# Nicknames in Martial Arts



## terryl965 (Mar 8, 2007)

Everybody here at one time or another had a nickname, care to share what that is or was?

Second question do you give nicknames to your students as well and if so what are some of them?


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## Kreth (Mar 8, 2007)

terryl965 said:


> Everybody here at one time or another had a nickname, care to share what that is or was?
> 
> Second question do you give nicknames to your students as well and if so what are some of them?


Most of mine would get picked up by the filter... :lol:


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## terryl965 (Mar 8, 2007)

Kreth said:


> Most of mine would get picked up by the filter... :lol:


 
Oh come on Kreth tell us one


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## Xue Sheng (Mar 8, 2007)

The only nickname I was ever given in MA was by my Jujitsu teacher (first MA) way back when the first Kung Fu the series was on.

I was "Stump Jumper" and a friend of mine was "Weed Leaper". 

But none since then

And no when I taught I never gave my students nicknames

EDIT:

Now that I think of it, that is rather ironic considering my whole training by beating a tree thing. Gee I wonder if my sensei was could see the future?


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## Flying Crane (Mar 8, 2007)

Nicknames are actually a tradition in Capoeira.  Supposedly (I always take these stories with a grain of salt, I suspect thing have gotten a bit twisted up over the generations and what is passed off as history may no longer be accurate) the tradition stems from the slave days in Brazil.  Capoeira was heavily repressed by the authorities.  The slaves practiced in secrecy, and often took part in uprisings and whatnot to challenge the power of the rulers.  So they referred to each other by nicknames to hide each other's identitly, in case the slaveowners and other authorities overheard them talking.  Obviously they might know the slaves doing the talking, but the identity of those they might be talking about would be hidden.

So most Capoeira schools today continue the tradition, and bestow a nickname upon each student.  Often they are a little silly, but when a school grows large and has a lot of students, I guess it gets tough to always come up with something appropriate to the individual.


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## Kreth (Mar 8, 2007)

terryl965 said:


> Oh come on Kreth tell us one


Well, I do have one friend from training who calls me "The Dragon" because of my tattoo and the bugo (warrior name) I was given when I passed my godan test. Other than that, pretty much everyone calls me Jeff or Kreth.


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## funnytiger (Mar 8, 2007)

When assigning tasks to some of the senior students for our first tournament Sifu gave each one of us our own nickname. Mine was 'funny tiger' and well... it kind of stuck.


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## Bigshadow (Mar 8, 2007)

I don't have one.  We don't normally give them.  Who knows, I might end up with a warrior name one day, but I am not the one to decide if, when, or what.  If it happens, it happens naturally, I have no expectations.


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## zDom (Mar 8, 2007)

*sigh* OK, here we go 

When I was about white belt I competed in something like my first or second tournament. My TKD instructor was off officiating, so he asked how I had done in sparring.

"I dominated," I answered. He laughed.

So that Monday when my HKD instructor (mattm.'s dad ) came to teach class, my TKD instructor told me, "Tell him how you did."

So I said, again, "I dominated."

"Ho ho ho!" he laughed. "The Dominator!"

"NOW you've done it," my TKD instructor smiled. "Now you've got yourself a nickname. The only thing to do now is try to live up to it so it isn't ironic."

I worked my butt off to do just that and eventually nobody who heard me called that (and they called me that often, while coming up through the ranks) ever suspected it all started out as a joke 

Even today, some of my old friends will holler out during my sparring matches at tournaments, "Dominator!"

Mostly it is just a nickname I use for online gaming though, anymore


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## matt.m (Mar 8, 2007)

zDom said:


> *sigh* OK, here we go
> 
> When I was about white belt I competed in something like my first or second tournament. My TKD instructor was off officiating, so he asked how I had done in sparring.
> 
> ...


 

I watched it all unfold, its true its true.  

Before the last surgery I had GM Hildebrand started calling me "Bionic."  He followed that with, "Anyone who can twist kick like that, especially with the Titanium is just bionic."

FWIW:  zDom can still own the ring with no sweat.  I remember a few years ago at one of GM Shin's Tourney's I was sitting on the deck minding my own business and with his big paw just slides me across and says "Listen......gave the advice, that was it."  I lost by 1 pt. but I did have a head high round kick score and a turning back side kick.  

