Nicknames in Prison: Meaning and Manipulation in Inmate Monikers

Abstract

Each prison yard is a microcosm of society: a community with its own culture and hierarchy. Prison nicknames are a matter of social negotiation, a common everyday phenomenon with a multiplex nature. One of the authors of this article is currently serving a sentence and has supplied examples based on his own observations and informal interviews with other inmates who were willing to give him information they would not usually confide to outsiders. Knowing and using nicknames (1) gives a sense of unity among prison peers, while (2) representing their individuality, and (3) facilitating communication among them. Nicknames can be friendly, showing peer approval and in-group unity. They can also be cruel and vicious. Nicknames can be bestowed due to appearance, personality, preferences, background, or experience. They are also used for in-group communication about hidden activities or identities.

When a Name Gives You Pause: Racialized Names and Time to Adoption in a County Dog Shelter

“…They might have seen a name like Walrus or Toothless and thought it was odd but chose a human racial category anyway, thinking that it was an uncommon name or a person's nickname. Perhaps these names were reminiscent of prison nicknames for some respondents; prison nicknames tend to be appearance based and colorful (Black, Wilcox, and Platt 2014), like many of the nonhuman names on our list. We could not reveal the true purpose of the task at the beginning of the survey because if people were told that they were being asked to rate dogs' names, they might have perceived Source: Authors' original data scraped from web; Amazon Mechanical Turk.…”

Two Short “As” and a Rolling “R”

“…Meanwhile, the field of Onomastics, it seems, is a wellestablished one, with its own journals such as Names: A Journal of Onomastics, which publishes articles on a wide range of name-related topics, from nicknames in prison (Black, Wilcox, & Platt, 2014) to fictional names masquerading as Literary-Historical Monikers (Dodge Robbins, 2014). And yes, it even publishes articles about the graduation ceremony phenomenon, and the important role of names at these events, with a particular reference to cultural difference (Pennesi, 2014).…”