Cultural Nicknames

In Pakistan there are people of many kinds of ethnicity and languages, but one thing is common in that people of every aspect of life have different nicknames. I am from northern part of Pakistan, so I will write about my side of nicknames.

We have different kind of nicknames for older people, children, relatives, non relatives and of course for male and female. These nicknames are used as a sign of respect and love for the people. At the same time, some nicknames are used as a joke for just once and then it becomes the permanent name of the person.

I will give one example of a guy who lives close to my mother-in-law's house and whose nickname is Sut, which means neck, but his real name is Israr which means insist or who never gives up (but he gives up his name) . Every one knows him by this nickname because in his past days, probably in his childhood, he said some funny stuff about his neck and at that time of his friends starting to call him by that name. Now, as a 50-year-old, he is recognized by his nickname.

We call our father's side of uncles kaka gee and mother's side of uncles is mama gee. In same way, we call the wives of the respective uncles chachee and mamee.

In similar manner, some call their grandmother naney, aney bebey or amagee and for the grandfather babagee, dagee. Moms usually call kids or youngsters by the name of bachey (kiddos or baby), which is very popular for older people to call youngsters. Other nicknames that are very commonly used by parents or grandparents to their kids are qurban (beloved), laliya (sweetheart), da zra sra (piece of my heart) and so on.

If you are reading my post, I will be glad to see your comments and hear about your cultural nicknames.