Every time I go to compete poomsea, it's same thing.  Coach's like that are hard to come by.  Very lucky.


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## bookworm_cn317 (Mar 8, 2007)

Does having your instructor call you by a shorter version of your name count as a nickname? Because I'm called Chris in class.


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## Drac (Mar 8, 2007)

It's either been "Drac" "Count" or "Tez" the latter is the begining of my last name...


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## Empty Hands (Mar 8, 2007)

I am "Big John", usually.  Unfortunately, there is another rather large John in class, so my instructor has taken to calling me "Yellow John" (my rank).  What an excellent motivation to test for Orange soon!


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## crushing (Mar 8, 2007)

My kapkido teacher jokingly calls me 'The Gazelle', especially as my 6'1" 250 lbs frame starts muscling through techniques rather than using the circles and flow of the art.


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## bydand (Mar 8, 2007)

Considering that my younger brother is my Instructor, I'd rather not say what he calls me.  

Kidding, during training we are Instructor/Student and do not treat each other any different than we would somebody else in those positions.  He does use me for an Uke more than others, but that just comes from knowing how far he can go and the trust of lifetime together between us.  He does call me "punching bag" once in a while in the kids class to howls of laughter.


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## Drac (Mar 8, 2007)

crushing said:


> My kapkido teacher jokingly calls me 'The Gazelle', especially as my 6'1" 250 lbs frame starts muscling through techniques rather than using the circles and flow of the art.


 
You have that problem too???? I feel better...(Off topic post , sorry)....


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## Jade Tigress (Mar 8, 2007)

crushing said:


> My kapkido teacher jokingly calls me 'The Gazelle', especially as my 6'1" 250 lbs frame starts muscling through techniques rather than using the circles and flow of the art.


LOL! That is great! 

No nicknames for me...at least not yet.


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## stickarts (Mar 8, 2007)

Some students have picked up nicknames in our school:

monster
monster slayer
mosquito
slacker
bully
Action Jackson

It has made training together a bit more interesting at times!


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## zDom (Mar 9, 2007)

Jade Tigress said:


> No nicknames for me...at least not yet.



We can fix that


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## Shaderon (Mar 9, 2007)

I have the nickname of "Shadow" or "Shadow Dragon" in another forum online, it came from the name I use here, shortened into Shads and then lengthened into "Shadow", and occasionally people outside will call me Shadow, but I keep it well away from my MA class, to me it sounds too much like an MA movie nickname and a bit pretentious so I've told no one about it that doesn't already know. (I have told some people that have seen my back tattoo of a dragon with a shadow behind it)


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## IcemanSK (Mar 9, 2007)

Kevin "Superkick" McClinton, my late kickboxing trainer was great at giving ring names & nick names. He called me "The Iceman" after Jean Yves Theriault, the Candaian kickboxing legend. Sadly, it was because he said I looked a bit like him, not cuz I fought like him.:ultracool 

As Kevin's brain tumor worsend, he would call everyone "Head" (Short for Knuclehead). He called one very quiet, but very powerful fighter "Quiet Riot." (Which was odd, cuz this guy had never heard of the band)

My favorite was when he was explaining something to one teen student by saying, "Let me tell you something, Grass Smoker." Several of us nearly fell over laughing so hard.


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## Grenadier (Mar 9, 2007)

Up until a few years ago, everywhere I trained at (after my first Shotokan dojo), I was called "unorthodox" in some way, shape, or another, no matter how I tried to blend in, since I had been training at various schools in different styles.  

Some of my old teachers knew each other quite well, and would sometimes say "Ah, I see Sensei "X's" influence on you," or "I see Shihan "Y's" influence on you!"  

Other than that, no real nicknames.  Although recently, when I put a sign-up sheet on a table (trying to get a list of names of people who were going to be part of the demonstration), I did see that one rather bold kid had written on the sheet "Sensei Ron is Atilla the Hun!"  

The next day, when I asked the class in a pleasant tone "So, which one of you wrote that most interesting message on the sheet yesterday?"  

One kid who tends to take a bit of pride in being a troublemaker said "Oh, I did that!"  When I told him what it had said, all of the color drained from his face as he started stamming "M.m.m.ee?  NO!  I didn't write it!  Uh..."

Either he's an excellent actor, or he is honestly telling the truth.  I tend to think the latter, since it looked way too genuine of a shock to be a fake.


