Chucho. Pancho. Nacho. Lupe. Cuca. If you live in Mexico, chances are you know at least one of these people.
Have you ever wondered where their nicknames come from? “Many abbreviated names have their origin in infantile language,” explains Professor Jose Luis Iturrios, an applied linguistics specialist at the Universidad de Guadalajara. “The child pronounces an abbreviated name like Nacho [from Ignacio] and the family ends up saying Nacho too ... and finally as adults, everyone remembers Nacho ... [These nicknames] are already standardized and aren’t going to change.”
Though Mexican nicknames might seem especially unusual, they are fairly constant throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and have existed as long as Spanish itself. A few exceptions exist – Iturríos mentions Pancho, a nickname for Francisco, which is popular in Mexico but not in Spain. He says the reason for these variations is arbitrary. Mexican indigenous languages haven’t had a significant influence on Spanish nicknames, particularly in Jalisco where the language of the long-isolated Huichols has barely mixed with Spanish.
The language of infants creates nicknames via two main processes, economization and “palatalization.” In the first, the speaker simply drops difficult syllables and sounds from a name. Gustavo becomes Tavo and Teresa becomes Tere. Because the consonant “r” is difficult for infants, Alberto loses not only its first syllable but also the “r” to become Beto. Sometimes a diminutive is added to a name (Adolfito from Adolfo) and then a piece of the original name is eliminated (Adolfito becomes Fito).
In the second process, palatalization, the speaker changes a given sound into a palatal sound (produced with the tongue against the roof of the mouth, or hard palate). Ch, a common palatal sound, appears in dozens of Mexican nicknames - Chelo, Chela, Chente, Chuy, Güicho, Lencho, Chayo, Chío, Chona. According to Iturrios, infants prefer palatal sounds (others are “ñ” as in Toño and “y” as in Moy) because their formation symbolizes intimacy: “To palatalize consists in putting the entire body of the tongue against the palate ... It’s an icon of an embrace, an example of physical contact. So the “ch” is very, very apt for expressing affection, for expressing proximity.”
Many nicknames result from proper names being both economized and palatalized: The “Ro” is dropped from Rocío and the remaining Cío is palatalized into Chío. Likewise, Ignacio becomes Nacio and then Nacho.
Another way nicknames are created is by simply adding a diminutive to the proper name – Juanito from Juan, Anita from Ana, etcetera. A more recent trend in Mexican nicknames, one which reflects American influence, is to economize and then add a “y” suffix - Dany for Daniel, Paty for Patricia, etcetera. Then there are the numerous nicknames based on personal traits like Gordito (tubby) and Güero (blondie) – fodder for a whole separate article.
“The abbreviated name is a way of extending affective bonds, of familiarity,” says Iturrios. “There’s a tendency in human societies to give different names to people according to the areas they move in. So at home they have one name, but in their circle of friends they create another name, because furthermore that name is what unites them.”
Mexicans seem to use a lot of nicknames and diminutives – is that because they are naturally more affectionate? Iturrios, Spanish by birth, discards any such generalization. “No one has demonstrated that [Mexicans] are more affective, nor that they utilize the diminutive more. That’s totally subjective. I mean, it could be true, but I assure you that no one has demonstrated it.”
COMMON NICKNAMES
Men
Pancho - Francisco
Nacho - Ignacio
Chuy - Jesus
Meño - Manuel
Guicho - Luis
Lalo - Eduardo
Women
Chela - Graciela
Chayo - Rosario
Lulu - Lourdes
Lupe - Guadalupe
Cuca - Refugio
Licho - Alicia, Luisa