People Are Sharing The Weirdest And Wildest Reasons Why They Got Their Nicknames, And Here Are 30 Hilarious Tweets
Nicknames can end up being either one of the coolest things about you (imagine someone calling you ‘Wolf’ or ‘Ace’) or so embarrassing that you wish nobody ever ends up hearing them again. There’s a small problem, though: you can’t give yourself a nickname; others do it for you. And you can earn your nickname—whatever it might be—completely by accident, without even knowing that some random action will end up defining you for years, and sometimes even decades, to come.
Reporter and published author Erin Somers, from New York, started up a very fun viral thread over on Twitter when she opened up about her sister’s college friend’s nickname (‘Burgers’) and the reason why he got it. “One time he talked about grilling burgers too enthusiastically. You have to be careful,” Erin warned.
She couldn’t have been more right! Her thread quickly went viral and others started sharing their own tales about weird nicknames and how people got them in the most unusual ways. Scroll down for the best article to start your morning, Pandas, because we’ve collected the most interesting responses to Erin’s tweet for you to enjoy. Upvote the posts you enjoyed the most and, if you’re feeling up to it, tell us all about how you or your friends got your nicknames!
Meanwhile, be sure to check out Bored Panda’s interview about fun and funny nicknames, as well as why we use them with comedy writer and author Ariane Sherine, from London.
More info: Twitter | ESomers.com | Book
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“Nicknames that are funny and not too mean are always the best ones, and ‘Spider’ is a perfect example,” comedy writer Ariane told Bored Panda, referring to one of the tweets in the thread about a person being called ‘Spider’ because they bought three pairs of jeans during one shopping trip.
“‘Opposite’ nicknames can also be funny, like when a very tall person is called ‘Tiny.’ I think cool and funny tend to be mutually exclusive. I mean, ‘Spider’ is a cool nickname unless people discover the reason behind it!” she said that nicknames are usually either cool or funny, but never (or rarely!) both.
According to Ariane, people often come up with nicknames to either amuse themselves or to be affectionate. “I use loads of nicknames for my friends, but I wouldn’t call them nicknames if they minded,” she said that we always have to be aware how the people closest to us react to how we call them.
The comedy writer opened up about the nicknames used in her social circle. “I call my lovely ex-boyfriend Kieran ‘Pooky’ because it makes me laugh and is a reference to my favorite film ‘13 Going on 30.’ I call my great friend John ‘John Bon Jovial’ because he’s always so cheery,” Ariane shared.
“I call my friend Kia ‘Kiki Dee’, after the singer, and ‘Kia-Ora’, after the soft drink. And it’s not really a nickname but I call my friend Gordon ‘Gozza’ because he’s 79 and very distinguished and it’s so inappropriate that I find it funny!”
Meanwhile, Ariane said that she mostly gets nicknamed ‘Ari’ or ‘Azza’ these days. “Though the less said about my cruel nicknames at school, the better.”
Erin’s tweet was immensely popular. At the time of writing, her tweet about nicknames got over 104k likes (and counting!). It’s obvious that people really enjoyed the unusual topic with a heavy dose of humor.
In fact, the reporter’s thread finally convinced us that the reasoning behind nicknames really doesn’t have to make sense or be super deep. Heck, someone might see you eating a mayonnaise sandwich, call you ‘Mayo,’ and then you’re stuck with that for the rest of your natural lifespan. That sounds absolutely horrible or quite a bit of fun, depending on your point of view.
my son's nickname is ninja he was named this before birth, because we waited until he was born to find out his gender. My wife said we have to call the baby something and he gave a large kick and just like that he was ninja.
Narrator: "It was then that Katie regretted never changing her hairstyle."
Pretty much anything you do can end up earning you a new moniker. And it must really hurt when you end up getting yours for something random that you do instead of what you wish you were known for.
Imagine being an incredibly skilled runner who’s passionate about health, fitness, and the great outdoors. Then, someone notices you eating a bunch of eggs or you do something really dumb in college, and you’re forever branded with something God-awful.
