Function, familiarity or fun?: Nicknames in Rehoboth, Namibia

Abstract

Naming practices and the use of nicknames have received a fair amount of attention from anthropologists over the years - particularly from those who have worked in the Mediterranean region and, to a lesser extent, other parts of Europe. Most current approaches tend to stress an underlying utilitarian function of nicknames. It is noted that nicknames often occur in communities in which there are a limited number of "proper" names - either first names, surnames, or both - and that the use of nicknames therefore serves to distinguish individuals who share "proper" names, and who might otherwise be easily confused. As a subsidiary argument, some authors suggest that nicknames also serve to express social boundaries, and to facilitate their maintenance. Nicknames are usually localised in their usage, and knowledge of them serves to distinguish those who are from the locality from those whose ignorance of nicknames marks them off as strangers. Other writers note that their use may also constitute a mechanism of social control: a means through which the self-opinionated, pompous, or merely stupid may be disciplined through mockery, and effectively cut down to size. Quite closely related to this approach is one which argues that the use of nicknames may be a vehicle for male aggression, or simply male assertiveness. The purpose of this paper is to present an example from Namibia, and also to suggest that a new conceptualisation of nicknames may prove profitable. I will examine the applicability of the explanations mentioned above to the case presented, and then discuss the humour generated by the use of nicknames. Although many authors have referred to this aspect of nicknames none, to my knowledge, have given serious consideration to it.