Naming Your Kids: Australian Nicknames

As a teacher, it helps to be ‘in the know’ about social ‘faux-pas’. Some things are said in Australian classrooms that are never used in Canadian classrooms, such as “ rubber ” and “ nice as ” (which sounds like “nice ass” in the Aussie accent !).

As a teacher, and a sportsperson, I’m also big on nicknames as terms of endearment. So here are a few ways Australians make nicknames:

1) Add an “O” to the end of a name that ends in “n” Eg. Wayne –> ” Wayno ” Eg. 2. Jon –> “Jono”

2) Add an “azza” to the end of a name that has a strong “r”:

Eg. 1. Gary –> “ Gazza ” (This is the well known name for Geelong’s Gary Ablett) Eg. 2. Aaron –> “ Azza ”

3) Add an “ooey” to the end of a name ending in any other consonent”

Eg.1. Riewoldt –> “ Rooey ” (The well-known nickname of St. Kilda Saint’s –the favourites for the AFL premiership flag this year– Captain (and star forward) Nick. He’s a legend. He’s my favourite. He’s good with kids. He kicked 6 goals last week. They’ve just got to beat Collingwood on Sunday. Go Saints!

Anyway, I’m sure that’s the rule. But, I can’t think of a Second Example — can anyone else?

As you can see, most of these nicknames are built around footy. But I live in Melbourne, and that is our culture.

So, now you know what to you call your kids, without insulting them.