I started a new job and a few days in I was given a T-shirt with STAFF written on the back. Someone meant to call me but, because they didn't know my name yet, she called me Staff. That was my name untill I left that job.
It’s pretty darn hard to shake a nickname once you’ve ‘earned’ it. Even if it was entirely by mistake. Try being the guy who gets called ‘Baghdad’ because they got a bag from their dad. That practically borders on bullying and has got to go against at least a few points in the Geneva Convention, no? Yeah, we’ll say ‘no’ to school reunions from now on.
The fact is that nicknames really can cause some serious self-esteem issues in people if they’re used maliciously. Even if someone doesn’t have any evil intentions, teasing someone can make them lose confidence in their identity. I’ve never had to deal with any horrible nicknames myself, but being the target of bullies is something I’m very familiar with (and I’ll bet a lot of you reading this are, too).
I work with a cotton also. Same reason, hair and beard look like cotton balls glued on a potato
My grandfather got the nickname Cotton as a young boy because of his fluffy, white-blond hair. Most people still called him that when he died at just shy of 90 years old. I was in late elementary school before I learned his name was actually Winsor.
In our grade school some one transferred in from the South. Consequently, he was nicknamed "Cotton".
It’s not just nicknames that might cause potential issues, though. A person’s given name can make the victim of bullying, too. Lauren Seager-Smith, the CEO of Kidscape, explained to Bored Panda earlier that some names can make kids more apparent targets.
“With some names, it may be more obvious why children would find them fascinating or amusing—with others, this will be out of your hands, so while you may want to take reasonable precautions in naming your child the focus should always be on empowering children to recognize and respond to bullying behavior,” Lauren pointed out that parents should try to instill a sense of pride in their children so that they have a strong sense of self.
Had a guy we went to school with that was super tall that was nicknamed tree.
According to the expert, parents shouldn’t underestimate the impact that bullying has. They should try to find ways to help make their kids feel proud of who they are, whatever their name, family situation, or background. At the same time, she stressed that “bullying is never acceptable.”
The fact is that bullies can latch on to a target for any number of reasons, for example, if someone has a ‘funny’ name, wears glasses, is a bit overweight, has a difficult family situation, or anything else. The CEO of Kidscape told us that when someone attacks a kid’s identity, they require the support of their parents and their social circle.
How badly damaged was this bridge that it took one Tchucy person to break it completely?
“Never underestimate the impact of bullying, understand what your child needs to feel safe and if the bullying is in school—make sure you let the school know the impact of the situation,” she said that situations like this shouldn’t be kept quiet.
At college I got a cut inside my eyelid and had to wear an eyepatch for a few days. I was from then on known as Pirate Pete.
Omg that made me think of a friend who scratched her cornea when a balloon she was blowing up popped. We called her Patchy lol
Load More Replies...My nickname was Froggie. Even when I was a kid, I sounded like Kathleen Turner, I had a deep voice for a girl.
my younger sister got stuck with the nickname sopa which means soup in spanish becuase of the fact she willingly ate nothing but soup for a whole year
One of my grandpa's navy buddies was named W.C. Gifford. Literally just the letters W and C (no middle name either). When he enlisted during WW2, intake didn't understand and in the midst of trying to explain W.C. said "W only. C only." He was henceforth known as Wonly Conly Gifford. All his military paperwork listed it as his legal name. By the time I knew him he had changed it and everyone just called him Dub.
I've been nearsighted since fifth grade and also have a slight stigmatism. In high school, I had just switched schools so no one knew me. I had the misfortune of running into a door and slamming my face on it because my depth perception was subpar. I got branded Door Girl by the majority of the class.
When I was on a music course a few years ago, I got the nickname "Mutley" because I laugh like him.
