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Twitter usernames: exploring the nature of online South

African nicknames

Jako Olivier

Abstract

Twitter usernames are unique forms of pseudonyms used within a specific online environment. These usernames can also be associated with the concept of nicknames. Despite some similarities, Twitter usernames and nicknames do differ in terms of how these names are ascribed. Twitter usernames, as many other online handles or names, should be considered a subcategory of pseudonyms different from nicknames. From the analysis of a name corpus of 500 randomly selected South African Twitter usernames and real names, 17 categories of names were identified. A limited number of business and organisation names were included in the corpus. These names, together with some names of public figures, resulted in username and real names being quite similar and easily identifiable, as anonymity is not a priority for this group. With regard to individuals, great variation exists in terms of being anonymous or using regular expected orthography. Generally, Twitter usernames function as all other names; however, some distinct properties were identified, such as swopping of name and surname content; addition of numbers, country references or titles and positions; disregard for capitalisation; the use of special characters, diacritic symbols and elements from alphabets other than the Roman alphabet; and close apposition by means of phrases or sentences as part of usernames. Any future onomastic research of Twitter usernames should also take the wider concept of online identities into consideration. Introduction

Extensive literature exists regarding the concept of nicknames (cf. Bechar-Israeli 1995; Leslie and Skipper 1990:273-275, 277-278; Nicholls 1995; Van Langendonck 2007:189, 192-193) and even in the South African context (cf. Alberts 1996; Bosch 1994; Bosch and Victor 1996; Bosch and De Klerk 1994, 1995, 1997a, 1997b; Coetzee 1948; De Klerk 1998; De Klerk 2003; De Klerk and Bosch 1996; De Klerk and Bosch 1997a; De Klerk and Bosch 1997b; Ham 1983; Hendricks 1999; Khuboni 2005; Molefe 1999; Mtumane 2005; Ndimande-Hlongwa 2005; Neethling 1994; Pienaar 1992; Turner 2004). However, it is unclear how Twitter usernames or handles fit into this subcategory of names. A Twitter name functions as any nickname as part of a person’s identity. In this regard, Carsenat (2013) remarks: NOMINA AFRICANA 28(2) NOVEMBER 2014 ISSN IOI2-0254

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A first name, a last name, a Twitter handle are part of a person’s identity and may indicate a social intent, the belonging to an ethnic/linguistic group, a geographic origin, beliefs, … however at the finest grain level, every individual is unique and an exception to the group.

These unique nicknames form the focus of this article. Despite some work being done on the names used in Internet chat rooms (cf. Bechar-Israeli 1995; Crystal 2006:92-93; Crystal 2011:64-65; Van Langendonck 2007:300) little has been done on Twitter, especially in the South African context.

The purpose of this article is to explore the nature of Twitter usernames based not only on existing literature but also by observing the use of names on Twitter within the South African context. To this end, a corpus of 500 usernames was compiled and categorised in terms of the content and nature of the names. This explorative onomastic study is focused on name etymologies (cf. Anderson 2007:84) as well as on the functioning of these usernames in the general Twitter context. As the usernames were not analysed according to use in sentences; the focus was not on how these names function grammatically as in this context the names fall beyond the field of grammar and orthography and can be regarded as linguistic exceptions. As such, these names are analysed in isolation and not in a syntactic context. In order to be able to investigate the nature of Twitter usernames it is important to get an overview of the literature relating to the concepts of pseudonyms, nicknames and bynames. Furthermore, in the context of Twitter, background regarding usernames and handles on the Internet provide more specific information relating to the online environment and earlier use of nicknames. The last part of the literature review in this article relates to the Twitter environment itself.

The empirical part of this article involves the compilation of a corpus of names consisting of randomly chosen South African Twitter usernames. Due to the nature of Twitter it was necessary to collect both usernames and so-called “real names” as both are listed on Twitter. After an initial analysis of the names, categories were arbitrarily determined and all the names were classified accordingly. The names were also analysed per category in order to then reach conclusions regarding the nature of Twitter usernames, especially in terms of the usernames as names and/or nicknames.

