Eestlaste hüüdnimedest
Estonian nicknames

Summary/Abstract: The article presents an overview of nicknames and secondary bynames used among Estonians. The material used has been collected by the authors; it originates from both north and south Estonia, and the informants range from schoolchildren to people in their 90s. The following reasons for the emergence of nicknames are highlighted: The need for differentiation, e.g. a father and son sharing the same name being called Suur Jaan (‘Big Jaan’) and Väike Jaan (‘Little Jaan’); Marking group affiliation, e.g. some of the oldest known nicknames in Estonia were collected from criminals and forest brothers in the 1930s and 1940s; Making reference to norms and value judgments, e.g. nicknames may be given to those who find themselves outside the circle of trust.The primary sources of nicknames are:Physical or personality traits, e.g. Skelett (a thin boy, ‘skeleton’), Rase (a man with a beer gut, from rase ‘pregnant’), Kõrvits (a short fat per- son, from kõrvits ‘pumpkin’), Brežnev (‘Brezhnev’, for thick eyebrows), Heelium (a boy with a thin, high voice, ‘helium’), Hiireke (a reserved, dull girl, from hiireke ‘little mouse’);Origin, occupation or profession, e.g. Kirsi-vanaema for a grandmother who lived on Kirsi street (vanaema ‘grandmother’) and Saku-vanaema for a grandmother who lived in Saku, Jahu-Juhan (the driver of a vehicle carrying animal feed, jahu ‘flour’), Muumia (a history teacher, muumia ‘mummy’);Family relationships, e.g. a man called his wife Tatjanatütar ‘Tatjana’s daughter’ on the basis of her mother’s name, or Viljar’s nickname of Sepa Ott from his grandfather’s name;Specific situations triggering associations with the source of the nickname, e.g. a man smoking Bond cigarettes became James, a boy who came to school with jam on his cheek became Moos ‘jam’;Series, e.g. a chemistry teacher called Mool ‘gram-molecule’ and her child Molekul ‘molecule’, a director called Uba ‘bean’ and his wife Hernes ‘pea’. A Winnie-the-Pooh inspired series of nicknames began on the basis of the physical appearance of two classmates, who became known as Puhh ‘Pooh’ and Notsu ‘Piglet’; Tiiger ‘Tigger’ chose her own name, and they were later joined by Christopher Robin, Iiah ‘Eeyore’ and Mesilinnuke ‘Bee’.Secondary bynames are derived from a person’s formal given name or surname. The primary ways of forming nicknames from names in Estonian are the following:shortening, e.g. given names Eliisabet > Bett, Sulev > Sull, surname Bogdanov > Boka;Derivation, using a number of affixes typical of nicknames, many of which are used in slang words. The most common affixes in Estonian nicknames are -ts, -ks, -s, -kas, -ka, -u and -i, e.g. Raivo > Raits, Tiiu > Tiuks, Lemme > Lemps, Grethel > Grets, Hille > Hillekas, Jüri > Jürka, Endel > Endu, Emilie > Emmi. The same affixes are used for both genders.compounding, e.g. Marju Lauristin > Marjustin;translation, e.g. Saar > Island or Kurz (meaning ‘short’ in German);Nicknames formed from letters contained in the name, e.g. Enno Hani > N-O-H [enn-oo-haa] ‘chemical compound N-OH’. Nicknames can be neutral in tone, can express endearment, or can be pejorative. As regards usage, the article discusses both individual and collective nicknames, the public or hidden nature of their use, the range of people who use them, and their age and geographical spread. Nicknames are an understudied area in Estonian and there are many opportunities for further exploration of the topic.

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