I am terrible at remembering peoples names, and while in college meeting a lot of new people my bff and I gave a lot of people nicknames, there was Rez Weed, because she only smoked weed from her reservation (we're still friends to this day 25+ years later), so many Jason's so there was big jay, little jay, cozmo and random jay. French Luc and toothless Luc (to be fair he was only missing one tooth though!), Frenchie, but not sure why he specifically got that nickname since there were a lot of French people! Roger Donut, because we misheard his last name. I'm sure there are so many more I'm forgetting
We had a driver who was called "Bathing cap" - the upper part of his head was bald and shiny, but he had a lot of hair below, a little bit like a clown. So we had the impression that he was wearing a bathing cap.....
Mine was duck because apparently I was born with a duck face I'm the youngest of 4 all my siblings called me this all there friends called me this family friends everyone call me the little duck and instead of calling my name when I would get lost as a child my mother would quack and I'd come a running quacking if I was angry I was having a quack attack if I was sick I had quackitus the list goes one 🤣
my nickname was, and i quote "tall skeleton man." it's because, i am a tall, skinny, and pale man.
My Air Force recruiter told me about a girl he sent off to BootCamp who wore a red Echo logo shirt. She was called Echo Red immediately, and then went off to technical school with kids from boot, so the name followed her to school. And then to her first base :D :D :D
I gave my younger brother the nickname The Duke, because his name is Isaac Hays and Isaac Hayes played The Duke in Escape From New York. My nickname is Min because my name is Amina. My family only call me Min and if they ever said my full name when I was growing up I knew I was in big trouble. Not very creative though.
my fault my granson at the age of 7 is still called Bubs or Bubbies, short for my bubala which I called him from birth. Being fluently bilingual all my life was called "Langlaise" in rural french schools and Frog when I switched to English school.
slight nickname is Tiki..... because I accidentally drank the mosquito tiki torch fluid one time
well, now you have the power to keep mosquitoes away at will!
Load More Replies...I used to work with a woman who went by A.J. and I jokingly called her Alex Jefferson once. Poor woman ended up being called Jefferson by the entire staff for the whole time she worked there
the night before i started working for my dad, someone watched history of the world. since i was low man on the totem pole, i was referred to as pissboy for years. when i got the new nickname of "greek", i was happy
Funny how the only time people seem to be insistent on using someone's birth name is when that individual personally wants to change it...
I used to work with a young FTM trans person from Germany. My colleagues and I nicknamed them Herman, as in "Herman the German". They were a bit confused by it initially, but soon realised we didn't mean it in a malicious way. If a Scottish person gives you a nickname, it's more that we've accepted you as part of the gang.
I grew my hair out starting in 7th grade and in 9th grade I earned the nickname shroom bc my hair flipped out and looked like a mushroom. Weekly trips to the counseling office bc they thought I was on drugs.
My grandpa still calls me Kiddo even though I'm 21 now. Also, I've been called "Blondie" and "Blondini" for my hair, but that's nothing compared to what my mum calls me. She calls me things that's absolutely bizarre! I've gotten "ning nong", "wuzz wuzz", "boobela-doobela", and "Ensign [Last name]".
In the late 90s we went to my friend's house 2 nights in a row and both nights he had Channel 5 on the tv and we still call him Five to this day, and another mate didn't lose at Goldeneye 64 for 3 days in a row and we still call Clean Sheet.
I had a classmate that everyone called Brenda. It wasn’t her real name. She just missed the a few days of class at the beginning of the semester and nobody could remember her actual name and she “just looked like a Brenda.”
My last name starts with a 'P' but is a little long. So my friends call me J-Peeps. When our band started doing shows with other local bands and getting to know them, they hear my friends and bandmates call me that. The amount of time I was asked if 'Peeps' was my real last name is staggering. I'm the youngest in my other group of friends so they call me Baby Jay. I'm in my mid-40's. An ex g/f was adamant about being called 'Kitty' when she was in pre-school or kindergarten. She still does.
I had five guys named Alexander in my class. We just numbered them like royalty: one who was in the class since elementary was Alexander I, and so on. Also in my school there was a guy, whose last name was Muhomor (fly agaric in Russian). He changed his name as soon as he was legally able. Didn't help at first, as everyone was asking, whether his last name is now Champignon, or Pennybun (or any other edible mushroom).