In order to post messages or Tweets, individuals have to sign up as Twitter users and in this process a real name and a username (also called the Twitter handle) have to be entered. The name property generally relates to the real name of a person or business and is limited to 20 characters, while the username is a nickname used to identify a person in Tweets and must consist of fewer than 15 characters (Twitter 2014c; O’Reilly and Milstein 2012:21). However, O’Reilly and Milstein (2012:21) note that usernames should be as short as possible in order to accommodate references in Tweets by others as the

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posts are limited to 140 words. According to Inglish (2013:25) “[a] user’s Twitter handle, or Username is the unique feature that distinguishes their account from all others”. Although usernames can be changed as many times as a user wishes, O’Reilly and Milstein (2012:21) advise against too many changes because the username is a “key piece of your identity on Twitter”. Such usernames can be used in other places, such as in e-mails or blogs, as an identifier or way in which a presence on Twitter can be advertised (cf. O’Reilly and Milstein 2012:197). Inglish (2013:26) also highlights the fact that the credibility of a user is often associated with usernames and that “username jacking” does sometimes take place especially in the case of celebrities or certain brands. Interestingly, Inglish (2013:44) found that in terms of credibility her research population regarded topical usernames (such as @YoungHealth) as being the most credible, followed by an Internet-stylized username (such as @SassyEyes22), with the personal username (such as @Cindy_Brooke) scoring the lowest rating. Pseudonyms, nicknames and bynames

In the study of names one could distinguish between an orthonym or proper name and a pseudonym or false name (Room 2010:3). This article relates to pseudonyms specifically within the online environment of the social networking site Twitter. Regardless of this contemporary usage of pseudonyms or nicknames, the usage of nicknames, at least in the European context, can be traced back to the Middle Ages (Bosch and De Klerk 1997a:21; Van Langendonck 2007:193). However, the use of nicknames is quite universal and nicknames serve different purposes in different cultures (Nicholls 1995). In the South African context extensive research has been done regarding the use of nicknames in Afrikaans (Alberts 1996; Bosch 1994; Bosch and Victor 1996; Bosch and De Klerk 1994, 1995, 1997a, 1997b; Coetzee 1948; Ham 1983; Hendricks 1999; Pienaar 1992), English (De Klerk and Bosch 1997b), isiXhosa (De Klerk 2003; De Klerk and Bosch 1997a; Mtumane 2005; Neethling 1994), isiZulu (Khuboni 2005; Molefe 1999; Ndimande-Hlongwa 2005; Turner 2004) as well as across cultures (De Klerk 1998; De Klerk and Bosch 1996). Bosch (1994:29-34) also provides a brief overview of international and local research on the subject of nicknames.

The term pseudonym can be traced back to the Greek words ψεῦδος > ‘pseudos’ (false) and ὄνομα > ‘onoma’(name). A common form of a pseudonym is a nickname. The word nickname is drawn from the Middle English nekename (from an ekename), which refers to the combination of eke (‘also’) and name. Other related terms, often used as synonyms, include: alias, byname, stage

name, and pen name or nom de plume – each covering slightly different semantic spheres (cf. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 1996:1221, 1461; Anderson 2007:88, 90, 96; Bosch 1994:28, 30; Bosch and De

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Klerk 1994:42; Bosch and Victor 1996:104-105; Van Langendonck 2007:189, 192-193).

Nicknames are not used as identity markers in the same way as proper names and are assigned informally by parents, friends and colleagues based on certain features, contexts, biographical events, personal or social behaviour or a need to show affection (Bosch and De Klerk 1997a:21). Nicknames can also be used to gain social levelling in contexts where the creators of such nicknames are subjugated (Nicholls 1995:139-141, 144). In addition, nicknames are also not necessarily regarded as permanent as proper names (Bosch 1994:28; Starks and Taylor-Leech 2011:87). However, historically nicknames have for example acquired a more permanent function in becoming surnames, such as occupation-based nicknames such as Smith or Butcher (Anderson 2007:97, 103, 298; Van Langendonck 2007:193). Moreover, Anderson (2007:263) notes that “nicknames can become onomastically institutionalized” in some cases. Van Langendonck (2007:189) makes an important distinction between names chosen by an individual (such as pseudonyms and Internet chat names) and bynames, which refer to unofficial names (or nicknames) given by anyone.

