Writing a girl's name in the newspaper

"Four months later in December, Woods celebrated his twenty-first birthday. He marked the occasion with a legal name change, from Eldrick to Tiger. Woods had been called Tiger by his father even as a youngster. The nickname stuck, and Woods had always been known to his friends, and to the press, as Tiger."

http://www.notablebiographies.com/We-Z/Woods-Tiger.html


did you really not know this?

 

Anthony McFarland (LSU, Bucs, Colts) was called Booger by his mother, but I never allowed it through because it could disgust some people. I think it's on a case-by-case basis, with some obvious (Tiger, Magic) and some that require discussion (Pacman). Generally, if it has become the most common usage, go with it. Not sure that's the case with Beanie, so I'd make it Chris (unless I was near OSU), and I'd go with Pacman now, but it would have been Adam a few years ago (and now that he wants us to change it back, tough luck).

 

What about the artist who was, then formerly known as, then returned to Prince?

Side note: When I was in high school, the sports editor at a local weekly referred to me by my nickname (he placed it between by first and last names) in a story. It was a name I used all four years in high school, including on my class assignments instead of my given name.
My teammates wanted me to have it put on the back of my football jerseys when we bought new ones, but the coach nixed the idea.

 

That's because "Tolestoy" just wouldn't be a good fit on an athletic jersey.

 

Scooby for someone who always snacks is a good nickname.

 

It would have saved me money. Back in the day (mid-1980s) it cost per letter to have your name sewn the jersey, and that was on top of the jersey price. Since we bought home and away jerseys and my last name has 10 letters, I had to pony up an extra chunk of change.
Since my nickname was half as long as my last name, I could have cut that in half.
Still have the jerseys, but they seem to have drastically shrunk over the years

 

And you verbize nicknames?

 

I went ahead and used her real name with no complaints (so far).

 

When I was a kid, I remember reading about how the Atlanta Braves had their nicknames on the back of their shirts instead of their last names and Andy Messersmith's nickname was "Channel" because his number was the same as the TV station that Ted Turner owned.

 

for me, there's a young lady that plays basketball around here that is called "Pumpkin" by everyone (parents, teammates, coaches, teachers, et al), but I use her government name in all stories, except for when a teammate or the coach calls her "Pumpkin" in a quote I'm using.

 

once had a look at a prep boys volleyball program and was shocked to find one of the younger players on the team was nicknamed "t-bag."

never used it in print — or aloud — and i thought it had to be a joke name given by the veteran guys on the team. turns out, the kid's dad is the one who put together the program (and, i assume, had all editorial control).

go figure that one.

 

One of my football coaches gave a name to everyone as well. Tebow, Circus, Cool Whip and Koolaid (those were brothers....and I could never quite figure out who was who) etc. I would go up and sit in the press box during the second half and all of the people up there would call them by their nicknames, even though I had to repeatedly ask who the hell they were talking about. I didn't have a Tebow, Circus or Cool Whip on my roster.