Funny Nigerian Nicknames And Their Meaning

HOMEBOY: This name is for a young man (now 20ish) who
spent the bulk of his teenage years fantasizing about life in
America. He can tell you all the scenes from New Jack City,
White men can't jump, Poetic Justice and 8 Mile. He spent
his teenage years folding up one leg of his pair of dirty
baggy jeans and walking like he's on the moon. Today, he
enjoys his kind of smoke and talking about how life would
have been for him in Yankee or Jandon.
MY GUY: You will be called my guy if you are fond of
sharing drinks/cigarettes with your other guys in the
evenings. All you guys get to talk about is the latest car that
drove along Allen in Ikeja or Cocaine Avenue in Festac. The
first thing you ask your friends every time you meet them is
"how farrr? Sometimes you waste a hell of a time talking
about chicks.
CHICKS/BABES: Young men usually talk about chicks when
they mean pretty girls. All they ever wanted is to sleep with
chicks without showing them respects. It is not certain why
men think that they must see beneath the skirt of every girl
they call a chick or babe.
PADDY MI/EEYAN MI: The strictly Yoruba people's version
of my guy. But here, the gist is more about Tinubu,
LASTMA, Councillors, latest pictures in OVATION and
Adenuga.
SHORTY: A global nickname for short girl or boy. Usually
friendly and funny person but very quick to let his/her
presence known by being loud. On a close encounter, a
Shorty can be mean and wicked. In Nigeria, it is forbidden to
curse or address people using their disorders but people do
it anyway. They think it's fun.
BABA GIGA: reserved for an abnormally tall boy but instead
of being a curse, it sounds cool. Baba giga can be a very
useless person. He goes around with his obvious height
misbehaving and attracting attention for the sake of been
yelled at-BABA GIGA!
AKOWE: Definitely a Yoruba boy most likely from the rural
area who came to town for the purpose of completing his
education. Realities will make that impossible and he would
end up been a vulcanizer or a carpenter. Because of his
small stature, a lot of people don't know he is about 27
years old and that he has been secretly dating Bisi, the girl
who sells Ewa Aganyi. Bisi's bulging stomach means
Akowe must find a one room in face-me-I-face-you house.
For other people, your in-law can call you Akowe with the
serious hope that your visit (to her relief) is temporary.
NNA: An Igbo boy who is not popular by his name but very
well known to be loud. People think that he is funny either
by the way he talks which reveals that he is an Igbo boy or
by the way he dresses because he is full of colour riots. Nna
finds it fashionable to wear sunshade glasses in the late
evenings.
Yoruba-Yoruba: A Yoruba boy probably new from the
village. This boy speaks Yoruba to everybody regardless of
whom they are or where they come from. To him, Yoruba is
a universal language and you must be silly not to know his
language accompanied by a thick accent. Sometimes, other
people fall into this category when they are lumped together
by tribal sentiments of non-Yoruba people. "No mind dem;
dem don use their ngbatingbati to scatter everything"!
Useless Yoruba people, Shonekan Abiola, Obasanjo dem!
Northerner: This man is usually from the north or from
Niger Republic. In his eyes, Lagos is London. He goes home
every other year with a lot of money which he earned selling
water. The irony of his business venture is that the water
belongs to the people he is selling it to. This people from
Lagos (his own London) don't mind as long as the water
comes anyhow. Sometimes this guy is like a security man
(again this gives him greater pride) but the problem is that
when there is religious riot, this Northerner does not mind to
kill his landlord (an ordinary infidel!). An Northerner can
become an industrialist if he spends a long time in Lagos.
He could own a small kiosk or a make shift supermarket.
Sometimes, he pretends to be a security man when in fact
he has sold out as an informant. Don't ever argue with this
man, he is known to have killed a student of Yaba Tech on
21 Road just because of ordinary N5 change! He is always
armed!
OLOYE: A Yoruba man who is not rich but whose friends
have decided to console him by calling him Oloye just to
make him feel good. Oloye is fond of wearing a funny
version of the Agbada dress-Danshiki. He thinks high of
himself. Actually, Oloye could be rich but his riches are very
temporary. He is dubious, always looking for contract that
he doesn't intend to complete before moving on to the next
one. Oloye likes women too much.
