nickname

N1I1C3K5N1A1M3E1
/ˈnɪkneɪm/

noun

A familiar, invented name for a person or thing used instead of the actual name of the person or thing, often based on some noteworthy characteristic.

“My name is Jonathan, but I go by my nickname, Johnny.”

Similar
bynamemonikernickto-namesobriquethandlecognomensurname
OriginMiddle English neke name →
CommonScrabble 16
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounnickname (plural nicknames)

plural nicknames

  1. A familiar, invented name for a person or thing used instead of the actual name of the person or thing, often based on some noteworthy characteristic.

    "The Big Apple" is a common nickname for New York City.

    3 more examples

    […] Plato, who was named Aristocles after his grandfather, but received from his gymnastic master the nickname Πλάτων (from πλάτυς, broad), which practically superseded his real name.

    1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii

    He excelled with the arbalest steel crossbow, winning the nickname the Arbalestier and joined Bahriyya regiment, the crack soldiers who defeated the Crusaders and became known as the Turkish Lions and the Islamic Templars.

    2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 329

    Both literally and figuratively, the city has cleaned up without sacrificing the edge that inspired its locally embraced nickname of “Grit City.”

    2024 June 23, Corinne Whiting, “The dazzling sides of ‘Grit City’”, in CNN, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2024
  2. A familiar, shortened or diminutive name for a person or thing.

    My name is Jonathan, but I go by my nickname, Johnny.

verbnickname (third-person singular simple present nicknames, present participle nicknaming, simple past and past participle nicknamed)

present singular third person nicknames · participle present nicknaming · participle past nicknamed · past nicknamed

  1. transitiveTo give a nickname to (a person or thing).

    Gerald, nicknamed "Jerry", was usually a very cheerful person.

    1 more example

    He was nicknamed Chemical Ali by Iraqi Kurds, who also called him the Butcher of Kurdistan

    2010 January 25, “Iraq executes Chemical Ali”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2025

Synonyms & antonyms

familiar invented given name

Similar
bynamemonikernickto-namesobriquethandlecognomensurnameeponym
Narrower
hypocoristicpet nameepithet

nouna familiar name for a person (often a shortened version of a person's given name)

Similar
monikercognomensobriquetsoubriquetbyname
Broader
appellationdenominationdesignation

verbgive a nickname to

Similar
dub
Broader
namecallknow as
Also see
bynamecognomendubhypocorismmonikerpet namesobriquetsurname

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishneke name
  2. Englishnickname

From Middle English neke name, alteration (due to a rebracketing of an ekename as a nekename) of earlier ekename (“nickname”), from eke (“additional”) + name. Compare Old Norse aukanafn, auknafn, auknefni, Faroese eyknevni, Danish øgenavn, Norwegian Nynorsk aukenamn, Swedish öknamn, and German Low German Ökelname. For other similar cases of incorrect division, see also apron, daffodil, newt, orange, umpire.

