In Brazil, Nicknames Abound -- but Why?

Brazilians can't help it; they add "-inhos" and "-inhas" to everything. You can drink a "cafezinho", wait a "momentinho" and go to the pub around the corner -- "pertinho."

For sure, diminutives and sobriquets are strongly anchored in Brazilian culture. But while students of Portuguese around the world work on closing up their noses to properly pronounce all those "-inhos," sociologists are looking for the origins of this tradition.

First name only

In contrast to most of the other teams, Brazilian soccer players are usually called by their first names or, more commonly, by a nickname. Kaká (Ricardo Izecson dos Santos), Cafu (Marcos Evangelista de Moraes), Fred (Frederico Chaves Guedes) and goalie Dida (Nelson Jesus da Silva) are a few examples.

Looking back on Brazilian soccer history, there are hardly any players whose last names are known to fans. Pelé's real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, Dunga was born as Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri, and Zico is really Artur Antunes Coimbra.

Monikers are widespread in many different sports: the well known tennis player Gustavo Kürten from southern Brazil was dubbed Guga, and Maguila, a famous boxer in the 1980's, was christened Adilson Rodrigues. Bernardinho, the 1.9 meter (6 foot 3 inch) coach of Brazil's national volleyball team and popular idol in the 1980s, has a birth certificate with the name Bernardo Rocha de Rezende.

So much for "Mr. President"

Presidents, politicians, pop singers and actors are not only referred to by their nicknames, they often have them legally registered. For example, the current president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was born as Luiz Inacio da Silva. "Lula" is a hypocoristic (nickname) from his years as a trade unionist that was integrated into his official name at some point.

Lula's case isn't an exception -- it's more the rule. Former President João Goulart, who was removed from power in 1964 by a military coup, is known around the country as just "Jango".

Presidential initials

José Sarney, Brazil's first president after the military dictatorship in the 1980s, had a completely different name, of course. As a child, José Ribamar de Araújo was always called José do Sarney (José son of Sarney). After a while, his father's first name became the surname of a whole family of politicians from northern Brazil: the Sarneys.

The "letter presidents" are another example. Only abroad was Fernando Henrique Cardoso known as "Cardoso." In Brazil, he was always just "FHC". The same is true of Juscelino Kubitschek, who is remembered throughout Brazil as "JK."

A legacy from the times of slavery

The origin of this preference for first names and nicknames is seldom considered in Brazil. It usually takes contact with foreigners for Brazilians to realize with amazement that people in other countries are often addressed as Mr. or Ms. So-and-so.

One theory is that the use of first names has its roots in slavery, which wasn't abolished in Brazil until 1888. Journalist, author and soccer expert Alex Bellos, who is from Britain but lives in Brazil, believes that the practice is a relic from the times of slavery. At that time, pet names served to distinguish slaves from free persons.

Other experts look further a bit further back in Brazilian history. They attribute the monikers to the Jews and Moors who had been forcedly converted to Christianity. When they emigrated from Portugal to Brazil in the 16th century, they didn't want to be recognized as converted Christians. Since their Christian surnames would have labeled them as such, they started introducing themselves with only their first names.

The "New World" phenomenon

Preference for the first name is a typical phenomenon of the so-called New World, and was discussed by German cultural philosophers Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer in their famous book "Dialectic of Enlightenment." In exile in America, the two thinkers noticed a stylization of the "archaic first name as a trade-mark," accoring to one tranlslation of the text:

"In comparison, the bourgeois family name which, instead of being a trademark, once individualized its bearer by relating him to his own past history, seems antiquated. It arouses a strange embarrassment in Americans. In order to hide the awkward distance between individuals, they call one another “Bob” and “Harry,” as interchangeable team members. This practice reduces relations between human beings to the good fellowship of the sporting community and is a defense against the true kind of relationship."

Whether or not the traditional use of first names supports "the good fellowship of the sporting community" and simplifies the "awkward distance between individuals" is still open for discussion.

In the case of Brazil, it certainly helps shorten what otherwise can be some very long names.