EGBON: This man is a good listener. He talks last as if that
is what everybody has been waiting for. For real, the
younger people around want to listen to him. He is older and
assumed to be wiser. He pretends to be full of experience. If
anyone is called Egbon in Lagos, tendencies are that such a
person has not made it. Otherwise instead of Egbon, he
would say please don't call me Egbon, call me Mr.T or Big-
K.
CHAIRMAN: A chairman is someone who has no direction
and he is suffering from self-deceit. People call him
chairman because of what they anticipate to get from him.
He thinks he is the richest man in his group but in reality he
is been made to foolishly drop more than he can afford. He
gets home and quarrels with his wife and shouts on his
children. He blames it on tiredness and stress when all he
needed to do is to stop himself from been called chairman
or he should stop acting like it. Sometimes, a chairman
thinks he is the lord of the boys who pretends to be serving
him. If your friend is calling you chairman especially on the
phone, tell him to stop it because he is mocking you. This
Chairman is called Chief by his neighbours. Behind his back,
it sounds more like thief or mischief.
MR. CHAIRMAN: This is the original chairman who heads a
company or a renowned association. His children are in the
boarding houses or on campus. They may even be abroad
so there are no kids to shout on. Mr. Chairman could be a
dubious contractor or a politician enjoying looted funds. He
could as well be a decent man rewarded for his hard work.
Who knows?
BROS: Someone who does not realize he is getting old, so
he is acting foolishly. Bros is almost invariably jobless or he
claims to be self-employed. He could even tell you that he
has some boys working for him. Bros is usually the first
born male in his house of many children, cousins, and other
extended family members. Everybody looks up to him even
if his examples are extremely bad. He hides his laziness by
pretending to be a mentor.
ALAYE: This guy is a nuisance to the society. They call him
Alaye because he takes what is not his and he fights when
he is least concerned about the matter at hand. He dropped
out of class 2 and has been controlling the area bus stop
since he was 17. He is not a full time areaboy or agbero
because there are many other useless things he must
occupy himself with otherwise he may lose the title of Alaye.
Alaye usually goes together with the name like Alaye Femo,
Alaye Taju, Alaye Muyisco and so on. Alaye's eyes are
usually red. I don't know why.
OGBOLOGBO: A synonym for Alaye but you can receive a
beating of your life if you address an Alaye as Ogbologbo to
his face. It sounds less dignifying for him. You must
respect him.
BABA LONDON: Most likely a Yoruba man who had spent
some parts of his life in the UK (might even be outside
London or the US) but people just call him Baba London
anyhow. All that matters is that he has been abroad for a
time too long for the neighbours liking. This man is now
settled in Lagos and he owns a two-storey building near
Lawanson area. He is the landlord and caretaker at the
same time. He does not tolerate indebtedness otherwise he
is quick to tell you about his exploits in the oyinbo's man
civil service. His children are definitely back in the UK
considering the un-conducive living conditions in Nigeria.
He and his wife live in his second house near Adekunle Bus-
stop where they also have some tenants downstairs.
LAYABOUT: This guy is very famous in the University
environment. He comes in different shades. There is one of
him that is a very conning guy because while most people
see him as unserious, he knew in himself that he is a
serious person. He attends every show on campus and
there is nothing going on that he doesn't get a wind of. He is
attracted to all the girls around and he sees lecture times as
the longest periods of the day. At the end of the semester,
this conning layabout excels in his studies sometimes even
better than the effecos. He had been studying at odd times.
There is a type of layabout that gets blown away by
everything that makes him a layabout and his carry-overs
speak volumes. He ends up with an extra year or more!
EFFECO: A university language reserved for the bookworms.
An effeco usually has no social life and he alienates himself
from the school. His types pass through the school without
allowing the school to pass through them. An effeco is not
necessarily the best or the most intelligent student in his or
her class. He doesn't talk much for fear of losing all that he
had stored in his cerebrum. That could explain the
difference between an intelligent mind and an ordinary
effeco.
NFA: A secondary school version of layabout. This guy is
late to school, late to lessons, doesn't wash his uniform
regularly and for the most has a serious apathy for books.