Nicknames can perform different functions. Nicknames can serve as identification or classification, but can also serve a social function by indicating relation towards a group identity (Bosch and De Klerk 1994:42). Leslie and Skipper (1990:273, 278) indicate that the use of a nickname instead of a proper name can have specific significance and could relate something about the relationship between the person being addressed and the addressee as well as the context. As such, nicknames are one way of negotiating social settings. Furthermore, nicknames display aspects of the social and cultural values of communities (Bosch 1994:28-29, 36; Bosch and De Klerk 1997a:21). In a pragmatic sense nicknames can function as a way in which a relationship between the individual with the nickname and his or her role within a system can be relayed or as an identification of the individual with the nickname based on certain characteristics; grammatically nicknames act as a replacement for proper names (Bosch and De Klerk 1997a:31). Brennan and Pettit (2004:143-145) note the use of pseudonyms by actors in theatre and cinema, who would for example choose professional stage names for the sake of developing a unique brand or even the practice in literature where authors would write under a chosen nom de plume and not their real names (cf. Room 2010:3-8). Bechar-Israeli (1995) emphasises the fact that, unlike real names, nicknames are not legal names.

Shared knowledge is necessary for nicknames to be used successfully. However this does not imply that the origin of a nickname is necessarily very obvious. According to Leslie and Skipper (1990:274) the origin of a username is not always apparent and they state that “the subject matter of nicknames is rendered intelligible by revealing its internal rationality”. In addition, Leslie and Skipper (1990:274) assert that “[m]eanings of nicknames are not to be found in

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dictionary definitions or even necessarily in their origins, but in their uses in everyday life”. The properties that distinguish a nickname from a name are important according to Leslie and Skipper (1990:277) as these properties inform the understanding of a nickname. Furthermore, Leslie and Skipper (1990:277) state that “cultural conventions provide meaningful classifications and govern whether some phenomena in the social or physical world have been appropriately employed as a nickname, or as a nickname source”. To be able to use nicknames some form of shared knowledge or agreement is necessary and this implies that a nickname is assigned by means of normative rules that may be time- and context-specific (Leslie and Skipper 1990:279). Nicknames also tend to thrive in hierarchical contexts (Bosch and De Klerk 1997a:22; Nicholls 1995). In addition, Bosch and De Klerk (1997a:22-23) note the importance of the humorous aspect of nicknames and the lack of research in this regard. Starks and Taylor-Leech (2011:87) note that nicknames can relate to an individual’s physical appearance, personal habits or traits and personal histories, or can even play on proper names or surnames.

Studies on nicknames have focused on various topics. Leslie and Skipper (1990:275) summarised most of the literature on nicknames up to 1990 and notably a lot of these studies focus on gender and diachronic differences with regard to nicknames; however, the extent to which these claims still hold true – especially in online environments – may have to be explored further. The aforementioned summary also ties in with an overview of Bosch (1994:30-33) which identifies the following broad topics of international research on nicknames: nicknames as identifiers, nicknames as social-linguistic labels and psycholinguistic perspectives on nicknames. In addition Starks and Taylor-Leech (2011:88) list work done in different languages focussing on phonological aspects of nicknames, word formation processes, typological classifications and social naming practices. The focus in this article, however, is specifically on nicknames used within the Internet context where the nicknames are called usernames or handles. Usernames and handles on the Internet

The use of nicknames or pseudonyms on the Internet is quite common and some studies have been conducted in this regard, especially in terms of Internet chat rooms. Van Langendonck (2007:300) associates online nicknames with pseudonyms. An early study by Bechar-Israeli (1995) focuses on the use of nicknames in Internet relay chat (IRC) rooms. In these chat rooms individuals connect to online environments where they can communicate anonymously (cf. Verhoef 2001:15). However, when logging-in, users have to choose a unique nickname, also called a nick in this context, for identification purposes and this nickname can be changed at will. As with many pseudonyms, the use of such names in the form of usernames or handles on the Internet relate to a desire to act anonymously, however it becomes part of an individual’s online personality

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(Brennan and Pettit 2004:147; Crystal 2006:54, 165-167; Palme and Berglund 2002).

