Monniker

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term used to refer to a person's name or a familiar nickname
2. A word that identifies an individual, often used to describe a common or informal name
3. An informal or playful name by which someone is known, usually a nickname

Etymology: No one knows for certain where this word came from. It first appears in print in 1849, and "monniker" is an older spelling of the same word. Proposed sources include a Shelta word "munik", a reversal in backslang of "ekename", an older word for nickname, and a corruption of "monogram", which would tie it to the idea of a signature. One theory is more flamboyant. It may derive from "monarch" in the sense of a king or number one, so that a name was a way of announcing "I, myself" with frank egotism. In 1857 the London paper the Saturday Review observed that the word had "a certain Coptic or Egyptian twang." The remark shows how exotic it sounded to Victorian ears, though it does not settle the origin.

Synonyms: nickname, alias, pseudonym, handle, label