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans bynaam, noemnaam
  • bynaamfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • noemnaamfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • bynaamfamiliar, invented given name
  • volksnaamfamiliar, invented given name
  • bynaam geeto give a nickname to
Ancient Greek ἐπωνυμία, ἐπικαλέω
  • ἐπωνυμία (epōnumía)familiar, invented given name
  • ἐπικαλέω (epikaléō)to give a nickname to
Arabic لَقَب, كُنْيَة
  • لَقَب (laqab)familiar, invented given name
  • كُنْيَة (kunya)familiar, invented given name
  • اِسْم الدَّلَع (ism ad-dalaʕ)familiar, invented given name
Bengali ডাকনাম
  • ডাকনাম (ḍakonam)familiar, invented given name
Bulgarian умали́телно и́ме, пря́кор
  • умали́телно и́ме (umalítelno íme)familiar, shortened or diminutive name
  • пря́кор (prjákor)familiar, invented given name
  • прякор (prjakor)familiar, invented given name
  • про́звище (prózvište)familiar, invented given name
  • давам прякор (davam prjakor)to give a nickname to
Catalan sobrenom
  • sobrenomfamiliar, invented given name
Chinese Cantonese 花名
  • 花名familiar, invented given name
Chinese Mandarin 綽號 /绰号, 外號 /外号
  • 綽號 /绰号familiar, invented given name
  • 外號 /外号 (wàihào)familiar, invented given name
  • 花名 (huāmíng)familiar, invented given name
Czech přezdívka, přezdívat
  • přezdívkafamiliar, invented given name
  • přezdívatto give a nickname to
Danish tilnavn, øgenavn
  • tilnavnfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • øgenavnfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • øgenavnfamiliar, invented given name
  • kælenavnfamiliar, invented given name
Dutch bijnaam, bijnamen
  • bijnaamfamiliar, invented given name
  • bijnamento give a nickname to
Esperanto kromnomo, alnomo
  • kromnomofamiliar, invented given name
  • alnomofamiliar, invented given name
Estonian hüüdnimi
  • hüüdnimifamiliar, invented given name
Finnish liikanimi, lisänimi
  • liikanimifamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • lisänimifamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • lempinimifamiliar, invented given name
  • antaa lempinimito give a nickname to
  • liikanimito give a nickname to
  • lisänimito give a nickname to
  • nimetäto give a nickname to
French sobriquet, surnom
  • sobriquetfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • surnomfamiliar, invented given name
  • sobriquetfamiliar, invented given name
  • surnommerto give a nickname to
German Beiname, Spitzname
  • Beinamefamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • Spitznamefamiliar, invented given name
Greek παρατσούκλι, παρονομάζω
  • παρατσούκλι (paratsoúkli)familiar, invented given name
  • παρονομάζω (paronomázo)to give a nickname to
Hebrew כִּינּוּי חִיבָּה, שֵׁם לווַאי
  • כִּינּוּי חִיבָּה (kinuy khiba)familiar, invented given name
  • שֵׁם לווַאי (shem levái)familiar, invented given name
Hindi उपनाम, लक़ब
  • उपनाम (upnām)familiar, invented given name
  • लक़ब (laqab)familiar, invented given name
Hungarian becenév
  • becenévfamiliar, invented given name
Icelandic uppnefni, viðurnefni
  • uppnefnifamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • viðurnefnifamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • auknefnifamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • gælunafnfamiliar, invented given name
  • uppnefnato give a nickname to
Indonesian panggilan, menjuluki
  • panggilanfamiliar, invented given name
  • menjulukito give a nickname to
Irish leasainm, forainm
  • leasainmfamiliar, invented given name
  • forainmfamiliar, invented given name
Italian soprannome, soprannominare
  • soprannomefamiliar, invented given name
  • soprannominareto give a nickname to
Japanese ニックネーム, 愛称
  • ニックネーム (nikkunēmu)familiar, invented given name
  • 愛称 (aishō)familiar, invented given name
  • 渾名 (adana)familiar, invented given name
  • 綽名 (adana)familiar, invented given name
  • 綽号 (shakugō)familiar, invented given name
  • ニックネームをつける (nikkunēmu o tsukeru)to give a nickname to
  • 愛称をつける (aishō o tsukeru)to give a nickname to
  • 渾名する (adana suru)to give a nickname to
  • あだ名をつける (adana o tsukeru)to give a nickname to
Korean 닉네임, 애칭
  • 닉네임 (ningneim)familiar, invented given name
  • 애칭 (aeching)familiar, invented given name
  • 별명 (byeolmyeong)familiar, invented given name
  • 닉네임을 짓다 (ningneim-eul jitda)to give a nickname to
  • 닉네임을 붙이다 (ningneim-eul buchida)to give a nickname to
  • 애칭을 짓다 (aeching-eul jitda)to give a nickname to