A unique property of Internet nicknames is the use of special non-alphabetical characters. Even with IRCs, characters such as hyphens (–), underscore lines (_), circumflexes (^) and square brackets ([]) are used. Furthermore, a mixture of upper- and lowercase letters are used regardless of traditional orthographical conventions regarding capitalisation, for instance in a nickname such as <cLoNehEAd> (cf. Bechar-Israeli 1995; Crystal 2006:92-93; Crystal 2011:64-65).

Studies on online usernames have determined categories of such names. Bechar-Israeli (1995) identified the following categories of nicknames on IRC: nicknames related to the self; nicknames related to flora and fauna; technology- or medium-related nicknames; nicknames that play with language and typography; reference to identity/lack of identity; names of objects; nicknames using famous names, nicknames from literature, TV, films, fairy tales; nicknames that play around with sound; place-related nicknames; sex-related nicknames; provocative nicknames; age-related nicknames; relational nicknames; people using their real name or nicknames with no specific category. In comparison, Van Langendonck (2007:300) distinguishes nicknames chosen on the basis of a psychological motivation as well as semantic motivation. With regard to psychological motivation, the focus is “on a personal appraisal of the sound, the image, the length, the attractiveness, or the aesthetic value of certain nicknames” and this, for example, is often realised through special characters (Van Langendonck 2007:300). Furthermore, Van Langendonck (2007:300-306) lists the following subdivisions with regard to semantic motivation: the category of person (the person as such and the person's life), as well as the world in which the person lives (past time; history and mythology and present time; contemporary society). With the aforementioned background to nicknames in mind, it is also very important to look at Twitter as a research context. Twitter as research context

Twitter can be described as an online service through which individuals can post short messages and follow messages posted by other individuals. Twitter (2014b) can also be described as “an information network made up of 140-character messages called Tweets” (cf. O’Reilly and Milstein 2012:7, 45). This website is also associated with the concept of microblogging, in other words keeping an online diary in a very condensed format, as well as social networking where social relations and communication are facilitated through online means on websites such as Facebook and Twitter (cf. Crystal 2011:36-56; Davenport, Bergman, Bergman and Fearrington 2014:213; Inglish 2013:18-19; O’Reilly and Milstein 2012). The Twitter online social networking site was established by a company called Odeo in 2006 (Jenkins 2014:60; O’Reilly and

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Milstein 2012:5). This service has become more prominent especially since its use as marketing tool for the presidential elections in the USA in 2008 and as a news source. Currently Twitter has more than 200 million followers and it is still growing (cf. Inglish 2013:19-20; Jenkins 2014:60-61).

Certain unique language conventions exist on Twitter, such as the use of the at sign (@) or the hash (#) (cf. O’Reilly and Milstein 2012:43, 47). In this regard, the at sign is used “to call out usernames in Tweets” or when “a username is preceded by the @ sign, it becomes a link to a Twitter profile” (Twitter 2014c). Hence names on Twitter not only represent entities, but in themselves become links to individuals’ profiles. The hash symbol is generally used “to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet” (Twitter 2014c). And since 2010, by clicking on or typing a hash tag (such as #Onomastics), related Tweets are displayed (Crystal 2011:38; Jenkins 2014:60; O’Reilly and Milstein 2012:43).

Different types of Twitter usernames can be identified. Carsenat (2013) mentions the following different types of Twitter nicknames: “real names, company names, fancy names, pictograms”. Apart from more traditional text, Twitter nicknames can also include smileys or emoticons (cf. Crystal 2006:39; Crystal 2011:23-24), which refer emotional facial expressions, such as ‘:-)’ or similar variants, and are created with regular characters. Earlier online environments only allowed a limited set of characters by means of the ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) character set for example; newer industry standards, such as the Unicode standard, allow greater accommodation of languages as well as special characters (Crystal 2006:236; Crystal 2011:85). The use of Unicode allows the creation of nicknames such as @The✈TrαvelGuyツ. The nature of these nicknames is investigated in this article. Methodology