I met a guy nicknamed Soup His last name is Campbell not when he got it.
I call my daughter Precious. When she was born, she was extremely skinny and only had a few strands of hair, so she reminded me of Gollum from LOTR.
My son likes milk and would actually order it when he went out to eat with his friends. They named him “White Milk.” They’re all 19 now and the name stuck.
My nickname in High School was Mickey because a friend overheard my Dad calling me mouse (I had finished off his favorite cheese).
so i was in adult time out (jail) for some stupid thing i did and this guy had stolen a city bus and he went around picking people up of course it did not take long for someone to call the police and he got kidnapping along with stealing the bus so he got called Tri-met for the name of the bus company
My soon to be adopted brother calls me Beans The Gollum because I mispronounced Sean Bean's name as Seen Bean. The Gollum part because I'm short and when I need to get things out of the cabinets above the counters in our kitchen I perch on them like Gollum from lotr
My brother had a friend who was pretty skinny that got called Spindly all time, or Spin for short. I knew Spindly more than 10 years before I found out his name was Jeff.
We call one of my friends soap and there's another that the afterschool club calls Esh Kebab for some reason
Mine was "Cyanide" in college thanks to an annoying spell check change on computers in our class lab.
A guy from elementary was known as Potato because his grandfather planted potatoes in the school yard decades earlier.
My husband made a cake that called for vinegar, but he didn't have any. He thought it would be a good idea to search his condiments to find one with vinegar. He landed on mango chutney. He made a cake with mango chutney. And ate it. And defends it to this day. So my parents call him Mango Chutney or 'Mango' for short.
'Beefio' because when I was little, I liked beef. So my dad still calls me 'Beef' and 'Beefio'. No matter where and no matter who work. Sigh.
I was magnetic because in year 3 we were doing a science experiment with magnets and one stuck to my metal school council Badge
I went through this whole list hoping to see a Magnitude. I am much disappoint.
I had a few nicknames. My oldest brother and my father called me Nic. My husband is not allowed to call me anything other than my name but sometimes he calls me Beautiful or Chérie and I let it pass. The last two years of HS I was called Moïse after someone asked which name I chose for my first son and I said Moïse (I didn't though) and it stuck. Another one was Muffin for Mary Muffin. A guy kept seeing me every morning at the cafeteria buying 3 muffins. I was so small he couldn't understand where they went - he actually sat by me one time to make sure I wasn't sharing (!). I was also called Square Head because I had a strong English accent in a French school. One of my boss also introduced me with "She's a bloke...".
When I was 9years old an older boy used to beat me up a lot and call me Pippi Longstocking. I still have no clue why. He really hated me but Pippi Longstocking isn't really an insult. Maybe I should've tried punching him back, he did name me after the strongest girl in the world...
When I was a kid I wanted a nickname so bad. A cool one, not whale or fatgirl. I also wanted to dye my hair wacky colors so much but my mom wouldn't let me. Fast forward to my teen years, still no nickname but I was finally allowed to dye my hair. Can you guess?
Angelina to Devilina because he said he was the only friend I treated badly. Not true; come to find out he was in love with me and after an 8 year friendship, I had to end it.
too be fair, you did end the friendship instead of just saying "no, i don't feel the same"
Load More Replies...At college I got a cut inside my eyelid and had to wear an eyepatch for a few days. I was from then on known as Pirate Pete.
Omg that made me think of a friend who scratched her cornea when a balloon she was blowing up popped. We called her Patchy lol
Load More Replies...My nickname was Froggie. Even when I was a kid, I sounded like Kathleen Turner, I had a deep voice for a girl.
my younger sister got stuck with the nickname sopa which means soup in spanish becuase of the fact she willingly ate nothing but soup for a whole year
One of my grandpa's navy buddies was named W.C. Gifford. Literally just the letters W and C (no middle name either). When he enlisted during WW2, intake didn't understand and in the midst of trying to explain W.C. said "W only. C only." He was henceforth known as Wonly Conly Gifford. All his military paperwork listed it as his legal name. By the time I knew him he had changed it and everyone just called him Dub.
