English nick suggestion?

[kenny1999]

Can anyone suggest one or a few English nick that should not be only for boy or for girl? In other words, nick normally for boys and girls, i.e. Chris.

[pzkpfw]

(For what it's worth, in English I've only ever heard "nickname", not "nick". YMMV.)

[CharonY]

2 hours ago, pzkpfw said:

(For what it's worth, in English I've only ever heard "nickname", not "nick". YMMV.)

It was a common internet thingy. On IRC you would need to provide a unique nickname and the command for it is nick. Might have other origins, too.

[exchemist]

3 hours ago, kenny1999 said:

Can anyone suggest one or a few English nick that should not be only for boy or for girl? In other words, nick normally for boys and girls, i.e. Chris.

"Nick" as a noun means a small cut to an object or a person, and to nick something is to make such a cut. It is also English slang for jail (gaol). As a slang verb, to "nick" someone is for the police to arrest them.

Assuming you mean nickname, there are quite a few androgynous ones, especially involving originally masculine names that have been feminised e.g. Jo for  Joseph, Josephine or Joanna (N.B. "Joe" almost always refers only to Joseph), Pat for Patrick or Patricia, Lou for Louis or Louise, Charley/Charlie for Charles or Charlotte, etc. Nick itself can be a nickname for Nicholas, but I have never heard it used for Nicola or Nicole - Nicky tends to be used for the feminine forms. (Old Nick is a nickname for the Devil, by the way.) 

[TheVat]

A lot of G-N nicknames can be derived by shortening a name, e.g. Mel (Melissa, Melanie or Melvin).  Or Alex (Alexander or Alexis or Alexandra). Or putting an "ie" on the end of a stub, e.g. Ollie (Olivia or Oliver). 

Other shortener examples are Pat, Jo (as exchemist mentioned), Jan, Kris, Sam.  In the US, Nick is sometimes used for Nicole, though as @exchemist said Nicky is more common.  

[exchemist]

8 minutes ago, TheVat said:

A lot of G-N nicknames can be derived by shortening a name, e.g. Mel (Melissa, Melanie or Melvin).  Or Alex (Alexander or Alexis or Alexandra). Or putting an "ie" on the end of a stub, e.g. Ollie (Olivia or Oliver). 

Other shortener examples are Pat, Jo (as exchemist mentioned), Jan, Kris, Sam.  In the US, Nick is sometimes used for Nicole, though as @exchemist said Nicky is more common.  

Jan, for men at any rate, is not a nickname but a full name, being how John (Jean in France, Iain in Scotland, Yann in Brittany) is rendered in a number of Continental languages. Jan as short for Janet is a female nickname, though.

[swansont]

To me a shortened version of a first name is not a nickname. i.e. I don’t consider ”Tom” to be my nickname. Nicknames I’ve had are Swanny (grade school) Stouffer (college), Puft (navy OIS), none of which are gender-specific.

 

SNL had a series of sketches about gender-neutral nicknames. The lead character was Pat, and nobody knew their gender. Also mentioned are Terry and Chris, and homophonic names like Frances/Francis, Jean/Gene

[TheVat]

3 minutes ago, swansont said:

To me a shortened version of a first name is not a nickname

 

I agree but was going with the OP usage, which seemed to include diminutives.  They exampled Chris.

And yes, nickname makes me think more of Shorty or Pigeye or what have you.  For reasons never clear to me, I was "Newt" for a few weeks while working as a teenager on a corn detasseling crew.  This bears no relation to my RW name, an affinity for Fig Newtons, or amphibious creatures.

21 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Jan, for men at any rate, is not a nickname but a full name,

It can be short for Janus, a name which has come into usage in the US in recent years.  But yes, it's often a full name.

[exchemist]

27 minutes ago, TheVat said:

 

I agree but was going with the OP usage, which seemed to include diminutives.  They exampled Chris.

And yes, nickname makes me think more of Shorty or Pigeye or what have you.  For reasons never clear to me, I was "Newt" for a few weeks while working as a teenager on a corn detasseling crew.  This bears no relation to my RW name, an affinity for Fig Newtons, or amphibious creatures.

It can be short for Janus, a name which has come into usage in the US in recent years.  But yes, it's often a full name.

 I recall a competitor in one of the single sculls events at Henley Town Regatta who registered to race in the name of H Janus. This was in the days before the Amateur Rowing Association insisted on ID membership cards.  

Calling your son Janus seems an invitation to trouble, whether or not you know your Roman deities. 

[swansont]

1 hour ago, exchemist said:

 I recall a competitor in one of the single sculls events at Henley Town Regatta who registered to race in the name of H Janus. This was in the days before the Amateur Rowing Association insisted on ID membership cards.  

Calling your son Janus seems an invitation to trouble, whether or not you know your Roman deities. 

I hope H didn’t stand for “Hugh”

[exchemist]

10 minutes ago, swansont said:

I hope H didn’t stand for “Hugh”

That, we were all sure, was the intended joke. We hoped he would win , so that he would have to be announced at the prize-giving ceremony. Sadly, he got knocked out of the competition in one of the heats.

Edited April 15 by exchemist