Procedure

In determining the research procedure followed in this study, guidelines provided in studies focussing on nicknames were considered. In this regard Bosch (1994:34-36) presents brief guidelines for research on nicknames in South Africa. She emphasises that in all such studies the term nicknames should be clearly defined; a theoretical framework should be set out especially in terms of public and personal nicknames; studies do not only have to be synchronic but may be diachronic in nature; studies may be interdisciplinary; the language and context in which a nickname is used should be taken into consideration; and the socio-historical and intercultural role that nicknames play in the South African context should also be considered. This study, therefore, aimed at approaching nicknames not only within a single language community but across languages in a wider context in order to facilitate “cross-community analyses of nicknaming practices” (cf. Starks and Taylor-Leech 2011:88). In addition, the theoretical

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framework derived from previous studies on nicknames serves as a means of comparison. However, some of the other guidelines set out by Bosch (1994) may have to be explored further in future related studies.

Furthermore, Leslie and Skipper (1990:280) recommend that researchers of nicknames (1) document nicknames and their origins, (2) analyse nickname data by positing potential classification categories, and (3) analyse the conditions under which they were used. With the aforementioned steps as a starting point, the data used in this research were compiled from the Twitter (2014) website by going through lists of so-called “followers” of users on the website. Extracting 500 names did not prove to be problematic, but determining whether the users were South Africans sometimes proved difficult. In some cases users did indicate that they were South African or lived within the geographical area. In some cases the researcher had to rely on the name being South African on the basis of the spelling of the name, the language used by the user or the content of posts. Hence, it is accepted that most of the data would at least represent South African users. However, there is no absolutely clear way in which the geographical origin of each user could be determined and as Crystal (2011:52) states “we cannot take Twitter names at face value”; and fake profiles do exist. Ideally, linking Twitter users with Internet Protocol (IP) addresses would have been useful as geographical locations could then be determined, but as this information is not available to mere users of Twitter, researchers are confined to what is displayed on-screen. The next step in the research was to determine categories from a first evaluation of the names extracted from the website. The following broad categories were identified: Table 1: Broad categories of Twitter usernames with the number and

percentage of names per category

n %

Individual username with numbers 88 17.6 Individual shortened username 75 15.0 Individual pseudonym 73 14.6 Individual username with special characters 68 13.6 Individual exact similar username 67 13.4 Business/organisation exact username 24 4.8 Individual username with country reference 19 3.8 Individual name and surname swop 15 3.0 Individual with a title in username 11 2.2 Individual name with company or organisation 10 2.0 Business/organisation shortened 9 1.8

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username Individual username as sentence 9 1.8 Individual username with work title or position 8 1.6 Individual username swop 8 1.6 Business username with country reference 6 1.2 Individual existing nickname as username 5 1.0 Individual username as slightly changed name 5 1.0 Total 500 100

The discussion below is based around these broad categories and should be considered within the literature context reviewed earlier. It is, however, also important to give more information regarding the name corpus itself. Name corpus

The name corpus compiled from Twitter consisted of the details of 500 individuals and entities, each with both a username (denoted with the @ symbol in front of the name) and name. Both usernames and names were considered in this study, which meant that a corpus of 1 000 names or 1 726 individual words were covered. However, in many instances words were joined together in name-surname combinations, initials combined with surnames, combinations with names and pseudonyms as well as sentences joined to form single names – this made any form of counting words within the corpus basically irrelevant. Since the research was conducted within an online public setting, certain ethical issues have to be highlighted. Ethical issues

Generally, when information from online posts is used for research purposes, informed consent should be given by research subjects (Whiteman 2012:89-90). However, it is an open question whether an entity such as a nickname or Twitter username can be considered the intellectual property of the Twitter users who created the names. For the sake of this research it is assumed that users are aware, especially within the context of the public Twitter environment, that their names are visible to any person using Twitter. The nature of this research disregards the need for anonymity despite the fact that some of the nicknames used are totally different from any proper name, which makes anonymity possible. The question of ethics in online environments, however, does require further investigation. Data analysis

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The Twitter username corpus included both names of businesses and organisations (n=39) as well as individuals (n=461). Both types of usernames are discussed in this article; however, due to the number of usernames and variation the focus will be mostly on individuals.

