Nicknames come about as a result of various reasons, which can range from one's physique or stature to names, events, etc. So, some people get to love their nicknames, while others are compelled to accept them. Some nicknames are also for a short while, and some can be for a very long time. It is also funny that some people may not know the actual names of the individuals; rather, they're known by their nicknames. I'm sure you will agree with me that there are people in our lives for whom we may not even remember their names, or worse, their surnames, because we got too accustomed to the nickname.
For me as an individual, I have names starting with J (including my middle name), D, and a surname starting with M. It was quite easy for people to combine any of these names to arrive at a nickname. My siblings would call me DJ, my friends popularly call me MJ (or EmJay), and a few others call me JayJay (don't ask if I can play ball like the JJ Okocha 😂).
I was also stubborn while growing up, right from elementary school through high school to college. At some point in my freshman year of college, I was responsible for making a professor walk out of the class angrily because of comments I passed after he had warned us that, whichever class he walked out from, there would be massive failure. Luckily for me, I had a B in that course, even though a good number of people had some bad scores. But I felt the man wanted to leave, and the students equally did not study well enough (I know I'm trying to exonerate myself 😀). So, you can agree with me if some people knew me as "area scatter" but hey, that was then 😂. Now I'm an area arranger hehehe 😂😂😂.
Memory lane takes me back to my second year in college, sometime in 2010, when a lecturer we popularly called 'Aunty Kemi' (whom I later discovered was a sister to my brother's best friend) had asked me for my name in class, and the entire class was thrilled to know I was bearing "Musa James," which brought mixed reactions and the question of my religion. Musa is widely known to be an Islamic name, while James happens to be a Christian name. That also heralded the nickname "CHRISMUS" which thankfully did not last. Eventually I had to clarify in class how my tribe (Nupe) had no English name for Moses rather than Musa, and hence I had some breathing space. I would say I prefer to be called EmJay or MJ, as the case may be. It makes life easier for everyone by not having to explain the Chrismus nickname or the reason behind the two names.
Lucky for me, I've not had nicknames that I hated; perhaps I disliked a few, but they didn't last before they waned.
Thank you for reading. I would love to have your comments and contributions. 🤗