Certain Surnames have pre-determined nicknames?

[rcrayner]

Chalky White, Bunny Warren etc are obvious, but does anyone know why its Tug Wilson, Nobby Clarke, Spud Baker, etc. Any more out there?

[Quizmonster]

�Nobby' is an adjective meaning �posh' - ie belonging to the nobs.  Men who worked as clerks (pen-pushers) in the City obviously had to be well-dressed, wearing suits, bowler hats etc.  Clearly, people - and maybe they themselves - thought of them as being a cut above brickies, dustmen etc.  The surnames Clark and Clarke are just variants of �clerk', so the idea of poshness rubbed off onto them, too, whatever their job.  If you click http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/F1839598?thread=437458 a link will take you to a web-page that deals with the many nicknames that men were given during military service...Dusty Miller, Chalky White, Tug Wilson and so on.  Nobby Clarke is included there.

[secretsquiz]

blimey! you learn something new every day!

i've been a wilson for the last 26 years and i never even knew we had this nickname!

i just googled it and 'tug' wilson is explained in the 'miscellaneous' paragraph at the bottom of...

http://www.nervouspassenger.co.uk/author.htm

[secretsquiz]

link doesn't work - try cutting and pasting it!

[Clanad]

Have an acquaintance named Dusty Rhodes...

[Sequin]

Nobby actually comes from the British Army in India during the Raj - a native indian working as a clerk in administration offices was called a Nobbi in the local language - so a clerk was a Nobbi, so anyone called Clark became "Nobbi" Clark