Native American Names

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Opal

Native
Dec 26, 2008
1,022
0
Liverpool
One of the lads I grew up with in our street had three toes on one foot, hence the nickname.."Johnny three toes".
 

3bears

Settler
Jun 28, 2010
619
0
Anglesey, North Wales
I'm not lucky enough to be able claim any Native American heritage, as far as I know I'm at least 5 generations Welsh on both sides of the family :)

the handle is was given to me by my friends after camping out one night in the before a day long Airsoft game years ago in an abandoned underground bunker complex near Drakelow in the UK... I'd managed to frighten someone coming into the complex the morning before the game, when asked what all the noise was, it was said that my snoring and sleep talking was louder than a bear, in fact louder than all 3 bears and goldilocks put together, the name has stuck ever since - i go by 3bears now on any forum I join ;)
 

Humpback

On a new journey
Dec 10, 2006
1,231
0
67
1/4 mile from Bramley End.
I wear contact lenses and on a diving trip a number of years ago with two friends we chose "red indian names". I got eyes that come out at night my friend who had had a car accident on the way to the coast was christened broken manifold, which I quite like and my other friend who is quite trusting became he who falls for anything.
Alan
 

mousey

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jun 15, 2010
2,210
254
42
NE Scotland
My user name has come from nearly all the foreign people I've met who seem unable to pronounce my name.

For some bizzare reason [to me anyway] most say Mowse

I have also been called:-

swampy
Tilly
Milly

And probably a good few I don't know about....
 

Realbark

Aimless Wanderer
Jan 18, 2011
354
0
South Lincs UK
Mate of mine called Mile High (hes about 5 foot and an ex-pilot) and another called Piggy cos his old fella was a pig farmer. Hes 50 odd now and still called it.
 

oldtimer

Full Member
Sep 27, 2005
3,202
1,827
82
Oxfordshire and Pyrenees-Orientales, France
Many of us have surnames which are the result of what others called one of our ancestorss. My surname originated in Cornwall and is the Cornish for "broad browed". SWMBO reckons the more accurate translation would have been "big headed" : can't think why. Our son, who lives in a small Spanish mountain village, says that everyone has a nickname which everyone knows, apart from the person on whom it is bestowed. A local mayor had the bright idea of publishing a village directory under nicknames instead of proper names, thus everyone found out what the rest of the village called them. The mayor had to leave town and change all his names. As for Native American names- I can thoroughly recommend the Autobiography of Left Handed, Son of Old Man Hat (ISBN0-8032-7958-2) published by University of Nebraska Press (Bison Press 1995) Left Handed was born in 1868 and his book gives a facinating account of Navajo life, including naming systems.
 

drewdunnrespect

On a new journey
Aug 29, 2007
4,788
2
teesside
www.drewdunnrespect.com
drew dunn respect is my nick name and my mates who were the orginal creaters of the name all call me respect but thats old hat now if i was a native of the usa i probably have the nick name drops it due to when younger i was dead clumsy due to my dispraxia. or crazy boy due to my hyperactivity
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,989
4,638
S. Lanarkshire
Many British names are as Oldtimer comments, but we no longer speak that language so the literal meaning is lost.
Campbell, for instance is Cambeul, crooked mouth....someone who speaks out of one side with a dimple in the cheek sort of thing.

Look at the old English, Scottish and Irish king lists.......Talorcan, Drust, Brudei are Pictish, and we have no idea what they meant originally.
Many of our modern names are simply family honoree's....I'm the thirteenth in a straight mother/daughter line to use mine....de 'sanctified' at the Reformation and commonly used thereafter........many are biblical, simply reflecting the customs of the time but some sound biblical but are actually native names subtly adjusted to sound more 'correct'.

Native American name? No idea, but the family call me "Little miss I'll cry later", there was always something far more interesting to do than sit and greet :)

cheers,
M
 

bearbait

Full Member
I understand that some of the plains-dwelling First Nations peoples named their children after the first thing the father saw when he left the tipi immediately after the child was born. Hence, for example, the firstborn happened to be called Shining Moon and the second born was named Two Dogs.
 
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John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,137
2,876
66
Pembrokeshire
A couple I have been given
"Action Trousers" - a long story but basically my name and a review sample were printed in a mag in a way that looked like it was my full name...
"Stone Bear" - given to me by a team I trained - coz I am (was) hard and covered in fat and hair....
"Half Face" - from my facial disability (Bells Palsey)
"Sir" - coz some folks is polite :)
 

bb07

Native
Feb 21, 2010
1,322
1
Rupert's Land
I went to school with kids that had surnames like 'Standing on the Road', 'Bigsky', etc. Good stuff. Makes me miss Saskatchewan! Great film by the way...

I still remember going to school with Daryl Shavetail and Johnny Rabbitskin! That was down south, the plains people. In the north, Wolverine and Bear are common surnames. Many others of a similar nature.
 

Mesquite

It is what it is.
Mar 5, 2008
27,889
2,941
62
~Hemel Hempstead~
another good one is when someone's going for a big yawn just stick your finger in their gob kills it dead. someone did it to me once and i couldn't yawn for a month after

:rofl:... I once did that with the TV remote to my missus... the look on her face was a picture to behold.

Whereas she really didn't appreciate the funny side of it :rolleyes:
 

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