Sunday, March 17, 2019

Nicknames


Nicknames

I went to medical school at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria many years ago. My classmates were a varied bunch of people from different places, different ethnicities, different languages and so on. Yet, the rigors of medical school made us bond for a lifetime. Even today, when many of us have not seen each other in so many years, those bonds remain.

One way we marked our kinship was to give nicknames to each other. Some of these were as simple as shortening the name and adding an ‘O’ at the end in true Northern Nigerian style. I thus became Sifo (from my first name Asif). David became Davo, Isiyaku became Skimo, Mikhail was Miko and so on. Auwal became Walo, but we had two Auwals in our class, so we differentiated by calling one Walo white (slightly lighter skin tone) and the other Walo black.

Some names were initials. We had a CCC (CC Okafor), IYV (Isah Yahyah Vatsa), MSS (Mohammed Sani Shehu) and MBD (Mohammed Bello Dikko). Some were a corruption of the actual name (Ado Zakari Kudan became AZ kudanese and Zara became Zarams). Temple was always known as Temples. Even he does not remember how the S was added to his name.

Some names were based on a certain character of the person. Prof (Emmanuel Ameh) got his name because of his immense knowledge. Iliya Jalo was always smartly dressed and his boyish good looks got him the name Oyiboyish. Goli was short so he was called Brevis and his close friend Agaba was tall, so he was called Longus (from names of muscles in the human body).

Not everyone had nicknames of course, but our bonds were just as strong. So many years later, I still remember my brothers and sisters as it were yesterday. We are scattered all over the globe and practicing medicine in different specialties, but remembering those nicknames we had for each other brings back wonderful memories. 

To me these names represent an amazing fellowship that we had so many years ago that I miss dearly today. Here is a list I made as to the best of my memory;
  1. AKA -Alakija Salami
  2. Alhaj Bobo -Kabir Sabitu
  3. Anastomosis -Moses Audu
  4. Ayour -Ayo Oyewo
  5. AZKudanese -Ado Zakari
  6. Brevis -Lamar Goli
  7. CCC -CC Okafor
  8. Chi Chi -CC Ekwempu
  9. Computer -Ibrahim Mohammed (IM)
  10. Davo -David Ewaoda
  11. Frikkado -Farid Tahir
  12. Fusco -Furera Sule
  13. Geeno -Mohammed Yakubu
  14. IYV -Isah Vatsa
  15. Jugul  -Bitrus Danboyi
  16. Lizzie -Elizabeth Ogboli
  17. Longus -Emmanuel Agaba
  18. MabJo -Mela Mansfield
  19. Mallam -Ahmed Yakubu
  20. MBD -Bello Dikko
  21. Medo -Ahmed Girei
  22. Miko -Mikhail Yusuf
  23. MSS -Sani Shehu
  24. Mr. T -Taiwo Irinoye
  25. Nash -Ibrahim Nashabaru
  26. Oyiboyish -Ilya Jalo
  27. Prof -Emmanuel Ameh
  28. Ralour -Tony Akpotabore
  29. SamP -Sam Epelle
  30. Sankas -Robert Sanda
  31. Sifo -Asif Zia
  32. Sikkiways -Sikiratu Kailani
  33. Skimo -Mohammed Isiyaku
  34. Temples -Amaefulla Temple
  35. TSW Anya -Daniel Tswanya
  36. Verna -Veronica Ubakanma
  37. Walo black -Auwal Abubakar
  38. Walo white -Auwal Abubakar
  39. Zarams -Zara Mairami
Faculty of Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University