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## Touch Of Death (Mar 9, 2007)

When I first started my uncle used to call me Weed Hoppah all the time. My teacher however used to call me Dr. Duck on account of my constant faliure to align my legs with the direction I was going. 
Sean


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## Odin (Mar 9, 2007)

I used to graff when i was younger and used the name (")din since I was fond of Norse mythology and like final fantasy.

As for fighting wise, im known as 'chinduster'.......or Iv people are taking the micky its 'pretty boy''.....not so menacing.


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## clfsean (Mar 9, 2007)

One of my old kung fu brothers gave me the nickname (it stuck) of "Sunshine".

We were driving to Lauderdale to hang out with a friend of ours & I was in a particularly foul mood as we left ATL, he was smashed on SoCo & Cherry Coke and said... 

"I'm calling you Sunshine... The morning star of bitterness"

We laughed hard & I got over my ill mood.


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## kidswarrior (Mar 9, 2007)

Stupid.

Hey, you.

Dumb...well,...

But really, since the service, my last name has been my nickname. Only person who ever called me by my first name was my mother, RIP.


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## Motz (Mar 9, 2007)

Not so much a nickname, but...

Since I only recently took up Ninjutsu (a couple of months back, did a few years of Judo when I was younger), the teacher has yet to learn my name. As such, my friends who've been there a year or two longer have taken to calling me Frederique instead of Mike in the hope that he'll pick it up and have it stick :lol:


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## bushidomartialarts (Mar 9, 2007)

no nicknames for me, although a couple of my peers use those sort of generics tags like 'killer' and 'hero' at my ... sort of the same way that, to some people, every boy under 8 years old is 'buddy' and every boy 8-12 is 'big guy'.  some of my friends cal me 'mal' or 'captain' whenever i'm being particularly autocratic or stubborn -- but that's more of an in joke than a nickname.

my child students often get nicknames from me.  it's sort of a point of pride that i can remember all of my students names and nicknames, and a rite of passage for all my new students.


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## zDom (Mar 9, 2007)

A drummer in one of my bands called me "Joe Jitsu" a couple of times, which I thought was very clever in addition to being pretty dang funny.

Then I found out there was actually a cartoon character by that name some years back. Still funny, but so solly, no credit for crever.


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## searcher (Mar 9, 2007)

Mine is turtle.   It came form having a wierd style of defense that everyone kept saying looked like a turtle.


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## IWishToLearn (Mar 9, 2007)

terryl965 said:


> Everybody here at one time or another had a nickname, care to share what that is or was?
> 
> Second question do you give nicknames to your students as well and if so what are some of them?



I've been nicknamed "The Machine".  I've never been very fast, very strong, or particularly physically impressive. What I am is accurate, precise, and consistant - as described to me by the two teachers I had that gave me the nickname.


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## IWishToLearn (Mar 9, 2007)

Also - I've nicknamed two of my students so far. One is named Shrek, because he's 6'5, 320, and loves to talk in a scottish accent. The other is named Cicada - because he's too dam scrawny to be a Grasshopper.


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## fnorfurfoot (Mar 9, 2007)

My old GoJu instructor had a tradition of "naming" students when they passed their first belt test.  The names usually revolved around some sort of animal.  I already had my fourth degree in Kenpo when I started with him.  He called my "Drunken Liger".  I thought that the drunken part of the name was a little ironic considering the fact that I have never touched alcohol, but it was explained to me that it ment that I was able to adapt quickly or something like that.  The Liger is a hybrid animal so that made sense because of the fact that I was blending my kenpo with his GoJu.


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## crushing (Mar 9, 2007)

Liger?  Awesome.  It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed. Bred for its skills and magic.


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## wade (Mar 10, 2007)

Thumper, go figure?


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## Fluffy (Mar 10, 2007)

My nickname is Fluffy....suprise!   I have a Fat head, Elvis, Goofy Guber and a bunch of turkeys in my school.


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## chris_&#3617;&#3623;&#3618;&#3652;&#3607;&#3618; (Mar 10, 2007)

it was "lucky buddha" because people say im always trying to be "pure" (i never drink alchohol, take drugs, eat unhealthily etc) and i was fat at the time aswell, but ive got rid of the flab and now the name has faded, but my freinds always call me "thai boy" simply becasue im a thai boxer....


