I often get asked about my nickname: where did it come from? What does it mean? Is it true that everyone calls you Smigs?
This page attempts to give a perspective of the nickname and list all the variations.
As far as I know, the first person in my family to bear a similar nickname was my uncle. He was known as 'Smig[g]ers' at school. The origin of the nickname can be easily explained - it simply seems to be a corruption of our surname 'Smith'.
The next person to take on the nickname was my brother, who was taught at primary school by one of our uncle's former classmates, who took to calling him 'Smiggs'. My brother's classmates soon followed suit.
Going to the same primary school, I inevitably picked up the nickname as well. To distinguish ourselves from each other, my brother took to using the spelling 'Smiggs', and myself 'Smigs'. A subtle difference, but woe betide you if you spell either of our nicknames wrong!
The beauty of language is in its inherent creativity, and my friends have exercised that creativity by coming up with scores of variations of 'Smigs'. I've attempted to list them all here. Created with the help of all my old gaim logs and rgrep.
| Name | Origin | Used By? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smigers, Smiggers | Corruption of surname 'Smith' | Uncommon use | Original nickname of my uncle. |
| Smiggs | Bestowed by primary school teacher | Common use | Nickname for my brother. |
| Smigs | Used to distinguish from 'Smiggs' | Common use | 'Root form' of my nickname. |
| Smigsy (soundalike 'Smigseh') | -y: common suffix for names | Common use | Compare 'Banksy', 'Stubbsy', etc. |
| Smigsy-wigsy | Iona; babytalk, e.g. 'itsy-bitsy spider'. | Iona | She actually called me this when we met in real life. |
| Smig[g]y | -y: common suffix for names | Relatively common | |
| Smiggy-wiggy | Tom S; 'Smiggy wiggy let's get biggy' | Tom S, used once | |
| Smigly | -ly: common suffix for names | Relatively common | |
| Smiggles | Sal | Originally Sal; now a very popular varient | Compare 'Biggles', fictional character in a series of books; takes double 'g' even with 'Smigs'. |
| Smigglesworth | Varient on Smiggles; Steve? | Steve, Josh | Compare Mr. Bigglesworth, Dr. Evil's cat in Austin Powers. |
| Smigifer, Smigerifer | Made up by a former friend of mine, who was known as 'Woodifer' | My gmail address is 'smigifer <at> gmail <dot> com', as the username must be at least 7 characters long | Compare 'Woodifer'. |
| Smogs | Cj; evil twin of Smigs | Uncommon use | Evil twin of Smigs. |
| Twigs | Tom S, from 'Smigs Smigs the colour of twigs' | Was quite popular, but not anymore | Cockney rhyming slang (using the rhyme in place of the original word). |
| Smigoden | Cheez | Cheez | |
| Smigsacon | Greeny | Greeny | I have no idea where he got these from. |
| Smigsamania | Greeny | Greeny | |
| Samuel-L-Smiggios, Spanish Love God | Dez; reference to Samuel L Jackson | Dez and a few others | This one makes me laugh. |
| Samuel-L-Smiggy-San | Dez; reference to Samuel L Jackson | Dez | |
| Smigboat | Josh | Josh, used a few times | Josh comes up with the weirdest names for me. I think he tries to invent a new one every time we talk. |
| Mount Smiggatopolis | Josh | Josh, used once | |
| Smigfried | Josh | Josh, quite often | |
| Smiggypants, Smiggytrousers | Josh; 'Smiggytrousers' is the 'British version'. | Josh, used once | |
| Smigdoferous | Josh | Josh, used once | |
| Smigtopher | Josh; 'topher' as in 'Christopher'? | Josh, used once | |
| Smigga | Josh; play on 'nigga'? | Josh, used once | |
| Smiggards | Josh | Josh, used once | |
| Smigtown | Josh; 'Smigtown, USA!' | Josh, a few times | |
| Smigland | Josh | Josh, used once | |
| Smigford | Josh | Josh, used once | |
| Smig[s]erino | -erino: Flandersism? | Uncommon | |
| Smigster | -ster: common suffix | Uncommon | |
| Smiggydoo | Chris Lodge | I don't speak to him anymore | |
| Smigilydee | Matt | Matt, Used once | |
| Smigadee | Sal, abbreviated version of 'Smigilydee'? | Sal, Matt, Cheez, etc; no longer used | |
| Smigglypoo | Matt | Matt, used once | Matt is another one of my friends who is extremely creative when it comes to my nickname. |
| Smigumy | Matt, from 'thingummy'? | Matt, used once | |
| Smigsable | Matt | Matt, used once | |
| Smigathy | Matt | Matt, used once | |
| Smigerypie | Matt | Matt, used once | |
| Smigly-wigly[-woo] | Matt; babytalk? | Matt, used once | |
| Smig[s]ular | Ruth, Greeny | Ruth, Greeny, used a couple of times | I like this one |
| [El] Smiggio[s] | Brewer? | Once relatively common | |
| Smigioso | Dave B | Dave B, used once | |
| Smigsio | Greeny | Greeny, used once | |
| Smiglet | Someone in my Y7 form; -let: diminutive | Fairly common | |
| Smigola | Brewer? | Brewer, used a few times | |
| Le Smig | Smigs; I like french | I used it a couple of times | The only one I made up myself |
| Smigglagator | Sal; from 'aligator'? | Sal, used once | |
| Smigiscle | Simon; from popsicle/icicle? | Simon, used once | |
| Smigsasm | Steve; from 'orgasm' ('only sexier') | Steve, a couple of times | |
| [teh] Smigs0r | Cj; play on l33t speak | Cj, used once | omgz!!!111one1!!1 |
| Smigglypoof | Cj; from 'Jigglypoof', the Pokemon | Cj, used once | If it weren't for pokemon I never would have met Cj. Sad, I know. |
| Smigeth | Cj; ye olde english | Cj, used once | |
| Smigaroony | Cj; a Flandersism | Cj, used once | |
| The Smiginator | Tom C, Terminator ref. | Tom C, see this post | |
| Smigachu | Tom C, Pokemon ref. |
Believe it or not there are other people out there who call themselves Smigs; a quick google will turn up all manner of profiles and webpages of people who have the same name. There's even a (very bad) poem about one 'Mr. Smiggs', as well as a hotel in Australia called 'Smiggins'. 'Smigielski' is also a surname in Polish, meaning 'of Smigiel'; this surname is, unsurprisingly, also found in America.