common, the Island has a nickname - The Rock!


Happy Birthday to me Mudder!!!  (see anothe nickname)

11 comments:

  1. They made a movie about your island!
    And if you can't remember a name, 'What's-his-name' works as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My hubs has a nickname for everyone too...it's "oh, you know who I mean".

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is pretty cool and for someone named Birgit(I tell everyone to pronounce it like -Beer-Get) ..it is amazing what people do to names. Love the Foxy John and the Stunned John-hilarious:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pretty cool that Newfoundland has their own unique nicknames, here we're pretty lazy with that kind of thing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fun nicknames. My family isn't big on nicknames. Though I've always wanted one myself!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Knowing a nickname is like knowing someone or something's secret name.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi
    I've given everyone in my family a nickname. Most of the time they stick throughout life. Thanks for visiting.
    Happy N Day

    ReplyDelete
  8. I use lots of nicknames too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Growing up (and through college) it seemed I ended up giving everyone nicknames that stuck....but I never got one...

    ReplyDelete