moniker

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A moniker (or monicker) is another term for a nickname, pseudonym, or cognomen. Typically, the title is used as a personal or professional name, instead of the person's given name, for works of art, music, books, or performances. Monikers are commonly used in small subcultures such as in railroad tramping (i.e.,"Baltimore Red") and on Internet message boards. Monikers are also used in broadcasting, usually on radio stations.

Origin of the word

Although there are various theories about the origin of the word, the most widely accepted is that it comes from Shelta, the cant language of Irish travellers. The word is believed to have derived from the Irish word ainm, and became munik in Shelta. It had spread to London as an English slang word for "name" by 1851. The first line of the Lord's Prayer translated into a modern version of Shelta is: "Our gathra, who cradgies in the manyak-norch, we turry kerrath about your moniker." ^[1]

Clowning

The word "monicker", or more rarely "monikker", is among clowns, most often intentionally misspelled, with a 'c' in accordance with clown tradition that some words are inherently funny (and hence to be preferred over "unfunny" words). The "clown world" has widely embraced "monicker" as equivalent to a stage name or pseudonym. A monicker is considered by a professional clown to be sacrosanct by the traditional code of non-infringement. The monicker is considered to be an attribute of the character of the clown and not of the performer. Monicker, in clown usage, can generally be considered synonymous with the terms clown name and professional name. In declining use, it may mean a clown performer's personal nickname, (e.g., Joseph Grimaldi's monicker was "Joey") rather than the name of the performer's clown.

Broadcasting

Most radio stations use a moniker, such as Radio Netherlands, 99X, or "107.9 the Edge". In the first example, the station's frequency is not used at all, even if it has only one. This is common in international broadcasting, where different shortwave frequencies as well as other means of distribution (like satellite radio and streaming audio) are used. The second example uses a whole number, which could actually indicate anything from 98.5 to 99.9. For FM, if the center frequency ends in anything from .5 to .9, either rounding or truncation is used. In the third example, the exact frequency is used. "The Edge" may refer to its position at the top edge of the FM broadcast band, or playing music on the cutting edge, or both.

In North America, monikers are typically only used on commercial FM radio stations, and rarely on AM or non-commercial educational stations. Common names combine the number with a word or letter, commonly: X, Q, J, Star, Rock, Hot, Power, and others. Occasionally there are unique names like Peach 94.9 and Peachtree TV, both in Atlanta (capital of Georgia, called "the peach state"). The callsign WPCH has been assigned to both, a common practice in the U.S. where broadcasters can change their callsign to match their moniker, like a vanity license plate. TV stations only rarely use unique monikers, though its has become common to label stations as "NBC6" or "CW31", with the TV network, TV channel number, and occasionally the major city in the media market.

Monikers can be the source of contention if two FM stations claim the same whole number. This can affect audience measurement on the diary system, where diary-keepers may write stations shorthand using only the whole number. Occasionally monikers are mismatched to the station frequency, if it is heard through a broadcast translator.

AM stations in North America often drop the final zero, so that 540kHz is "54" for example. However, this has become less common with digital tuning, as the missing digit was derived from old AM radio dials, where space to print the frequencies on the knob or the needle slider window was limited.

Outside of North America, monikers are the legal registration and station ID rather than the callsign. Australia and to some extent Japan have shifted from callsigns to monikers, while the Philippines and Bahamas (also both heavily influenced by the U.S.) largely still use callsigns.

Some online radio and carrier current stations use an unofficial callsign for their moniker. This is not prohibited (or even addressed) under broadcast law.

On-air talent also use personal monikers which are essentially stage names, either to sound better or to protect their privacy. Within a station group, one person may do the voice tracking for two stations, and have a different name used on each.

See also

Look up moniker in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Athletic nickname
• Bardic name
• Clown
• Clown face
• Code of non-infringement
• Nickname
• Nom de guerre
• Pseudonym
• Sobriquet
• Stage name

References