I've been nearsighted since fifth grade and also have a slight stigmatism. In high school, I had just switched schools so no one knew me. I had the misfortune of running into a door and slamming my face on it because my depth perception was subpar. I got branded Door Girl by the majority of the class.
When I was on a music course a few years ago, I got the nickname "Mutley" because I laugh like him.
I am terrible at remembering peoples names, and while in college meeting a lot of new people my bff and I gave a lot of people nicknames, there was Rez Weed, because she only smoked weed from her reservation (we're still friends to this day 25+ years later), so many Jason's so there was big jay, little jay, cozmo and random jay. French Luc and toothless Luc (to be fair he was only missing one tooth though!), Frenchie, but not sure why he specifically got that nickname since there were a lot of French people! Roger Donut, because we misheard his last name. I'm sure there are so many more I'm forgetting
We had a driver who was called "Bathing cap" - the upper part of his head was bald and shiny, but he had a lot of hair below, a little bit like a clown. So we had the impression that he was wearing a bathing cap.....
Mine was duck because apparently I was born with a duck face I'm the youngest of 4 all my siblings called me this all there friends called me this family friends everyone call me the little duck and instead of calling my name when I would get lost as a child my mother would quack and I'd come a running quacking if I was angry I was having a quack attack if I was sick I had quackitus the list goes one 🤣
my nickname was, and i quote "tall skeleton man." it's because, i am a tall, skinny, and pale man.
My Air Force recruiter told me about a girl he sent off to BootCamp who wore a red Echo logo shirt. She was called Echo Red immediately, and then went off to technical school with kids from boot, so the name followed her to school. And then to her first base :D :D :D
I gave my younger brother the nickname The Duke, because his name is Isaac Hays and Isaac Hayes played The Duke in Escape From New York. My nickname is Min because my name is Amina. My family only call me Min and if they ever said my full name when I was growing up I knew I was in big trouble. Not very creative though.
my fault my granson at the age of 7 is still called Bubs or Bubbies, short for my bubala which I called him from birth. Being fluently bilingual all my life was called "Langlaise" in rural french schools and Frog when I switched to English school.
slight nickname is Tiki..... because I accidentally drank the mosquito tiki torch fluid one time
well, now you have the power to keep mosquitoes away at will!
Load More Replies...I used to work with a woman who went by A.J. and I jokingly called her Alex Jefferson once. Poor woman ended up being called Jefferson by the entire staff for the whole time she worked there
the night before i started working for my dad, someone watched history of the world. since i was low man on the totem pole, i was referred to as pissboy for years. when i got the new nickname of "greek", i was happy
Funny how the only time people seem to be insistent on using someone's birth name is when that individual personally wants to change it...
I used to work with a young FTM trans person from Germany. My colleagues and I nicknamed them Herman, as in "Herman the German". They were a bit confused by it initially, but soon realised we didn't mean it in a malicious way. If a Scottish person gives you a nickname, it's more that we've accepted you as part of the gang.
I grew my hair out starting in 7th grade and in 9th grade I earned the nickname shroom bc my hair flipped out and looked like a mushroom. Weekly trips to the counseling office bc they thought I was on drugs.
My grandpa still calls me Kiddo even though I'm 21 now. Also, I've been called "Blondie" and "Blondini" for my hair, but that's nothing compared to what my mum calls me. She calls me things that's absolutely bizarre! I've gotten "ning nong", "wuzz wuzz", "boobela-doobela", and "Ensign [Last name]".
In the late 90s we went to my friend's house 2 nights in a row and both nights he had Channel 5 on the tv and we still call him Five to this day, and another mate didn't lose at Goldeneye 64 for 3 days in a row and we still call Clean Sheet.
I had a classmate that everyone called Brenda. It wasn’t her real name. She just missed the a few days of class at the beginning of the semester and nobody could remember her actual name and she “just looked like a Brenda.”