A medium such as Twitter makes it possible for businesses or organisations to have usernames functioning in the same manner as individuals’ usernames. In this regard, three different types of business or organisation usernames were identified: exact usernames, usernames with country references as well as shortened usernames. Examples of these types include the following (the first part of the listed names refers to the proper or real names, followed by the Twitter username, which is preceded by an @ symbol):

Table 2: Types of business and organisation usernames 2.1 Exact username

SA Police Service @SAPoliceService, IEC South Africa @IECSouthAfrica, M-Net @MNet, NelsonMandela @NelsonMandela, Pick n Pay @PicknPay, The New Age @The_New_Age, UFS/UV @UFSweb, Vodacom @Vodacom, ANC Women's League @ANCWomensLeague

2.2 Username with country references

e.tv South Africa @etvSA, PresidencyZA @PresidencyZA, FNB South Africa @FNBSA, Telkom @TelkomZA

2.3 Shortened username

ANC Info Feed @MyANC_, SAA - South Africa @flysaa, Democratic Alliance @DA_News, City Power Jhb @CityPowerJhb, GCIS Media Liaison @GCIS_Media, South African Rugby @bokrugby

Clearly businesses and organisations tend to use usernames similar to their real names and one can assume that this ties in with the idea of maintaining or strengthening their brand names for the sake of marketing (cf. 2.1). The only variation that can be discerned is irregular use of capitalisation, the addition of SA or ZA to denote the country (cf. 2.2) as well as some forms of shortening. In the case of @flysaa (for South African Airways) the web address used for the company’s website (in this case http://www.flysaa.com) is also used as Twitter username. Other adaptations include the addition of the pronoun “my” and the underscore (_) to @MyANC_ for the official Twitter account of the African National Congress (cf. ANC 2014). In this instance the username @ANC has already been taken by an individual only identifiable as Ian

1 and this compelled the ANC to choose a new unique username. Another type of shortened form of a name used by an organisation is @bokrugby for the South African Rugby

1 Compare the profile on https://twitter.com/Anc in this regard.

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team, also known as the Springboks, and “bok” can be regarded as a common well-known form of the word “springbok”. Similar types of shortening (cf. 2.3) and addition of unusual orthographic conventions were identified with the analysis of Twitter usernames for individuals.

As with the usernames of businesses and organisations, the real names are listed first, followed by the usernames of individuals (preceded by an @ symbol). Related categories were grouped together for the sake of analysis. However, it must be noted that in some cases certain usernames may fall into more than one category, but this does not necessarily affect the analysis.

Table 3: Individuals with similar real names and usernames. 3.1 Individual exact similar username

John Walland @johnwalland, Leanne Manas @LeanneManas, Louise van Rhyn @louisevanrhyn, Vusi Pikoli @VusiPikoli, Bantu Holomisa @BantuHolomisa, Gareth Cliff @GarethCliff, Trevor Noah @Trevornoah, Xolisa Dyeshana @XolisaDyeshana, Pabi Moloi @PabiMoloi, Basetsana Kumalo @basetsanakumalo, Oscar Pistorius @OscarPistorius, Lindiwe Mazibuko @LindiMazibuko, Zindzi Mandela @ZindziMandela, Max du Preez @MaxduPreez, Fanie van Rooyen @FanievanRooyen, kagiso Ramagaga @kagisoRamagaga, karen zoid @karenzoid

Some individuals choose to use their real names verbatim as Twitter usernames. From the name corpus it is clear that public figures especially prefer usernames that are easily identifiable and marketable. It must be stated that this approach is not limited to public figures and that other individuals also choose such usernames. The list above contains radio and television personalities, newspaper journalists, politicians, comedians, singers, other public figures and even members of the general public. Despite the fact that these usernames appear to be exact reduplications of real names, certain orthographic features can be highlighted: the name and surname are concatenated or linked together with normal capitalisation (@LeanneManas, @VusiPikoli and @OscarPistorius) even in the case of surnames with separate parts or historical prepositions and articles (@MaxduPreez and @FanievanRooyen). In addition, in some cases capitalisation is ignored or used inconsistently (@johnawalland, @kagisoRamagaga and @karenzoid). Since the medium, Twitter, does not allow spaces to be inserted into usernames users tend to concatenate names and surnames; in some instances this problem is addressed by adding an underscore (as in @Janez_Vermeiren) as is evident in the Individual username with special

characters category discussed further on. Some Twitter users, however, choose usernames that are adapted slightly or even totally different.

