​NICKNAME, a name given to a person in addition to his personal names, Christian and surname, either as a playful or familiar form of address or as a mark of ridicule, contempt or hatred. The Middle English form of the word, nekename, shows that it is a corruption of “an ekename” (i.e. “added” name; eke, earlier eche, from the root seen in Lat. augere, Gr. αὐξάνειν), and is therefore equivalent to the Lat. agnomen.