My husband made his own nickname and it kind of stuck. Its just a variation of his name, but it works out with a nickname I was given in high school. He’s Rando and I’m Dano.
I think there’s two different types of nicknames. I think there’s variations on one’s given name, that one should be able to pick a “favorite” of, and then there’s other ones that usually have no association with your given name, that one should not have any part of picking, though I guess they could veto it.
As an example, if someone is named Richard and they want to go by Rich or Riche or Dick, that’s not shallow. If he decides he doesn’t like his first name, or any of it’s variants, and wants to go by a middle name, some variation thereof, initials, or possibly even his last name, I don’t think that’s shallow either. Any of them are essentially his name already.
If, however, this guy decides he wants to be called something unrelated, to pick a generic one, say “Big Daddy”, THEN he’s being pretentious. That sort of name should only be used if it’s “awarded” by someone else and it sticks. Actually coming up with it yourself (like “The Saver” in that car insurance commercial) and trying to propogate it just comes off as conceited to me.
And, FTR, I usually go by a common nickname version of my given name, and I’ve been called it since birth. In fact, both of my parents essentially named me my nickname (as their reasons were based on people they knew who went by that name) and my given name has only ever been my given name on my birth certificate. Beyond that, I’d been given many different nicknames, completely unrelated to my given name, throughout high school, college, and elsewhere, and they were all picked out and propogated by other people. I’ve never tried to start one myself.
When I was around three years old I declared that I would no longer be answering to “Billy” and would henceforth be known as “Bill”. (My actual name is William, which I neither then nor now was ever called.)
Following in my pretentious example, my father adjusted his own nickname from Billy to Bill at the same time.
I’m dying to know your name and nickname!
My name is Kim… however I have had many friends in the past few years that insist on calling me Kimmy. Up until then only a few family members called me Kimmy. I dont have a problem with Kimmy but I feel so very odd introducing myself to new people as such. Every time I do, I feel like i’m making up my own nickname.
But that does draw another point… If you have a nickname that all your friends call you, do you introduce yourself as such? I have a friend that we all call Keke, but he will never introduce himself that way.
Hmm… I’m not sure if that one’s a nickname if you’re a girl. (Don’t ask me how I know this.) 
That’s my opinion, too. I have a nickname that about 80% (roughly) of my friends refer to me as, and the rest use my first name. And despite my nickname being a truncation of sorts my last name, it’s still not something I ever picked out.
The weird thing is that it “followed” me to college. Despite none of my new friends in college ever knowing what it was, or meeting any of my high school friends that called me by it, they eventually just started using it. I find it awkward when I introduce myself to people if I am with my friends, because I always give my given name, but my friends will then usually say something like,
“But just call him [nickname.]” But if I introduce myself as the nickname, I sound like one of those pretentious assholes who demand you call them by their nickname they gave themselves…
“T-bone!”
The Crusher!
Heh, we’ll call you Coco!
They call me . . . Mater Salad.
(see what i did there? didja? didja? huh? huh?)
In reality, I picked my nickname but it is a derivation of my full name, but not the common version. I hate the common version and you would too if you grew up getting sung songs with your name in it that start out pretty, but soon become pretty obnoxious.
In radio, it’s very common for the DJs to use stage names - and they will often pick one that works well for the genre they are in. Imagine the first-time I realized that sexy soulster Sonny was really Fred. (y’know, when I was handing him his paycheck).
Here’s my question: Do stage names count the same as nicknames if you choose them for yourself? Because when I think about fronting a band or starting up a radio show, I would go by Mamma Mel or something. But maybe that’s wrong . . . .
Samuel R. Delany gave himself the nickname “Chip.” He was at summer camp, and told everyone that all his friends called him that. In reality, no one had; he just wanted to be called “Chip.”
Chip still insists his friends call him that. You become his friend by saying, “hello,” though.
I knew a guy in college whose nickname was “Skull”. Thing is, he looked like someone who would be nicknamed “Skull”, not like some guy who should be named “Eugene” trying to pass himself off as “Skull”.
Found out from him much later, after I got to know him pretty well, that he’d decided to have everyone call him Skull when he started college – he picked the nickname himself. His real name was, in fact, Eugene.
Josh. That’s my nickname.
See, my parents moved to Israel three years before I was born, and gave me what they thought was a normal Hebrew name that translates easily to English. In that, they were half right. “Joshua” is, I think, the most popular name among American Jewish males of my age group (I’m 36); however, the Hebrew name “Yehoshua” was very old-fashioned at the time, and has become even more so ever since. I’ve known maybe 3 people my age with the name, and never anyone younger.
Growing up, I insisted on being called “Yehoshua”. Only my friends and teachers would call me that - everyone else would call me “Yoshi” or “Yeshu” or “Shuki” or “Josh” (pronounced differently than in English - the vowel is somewhere between “Joe” and “Gush”). It was the last that I eventually picked, probably because it was closest to the name my parents call me.
transitional periods (new school, new job, new house) are a great time to introduce the names you like vs. the names you don’t.
Also when signing onto message boards.
I picked my own and people use it. It’s totally unrelated to my given name. You just have to be awesome enough. I am.
I guy at my school, in about year 5, came to school one day with a list of nicknames for virtually every guy in our group. Some of them stuck and are still in use 40 odd years later including the one he chose for himself.
There was a guy in my frat house in college who was Army ROTC and fancied himself a by-the-book, military lifer. He wanted to be called “The General” in the worst way; but the name that stuck?
“Chuckles”
I once had a friend who used not only a nickname for his first name, but also a nickname for his *last *name, making it not so much a nickname as an alias. In other words, it would be like: “This is Joe Smith. His real name is Mark Jones.”
He was a bit weird.
This happens to me whenever I have a real-world interaction with online folks (far more often in the years of local BBSes than it does now). I guess this is a hybrid of picking one’s own name and having it bestowed on you-- I picked an online handle but never expected or asked for them to use it in real life. Of course, at first introduction IRL you’d not only say your name, but you’d also have to say who they knew you as… and that’s what they usually chose to use.
So, I’ve been known over the years as PD, which got corrupted to Petey (the initials of a very gothy user name, but eventually shortened to the initial letters for far less embarrassment); Temp (short for Tempest, once used in classic video game forums); SD or Driver from my current standard username.
Also, something similar that Gen-X and older folks may remember from the late 70s and early 80s; at local arcades, you’d often become known by the three-letter names you’d choose for the high score tables. At times, I’d be called RCM, Son (my mom was also a competitive player, so we’d dually take over a game’s high score list with MOM and SON), and Max.