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Table 4: Individuals with pseudonyms, established nicknames and slightly

adapted usernames 4.1 Individual pseudonym

Sadie @SadieWiggles, yolandie @teacupcowboy, Tidimalo Jasmine @purelyjazz, Lehasa Moloi @Hasaling, Casper de Vries @casperrasper, Keneilwe Kenzo Pule @KaaaySaaays, Refiloe Masita @feephyM, Adrianna Kruger @Appelliefie, Natasha du Plooy @TasieHasie, Yolanda Kruger @SkulpieKruger, Thapelo @Thapzthapz, Boitumelo Mofokeng @PweetyB_Timzy, Amanda @sinoniem

4.2 Individual existing nickname as username

Darren Simpson @WhackheadS, Koula @ThatKoula, Jeannie D @Jeannieous, JustPlainDarren @JustPlainTwit, Yusuf Rasdien @joeyrasdien

4.3 Individual username as slightly changed name

Dineo Mashigo @MashigoDinny, Stephan @Stephantasties, Rene Fritz @renetjiefritz, I. J. Plaatjies @Ply_Kiss, Mike Procter @MikeProccie

The first category in this table relates to Twitter users who use usernames (as well as real or proper names) as pseudonyms (cf. 4.1). In some instances a proper name (such as yolandie) or even a proper name with surname is included (such as Yolanda Kruger), but pseudonyms are used as usernames; in these two cases @teacupcowboy and @SkulpieKruger were used respectively. As in the case of @SkulpieKruger the reason why the word “skulpie” (Afrikaans for little shell) is included in the username is not apparent and this could be a nickname used outside of the Twitter context. The same applies to usernames such as @Appelliefie (appelliefie is the Afrikaans for the Cape gooseberry), @TasieHasie (hasie is the Afrikaans for small rabbit) and @sinoniem (sinoniem is the Afrikaans for the word synonym). There are some references to interests, such as @purelyjazz, as well as wordplay based on the real names: @Hasaling, @KaaaySaaays and @Thapzthapz.

In some limited cases – limited mainly because of the contextual information available to the researcher – it is clear that individuals have existing widely used pseudonyms that are also used on Twitter (cf. 4.2). The cases reported here also mainly refer to public figures such as radio and television personalities, e.g. Darren Simpson, also known on radio as Whackhead Simpson, with @WhackheadS and Yusuf Rasdien, also commonly known as Joey Rasdien, with @joeyrasdien. Some of the other examples in this category also showed some wordplay, such as the addition of the pronoun that in Koula’s username @ThatKoula as well as the addition of the suffix -ous in Jeannie D’s

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username @Jeannieous. In the latter example a play on the word ‘genius’ could also be implied.

The last related category (4.3) in Table 4 relates to names that have been slightly changed and that act as usernames. This category involved some wordplay such as @MashigoDinny for Dineo Mashigo as well as @Ply_Kiss for I. J. Plaatjies. In the last example “ply kiss” is basically the phonetic spelling of the surname “Plaatjies”. Similarly, when Stephan uses @Stephantasties the similarity between the sounds of “f” in Afrikaans and “ph” in English is used to make a compound of “Stephan” and “fantasties” (Afrikaans for fantastic). The use of diminutive forms such as @renetjiefritz for Rene Fritz and @MikeProccie for Mike Procter is also notable. Another quite common strategy employed on Twitter is the shortening of real names to create usernames.

Table 5: Individuals with shortened usernames 5.1 Individual shortened username

Eusebius McKaiser @Eusebius, Mayihlome Tshwete @MTshwete, Kopano Mocwane @Kops_M, MbaliM @663Mbali, Marinda Van Zyl @marindavz, Sarah Buitendach @SarahJaneB, Julius Sello Malema @Julius_S_Malema, Nikiwe Bikitsha @NBikitsha, Pauli Van Wyk @PaulivW, Mamphela Ramphele @MamphelaR, Elzké von Wielligh @3lzkevw, Tim du Plessis @Timdup, Norman Mampane @nmampane, Chanel du Toit @chaneltoit, Dimakatso @Dkatzo, Ansie van Niekerk @ansie_niekerk, mphonyana baikepi @MphonyanaB, Paballo Nkabinde @PabyN, Lesiba Marokana @Lesiba_M, samantha cowen @samcowen

