“What’s in a name?” asked Shakespeare.

Well. Old Will asked a good question. What, indeed, is in a name?

More specifically, what is in a nickname? These often colorful, sometimes revelatory, or ironic, appellations that attach to some people definitely add a touch of variety to the landscape of names.

Most of us, at one time or another, have been called by, known by, something in addition to our given name. Sometimes it’s known and used only within the family. Other times it has widespread currency.

When I was a child, some of my parents’ friends referred to me (didn’t address me directly) as “little Bartow.” I’m glad growing up took care of that. And, some would refer to me as “Bartow Jr.” That was okay.

Being named Bartow was a challenge unto itself when meeting new people. Still is.

A friend of my parents called me “Rusty.” My hair was auburn. Another friend’s father called me “Pinky.”

After one football game my junior year, in a “Player of the Week” feature (see how I subtly worked that in), Dave Milligan, with the “Daily News,” described me as the “red headed romper.”

It’s been a long, long time since my hair was red, and my romping days are but a memory. Alas …

In the Army most were known by their last name. However, those of us who formed friendships generally eschewed the last name bit, and called one another by our given names.

When stationed in Germany, I was assigned to the 502nd Armored Medical Company (attached to the 3rd Battalion, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment) as a clerk.

In the “Five-o-deuce” many were trained medics, and as such had taken their medical training at Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, Texas (Brooke Army Medical Center).

So. Guess what those Fort Sam soldiers called me? That’s right, “Sam.” And to many it was “Sam” I became. It even followed me to the 11th Cav Black Horse, then the VII Corps Jayhawks, football teams. I kind of liked it.

All of that is in the past, the very distant past, as we homo sapiens measure and mark time.

And how about you? Have you a nickname? Or had one in the past? I’ll bet most of you would answer “yes” to that.

In my coaching and teaching days I gave many a boy or girl a nickname. Some stuck. I never used something unflattering. Never.

So it went.

And so it goes.

APROPOS — “Of all eloquence a nickname is the most concise … “

— William Hazlitt (1839)