Nicknames & how we came about them

I got in trouble for using someone's former nickname then I wondered... what's the story that made you dig or ditch the nickname you were baptised with in FGCO?

I kind of had five (5!) but one stuck; it was kind of natural - 'LolaFam' - deduced from my name. The second was Felix O. (now Pastor) pranky name - 'Lolucci'; though I had nothing to do with him, he drew it from his "Felucci Dodocci" nickname and when it was time for taunting or hailing, he would use it lavishly. I'm not sure who came up with it but, I kind of shared the third with Olawole - 'Lolita'; we need to find out from Walata how two ladies came to be named after him! And the fourth (I doubt that Kofi remembers) was from 'Kofi' Baptist - 'SBM' (small but mighty); I can't even remember what led to it. MT (Margaret Thatcher) is one that came out of SBM; but Maria N. took it over so quickly that it's link to me melted.

Are you shocked that I know these names and in most cases who came up with them? Are you shocked that Ama G. remembered and narrated his experience at Ogidiolu's hands to Ogidiolu's niece years after FGCO?... don't be. One thing this should bring to your mind is that the negative (or positive) stereotypes that characterised naming in FGCO is still very clear and fresh in people's memory. While some will prefer not to bring it to the fore, some will roar with laughter or with anger but others will simply ask you to apologise 17 years after for coming up with such a heinous name.

Okay, I was trying to run away from the fifth and last nickname - flat arse - can you imagine? For daring to have a British bum, I got scolded each time I proudly tucked in my top. How I came to hate tucking in, even now that my story has changed - e ba mi yin Oluwa l'ogo - I'm still not very comfortable tucking in. While I need no apology from those who came up with it and used it ever so often until now that it longer fits; I still wonder how a tiny stereotype can be ingrained in one's memory for life.

We all have joined to perpetrate nicknames without finding out the origin. If someone got Overgrown Chicken, Nature, Scar Face, Belle, Luxurious, PJ Terror, Bushe... what made you believe that you'd be spared from labels. The world won't stop nicknaming or labeling because you don't like them but in this small community, we can make you feel better by ditching the use of the nicknames you don't dig. For now, we will assume you are okay with your previous nickname especially since you wore the tag all through FGCO, should you have a contrary opinion please let us know.

To ere is human ... to forgive, divine.