Nicknaming And Self-Nicknaming In South Africa: Emerging Trends In Tsonga Onomastics

Abstract

A nickname is an unofficial name that is used to identify a person. The name is either given by another person or, in some context, a person names himself or herself. Worth mentioning is the fact that nicknames do not appear on a person’s identity document but they are at times more popular than those names that have been registered as official. The writer employed interviews and observation techniques to gather the necessary information for the paper. Ten interviewees (who have been identified as denominatums with self-given nicknames) have been contacted in soliciting data for the paper. The purpose of this paper is to analyse Tsonga nicknames that people use to name themselves.