Romanesh Nicknames

MichaelHorowitz

As most of you are aware, Gypsies rarely use their name given at birth. In most cases, they are given a nickname during their childhood which reflects some aspect of their personality. Often these nicknames are a humorous exaggeration of some aspect of their personality. I thought it would be fun to compile a list of Gypsies names and their meanings. Is anyone up to the task?

Here a a few to get started:

Baro means "Big man"

Stochelo means to "stoke the fire" (i guess he was a hyper kid?)

Please continue....

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Jack

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Thulo was a name given to fat babies, but I can't think of any musician by that name...
The names I can come up with (Hono, Matelot, etc.), but all the meanings are a tough nut to crack without some kind of a dictionary. I wish I knew more, though!

Best,
Jack.

Cuimean

I believe "Matelot" is actually French for "sailor." Matelot Ferret got the nickname because of the striped shirts he used to wear.

"Schnuckenack" was a good one, if I remember correctly. Doesn't it mean "beautiful nose" or something like that?

dennis

baro, actually is an adjective actually, it means big as opposed to tikno (small)... there's a moreno tune called Dikeno Sinto (the pronounciation is closer to tikno though)

stochelo means stork as in the bird that carries babies around

fire would be jak

gypsies generally also like flashy things ie movies, video games, etc... so sometimes they even give movie star names to their kids... i know one dude named Tarzan...

CalebFSU

Jack wrote:

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Thulo was a name given to fat babies

Jack, thats pretty cool. I should go by that when I play

Barengero

dennis wrote:

gypsies generally also like flashy things

Yes, my favourite example for this kind of names is the name of the german guitarist "Tornado" Rosenberg.

Best,
Barengero

Barengero

"Matcho" (Winterstein, Krause et. al.) means "fish".

The name of "Tschabo" Franzen (rhythm guitarist of Romani Weiss) means "boy" or "kid", I think.

Best,
Barengero

Barengero

I also love the Names of the singers "Bimbam" Merstein and "Daumenikel" Triska. I am not sure what "Daumenikel" means. Maybe it is a transmogrified version of "Dominik" resp. "Dominique".

Best,
Barengero

Barengero

Here is a story that Ziroli (what does "Ziroli" mean??) Winterstein told me once about the name of Bireli Lagrene (don´t know if it is true):

After little Bireli was born, his father Fiso couldn´t snatch up to let the Baby baptize for a long time. His wife and other relatives tried to push him and grumbled again and again. One evening, when Fiso was already drunk and the faultfinding about the missing ceremony of baptism started again, Fiso took his bottle of beer, poured the rest of its content about the Baby and said: "So I give you the christian name Bireli" (= "Beer").

(Imho I think that Ziroli was kidding me… I think that "Bireli" is "Bee", not "Beer".)

Best,
Barengero

Barengero

The father of Ziroli Winterstein was the guitarist "Prinzo" Winterstein. Some of you may know the record he made with his brother Betzi, "Sweet Guitar". As far as I know "Prinzo" means something like "Breakfast".:shock:

Best,
Barengero

sockeye

Doesn't "Tchan Tchou" mean "Chinese eyes" or something like that?