In the Nick name of time

One of my classmates emailed me today, called me Snow (as my last name is white or equivalent) which set me thinking about nick names. I've never really had one. Jen Jen at one point at university (yuk) or The Jenster in Namibia - liked that.

But do these count? A true nickname can't just be your first name with a few twiddles, can it?

It can be to do with your apperance....
There was a guy at school called Edward who we all called Mike. He had the most perfectly round afro, just like a microphone.
Piglet was an unfortunate girl who really did look like a small blonde pig
Bam - Was Fat Bam. He was a big lad.

Or it can be do do with your last name...
In our english class we had three Mark's. There were
Nish Nash Nosh - Mark Nash
Bish - Mark Bishop
Keri ac coo, Keri ac coo, Keri ac coo for Mark Kiriacou

Or your actions....
Windy - farted. A lot.
The Pieman - ate. A lot.
The Happy Hindu - smiled. A lot. This Asian kid, was actually a Christain, but the name stuck.

Come to think of it, it was mostly the boys that had nicknames. Wonder why?