All he wanted is just to finish secondary school. He knows
how to bribe teachers and invigilators during examinations
but how to go about this under NECO, WAEC and GCE are
great puzzles for him. He must find a way or just fail
anyhow. He doesn't care much. In his mind, he would try
football. If that does not work out, he would ask Chike how
to use the yahoo email that has brought Chike so much
money working under Chairman.
GODFATHER: A name usually reserved for illiterates or
semi-literates who stumbled on money because of the
corrupt nature of Nigerian politics. A godfather is violent
and ruthless and he has the power to produce election
results before the Election Day. A godfather usually talks
before thinking.
LEPA: Usually a skinny girl who likes to make some funny
tiptoeing when walking around with her bony body. This girl
is highly breakable and if folded, she can fit into a carton of
green sand shandy.
OROBO: a very fat and sweaty girl. Many men who call
orobo as if to detest her are actually her secret admirers.
They wish they could lay her in bed. Orobo, though fat, is
very agile and brisk in her movement. Her chest is huge and
her backside is mountainous but she is proud of her natural
endowments. In appreciation for these features, some
Nigerian men would give their right hand for an Orobo wife.
It's true!
MAMA APATI: This woman could be young or old but her
fatness is not refined like that of Orobo. Mind your
language: don't go about calling an old woman mama apati!
Her children could resurrect from nowhere just to use your
broad nose to sharpen a blunt knife.
OMOBA: this is the fakest prince in Nigeria. A Yoruba or Edo
boy who lives under the illusion of his nickname-the king's
son. Sometimes he behaves like babagiga by attracting
unnecessary attention to himself. Don't believe a word this
boy tells you because he spends most part of the day
visualizing the lies people can swallow easily.
PRINCESS: The female version of Omoba. At 17, this girl will
realize the foolhardiness of her name which has almost
turned her into a prostitute. The biggest challenge before
she turns 20 is how to tell everyone, especially her name
admirers that her real name is Jumoke.
PEPPERLESS: This is a name made popular at Yaba Tech.
The male students address some of their female
counterparts as pepperless because they talk from their
nose and pretend like they don't visit the toilets. Tell an
alumnus of Yaba Tech to mimic a pepperless, you'll get a
good laugh with your head spinning.
OPEKE: Quite similar to pepperless but Opeke shows less
concern for education. She would rather show herself on the
street shaking her body and turning her painted face from
side to side. Baba Fryo sang well about Opekes in dem go
dey pose, dem go dey denge denge.
BOMBOY: Most likely an Igbo boy. Unless you are in the
same class as this boy, you'll only get to know his real
name when he is about 20 years. Bomboy will be careless
as a teenager and he will glow with excitement just to match
the sound of his funny nickname. He will be stubborn and
always thinking that you have no right to tell him what to do
just because you are older than him. At 20, having failed
JAMB thrice and with his growing interests in girls, he will
realize his fictitious past and the childishness of his name.
Now, he is going to insist that everyone calls him
Chuwkuka-his real name and then he will start to be more
respectful and more serious with everything he does from
now on.
O-BOY! : How a family will name their son interjectively is
unclear but imagine that the couple wanted a girl and yet
another stubborn boy arrived. This guy is like Bomboy but
less glowing and more respectful. If you probe him in a
friendly manner, he will tell you the story of his birth, the
reason for his nickname and his real name-Godson.
Everything he does is to give his parents a reason to like
him since they were not expecting him in the family. He is
God's son and still his younger brother is Godswill. This boy
will show his real self when he gets to the University.
BABY: A man and a woman will name their daughter BABY if
in their eyes, the girl looks similar to the doll they had seen
through the transparent glass that protects Kingsway Stores
in Ikoyi. Baby has round head with big eyes just exactly like
the toy in the shop. At 25 years of age, Baby still thinks that
her name is cool.
IGWE: This is supposed to be a respected title in Igboland
but one miscreant in Lagos who is finding it hard to lay his
hands on money acquired the nickname as a consolation.
OTUNBA: The Yoruba people's version of Igwe. If your
family name is Otunba for real or you have been given this
title because of your positive contribution to your
community, you don't want to meet the man who is called
Otunba just because his friends want him to be happy. If
you do, you'll give him a dirty slap. All his attributes are a
taint to the name Otunba.