  • 애칭을 붙이다 (aeching-eul buchida)to give a nickname to
  • 별명을 짓다 (byeolmyeong-eul jitda)to give a nickname to
  • 별명을 붙이다 (byeolmyeong-eul buchida)to give a nickname to
Latin agnomen, agnomentum
  • agnomenfamiliar, invented given name
  • agnomentumfamiliar, invented given name
Latvian iesauka, palama
  • iesaukafamiliar, invented given name
  • palamafamiliar, invented given name
Lithuanian pravardė
  • pravardėfamiliar, invented given name
Māori ingoa kārangaranga
  • ingoa kārangarangafamiliar, invented given name
Norwegian Bokmål tilnavn, kallenavn
  • tilnavnfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • kallenavnfamiliar, invented given name
  • økenavnfamiliar, invented given name
  • kjælenavnfamiliar, invented given name
Polish przezwisko, przezwisko
  • przezwiskofamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • przezwiskofamiliar, invented given name
  • ksywafamiliar, invented given name
  • ksywkafamiliar, invented given name
  • przydomekfamiliar, invented given name
  • nickfamiliar, invented given name
  • nadawać przezwiskoto give a nickname to
  • nadać przezwiskoto give a nickname to
Portuguese apelido, alcunha
  • apelidofamiliar, invented given name
  • alcunhafamiliar, invented given name
  • alcunharto give a nickname to
  • apelidarto give a nickname to
Romanian poreclă, porecli
  • poreclăfamiliar, invented given name
  • poreclito give a nickname to
Russian кли́чка, про́звище
  • кли́чка (klíčka)familiar, invented given name
  • про́звище (prózvišče)familiar, invented given name
  • псевдони́м (psevdoním)familiar, invented given name
  • прозва́ние (prozvánije)familiar, invented given name
  • прозыва́ть (prozyvátʹ)to give a nickname to
  • прозва́ть (prozvátʹ)to give a nickname to
  • крести́ть (krestítʹ)to give a nickname to
  • окрести́ть (okrestítʹ)to give a nickname to
Scottish Gaelic ath-ainm, far-ainm
  • ath-ainmfamiliar, invented given name
  • far-ainmfamiliar, invented given name
  • frith-ainmfamiliar, invented given name
  • leas-ainmfamiliar, invented given name
  • leth-ainmfamiliar, invented given name
Slovak prezývka
  • prezývkafamiliar, invented given name
Spanish apodo, mote
  • apodofamiliar, invented given name
  • motefamiliar, invented given name
  • sobrenombrefamiliar, invented given name
  • chapafamiliar, invented given name
  • cognombrefamiliar, invented given name
  • cognomenfamiliar, invented given name
  • renombrefamiliar, invented given name
  • nombretefamiliar, invented given name
  • apodarto give a nickname to
  • motejarto give a nickname to
  • cognominarto give a nickname to
  • tramparto give a nickname to
Swahili msimbo, jina la utani
  • msimbofamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • jina la utanifamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • msimbofamiliar, invented given name
  • jina la utanifamiliar, invented given name
Swedish tillnamn, binamn
  • tillnamnfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • binamnfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • smeknamnfamiliar, invented given name
  • öknamnfamiliar, invented given name
Tagalog palayaw
  • palayawfamiliar, invented given name
Thai ชื่อเล่น
  • ชื่อเล่น (chʉ̂ʉ-lên)familiar, invented given name
Turkish lakap, san
  • lakapfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • sanfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • sıfatfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • takma adfamiliar, invented given name
  • lakapfamiliar, invented given name
Ukrainian прі́звисько, кли́чка
  • прі́звисько (prízvysʹko)familiar, invented given name
  • кли́чка (klýčka)familiar, invented given name
  • прозива́ти (prozyváty)to give a nickname to
  • прозва́ти (prozváty)to give a nickname to
Urdu اُپ نام, لَقَب
  • اُپ نام (up nām)familiar, invented given name
  • لَقَب (laqab)familiar, invented given name
Welsh llysenw, glasenw
  • llysenwfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • glasenwfamiliar, shortened or diminutive name
  • llysenwfamiliar, invented given name
  • glasenwfamiliar, invented given name
Cite this entry
APA

nickname. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nickname

MLA

“nickname.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nickname. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nickname,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nickname.

Source: nickname on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.