My last name starts with a 'P' but is a little long. So my friends call me J-Peeps. When our band started doing shows with other local bands and getting to know them, they hear my friends and bandmates call me that. The amount of time I was asked if 'Peeps' was my real last name is staggering. I'm the youngest in my other group of friends so they call me Baby Jay. I'm in my mid-40's. An ex g/f was adamant about being called 'Kitty' when she was in pre-school or kindergarten. She still does.
I had five guys named Alexander in my class. We just numbered them like royalty: one who was in the class since elementary was Alexander I, and so on. Also in my school there was a guy, whose last name was Muhomor (fly agaric in Russian). He changed his name as soon as he was legally able. Didn't help at first, as everyone was asking, whether his last name is now Champignon, or Pennybun (or any other edible mushroom).
I met a guy nicknamed Soup His last name is Campbell not when he got it.
I call my daughter Precious. When she was born, she was extremely skinny and only had a few strands of hair, so she reminded me of Gollum from LOTR.
My son likes milk and would actually order it when he went out to eat with his friends. They named him “White Milk.” They’re all 19 now and the name stuck.
My nickname in High School was Mickey because a friend overheard my Dad calling me mouse (I had finished off his favorite cheese).
so i was in adult time out (jail) for some stupid thing i did and this guy had stolen a city bus and he went around picking people up of course it did not take long for someone to call the police and he got kidnapping along with stealing the bus so he got called Tri-met for the name of the bus company
My soon to be adopted brother calls me Beans The Gollum because I mispronounced Sean Bean's name as Seen Bean. The Gollum part because I'm short and when I need to get things out of the cabinets above the counters in our kitchen I perch on them like Gollum from lotr
My brother had a friend who was pretty skinny that got called Spindly all time, or Spin for short. I knew Spindly more than 10 years before I found out his name was Jeff.
We call one of my friends soap and there's another that the afterschool club calls Esh Kebab for some reason
Mine was "Cyanide" in college thanks to an annoying spell check change on computers in our class lab.
A guy from elementary was known as Potato because his grandfather planted potatoes in the school yard decades earlier.
My husband made a cake that called for vinegar, but he didn't have any. He thought it would be a good idea to search his condiments to find one with vinegar. He landed on mango chutney. He made a cake with mango chutney. And ate it. And defends it to this day. So my parents call him Mango Chutney or 'Mango' for short.
'Beefio' because when I was little, I liked beef. So my dad still calls me 'Beef' and 'Beefio'. No matter where and no matter who work. Sigh.
I was magnetic because in year 3 we were doing a science experiment with magnets and one stuck to my metal school council Badge
I went through this whole list hoping to see a Magnitude. I am much disappoint.
I had a few nicknames. My oldest brother and my father called me Nic. My husband is not allowed to call me anything other than my name but sometimes he calls me Beautiful or Chérie and I let it pass. The last two years of HS I was called Moïse after someone asked which name I chose for my first son and I said Moïse (I didn't though) and it stuck. Another one was Muffin for Mary Muffin. A guy kept seeing me every morning at the cafeteria buying 3 muffins. I was so small he couldn't understand where they went - he actually sat by me one time to make sure I wasn't sharing (!). I was also called Square Head because I had a strong English accent in a French school. One of my boss also introduced me with "She's a bloke...".
When I was 9years old an older boy used to beat me up a lot and call me Pippi Longstocking. I still have no clue why. He really hated me but Pippi Longstocking isn't really an insult. Maybe I should've tried punching him back, he did name me after the strongest girl in the world...
When I was a kid I wanted a nickname so bad. A cool one, not whale or fatgirl. I also wanted to dye my hair wacky colors so much but my mom wouldn't let me. Fast forward to my teen years, still no nickname but I was finally allowed to dye my hair. Can you guess?
Angelina to Devilina because he said he was the only friend I treated badly. Not true; come to find out he was in love with me and after an 8 year friendship, I had to end it.
too be fair, you did end the friendship instead of just saying "no, i don't feel the same"
Load More Replies...