Why use nicknames

Your act of falling down the stairs in public, for example, could have been humorous to onlookers. Our desire to not be predictable plays an important role in how we interpret nicknames given to us. Below, two types of nicknames will be explored.

Predictability in people is seen as a weakness. Their existence in this world is easily figured out — and is simple for that matter. Predictable individuals are often seen as having no backbone, or having too much of it. A friend who predictably does not enjoy altercations will make you feel safe in being authoritative around them.

On the other hand, a friend who gravitates toward seemingly every altercation they can find, would encourage you to be more subtle in your approaches to change their mind. On either side of the coin of predictability is weakness. Several studies have researched attributes that are associated with Western given names.

Nicknames, on the other hand, reflect how others see the person. Nicknames originate within small groups and become very powerful symbols of how the child is viewed within that circle. Among children, nicknames often form a secret relationship where the nickname is known only within the group Morgan, When my sister and I did our household chores together, we called each other "Susie.

My friend Joan's father called her "Loraine," the name he had wished to christen her. Nicknames originate from different points of view: 1 A quality, for example "Sugar" sweet. Morgan, ; A study conducted by Albert Mehrabian and Marlena Pierce in found that "given names were ranked high on the attributes of success and morality and thought more suitable than nicknames for business and professional settings.

In turn, nicknames were ranked high on the attributes of cheerfulness and popularity. A person may use his given name in business settings and use his nickname in social settings. The name-giver assumes a role of power in the group, and bullies are often quick to take advantage of that position. Nicknames connote a deviation from the usual, and thus they separate those who are in the group and those who are outside the group.

Pearson, specifically looked at the relationship between nicknames and the satisfaction of married people. Bruess and Pearson found that idiosyncratic communication is associated with marital satisfaction and couples in their first five years of marriage without children reported using the most idioms. But rather than these private words and phrases dying off over time, Bruess thinks that they become so ingrained in a relationship that long-term married couples may stop recognizing them as special.

For this study students at Ohio University went out and delivered the survey to married people. All told, completed surveys came back to the researchers, and they used those to divide people into categories of how long they had been married and whether or not they had children.

Interestingly, the study did not use data from couples married for more than five years who had no children there were only two examples. Still, Bruess believes the main finding—that idiosyncratic communication, including cute nicknames, relates to marital satisfaction—is absolutely true today.

What is normal? I wondered if anyone had done a broader survey of the nicknames issue. Pepper Schwartz , professor of sociology at the University of Washington in Seattle, co-authored a book called The Normal Bar that collected data from almost , participants through an online survey about all things related to relationship happiness, including nicknames. The authors found that about two-thirds of U.

That sounds like a high correlation, too, but gives me pause as a science writer because the survey did not use randomized sampling to find participants. Nonetheless, Schwartz says she thinks pet names are important as shorthand for admiration and affection.

You may be familiar with another group of nicknames that are reserved only for certain people: families. The names have resulted in a few awkward car rides with friends over the years, but otherwise I do see it as a largely positive extension of the bonds between us. This refers to the way that people change their voices, often using a higher pitch, when speaking to a romantic partner or baby. Getty Images. This content is imported from Third party.

You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. This content is imported from YouTube. Related Story. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.