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## Laurentkd (Mar 10, 2007)

my master teacher often calls me "young one".

I have been with him since I was 14, and I can't remember when it first began.  Usually it is something like "calm down young one" or "get moving young one!" Always in a "loving" way, but I know he is serious!

I asked him when I will be too old for "young one" and he said I will always be younger than him so never!!


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## Xue Sheng (Mar 10, 2007)

I Just remembered another one also given to me by my Jujitsu teacher

"makiwara", but that one came much more painfully than Stump Jumper


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## LawDog (Mar 10, 2007)

During the 70's my students gave me a nick name from the old Happy Days series, Mr C.
During the early 90's my associates began referring to me by another name, I just now found out about it, hardcore. 
Gets a person to wonder what other cute little nicknames have been assigned to you, then maybe you don't want to know.


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## tradrockrat (Mar 10, 2007)

oh jeez...

Well, I was training in the 1980's and my name is Daniel.  Any guesses as to my nickname (God I hate the Karate Kid movies...)??????


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## curious (Mar 11, 2007)

In our studio the instructor gives us a shirt with a nickname as a rite of passage when you have earned your purple belt and have officially become a member of our organization. Sometimes the names are opposites- one boy is very quiet and serious so his name is Chatterbox; another boy is slow and lazy- The Matrix (I asked our instructor about it and he said "that boy is on a whole other dimension") Some names are in regards to sizes- my seven year old is called "Mouse" (small, short, tiny); my other son is called "Spaghetti" (tall and skinny) Others are personality derived names: Joker, Banshee, Whisper. My name? Pottymouth (by both of my instructors), Bonita (by my classmates) and Queen B (by friends and relatives- B stands for badass or b****- depends who you ask.)


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## Dave Leverich (Mar 11, 2007)

Lol, mine was "Springs". I thought it was because I tended to be aerial when fighting, but I heard later it was due to no matter how hard they hit me, I kept bouncing back up and in for more heh.

I think I need some new shocks now though ;p


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## karatekid1975 (Mar 11, 2007)

I never got a nickname from MA. But I got one from music. I was in my first band and I tried to play so fast (faster than them ... my timing sucked back then, which is bad for a drummer LOL). The guitar player said, "You are making me dizzy!" So the name "Dizzy" stuck. But I haven't been called that in years (since moving to NY 5 years ago).


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## shesulsa (Mar 11, 2007)

I received a couple ... both from the same person.  One is Xena.  The other one is Buttercup (one of the PowerPuff girls - the one in green who looks pissed all the time and is always kicking butt).


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## RED (Mar 11, 2007)

Red. 

The occational Monty but usually Red.  It's the hair.


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## ArmorOfGod (Mar 11, 2007)

Pressureguy and Johnny Blaze are the only nicknames that I have ever gotten, of course Pressureguy is a nickname that I gave myself, so that shouldn't count.  Still, it stuck over the years and a few people actually call me that.  Google pressureguy and you will see countless entries, all of which refer to me.

Johnny Blaze is one that I was given by a fellow comic book fan.  My first name is Johnny, which is cool.  You can put any noun behind it and it sounds great:  Johnny Lightning (I wish that were my nickname), Johnny Danger, Johnny Savage, Johnny Quick, Johnny Bravo.....
Yep, I'm cool.

AoG


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## Shotochem (Mar 12, 2007)

The teens and 20yr olds call me .....*M.O.M.*   short for...

Mean Old Man :idunno: 

I'm just not feeling the love here...:wink1:


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## HKphooey (Mar 12, 2007)

Mine is "Monster Slayer"


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## TraditionalTKD (Mar 13, 2007)

In the old days, one of our black belt assistants called me "Quality", because apparently I was pretty good. It was a name I jokingly used to decribe myself, but apparently he was being serious.
Now, our Grandmaster calls me "Young Man" sometimes because I just tested 5th Dan and am almost 10 years younger the next youngest 5th dan (I'm 38). But I've also been in TKD since I was 14.


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## Shodan (Mar 13, 2007)

I've had a few over the years.  My first instructor gave me "Tara the Terror".

  Later, I had an instructor that called me the Silent Ninja cuz I didn't like to yell.

  A few students in one school named me Gumby cuz I was always pretty flexible.

  I also had one instructor that liked to call me Tara-dactyl.


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