A wide range of variations, in terms of the shortening of names, were identified in the name corpus. The shortened forms included the use of just a name without a surname such as @Eusebius and @Lesiba, the use of initials and a surname for example in @MTshwete, @NBikitsha or @nmampane or even just one initial such as @Julius_S_Malema or a name and first letter of a surname @MamphelaR. Furthermore, in the case of certain Afrikaans surnames shortened forms were created either by using the first letters of all the parts that make up the surname, such as @marindavz, @PaulivW, @Timdup and @3lzkevw (also note the use of the number 3 to denote the letter e), or by omitting a certain part of the surname as in the case of @ansie_niekerk. The name corpus also contained swopping with regard to names and surnames, but also pseudonyms used as Twitter real names, while the actual real names are used as the Twitter usernames.

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Table 6: Individuals with swopped names and surnames as usernames or

swopped real names and usernames

6.1 Individual name and surname swop

Aubrey Matshiqi @MatshiqiAubrey, Vusi Melane @MelaneVusi, Johan Theron @TheronJohann, Boet Meintjes @MeintjesBoet, Zola Maseko @MasekoZola, Jaco van Rensburg @VanRensburgJaco, tumiso setladi @SetladiTumiso, Sonja Van Zyl @ZylSonja, TebohoTsoeu @tsoeu_teboho

6.2 Individual username swop

Mooks @MooketsiLekoma, Mpho @MphoMakwarela, busisiwe @nkokabusisiwe, Ms Nat_M @MokoenaNatasha

In the first row (6.1) of Table 6 usernames are listed where the real name and surname are swopped to form usernames, for example the name Aubrey and surname Matshiqi is used to create @MatshiqiAubrey. Clearly this phenomenon is also fairly common over language barriers. Interestingly, once again there is in some instances a disregard for capitalisation, as in the case of tumiso setladi @SetladiTumiso, as well as the omission of certain parts of Afrikaans surnames, for example in Sonja Van Zyl @ZylSonja. The swopping of usernames and real names were also noticed (cf. 6.2). A notable feature of Internet language is the use of special characters (Bechar-Israeli 1995; Crystal 2006:92-93; Crystal 2011:64-65; Van Langendonck 2007:301) and this was also observed in the name corpus. Table 7: Individuals with usernames with special characters

7.1 Individual username with special characters

♥Keitsitse Losaba♑ @MizFunSized_K, Ayanda ツ @AyandaMo, IsiShimané ( ˘˘ ) @PelwoM, Liesl♌Hefkie @MsHfk, Floyd Shivambu 和

平 @FloydShivambu, B☺itumelo @boi2_dikoti_M, Ơ.Ơ

Locracia♥ @locrapatrath, ♡Nadya de Oliveira♡

@NadyadeOliveira, janine @ninq07, ♬♡☆η [α] ү' _Ҩ* ** @nadine_07844, ♥£ƐƐUø 3Яd Λugust♥ @babeleeuo, DÏßΘñgZǻ»- ⌣™ @Bongza121, ♡Thandeka♥

Khuzwayo♡ @teedeekayle, _____________ @Sbongiseni_K, ît§ tєbøgø @Skillboy_TK, ςυε-คηη мc └υcκιε @snoekie101, Lerato

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Moloi @Lerato__Moloi, ĴƐSSĪƇΛ ђAгƔƐу @Jessie_jay29 , #_Oxygen_ @_bless02, Ayanda♥☺♥ @gummAy_

As stated before, since the Unicode standard is supported within the Twitter context, a wide range of characters can be accommodated. In this regard, the use of special characters involves the use of underscores, brackets and hashes; pictorial characters (such as ♥ and ☺); Roman alphabetical characters with diacritic symbols (such as ǻ and ø) as well as characters from other alphabets (such as Я and 和平). The use of the aforementioned characters are also not limited to usernames but are even used in some Twitter real names. Commonly recognised special characters and punctuation marks are used, for example the username @nadine_07844 and Twitter real name #_Oxygen_. Pictorial characters are also used in ♥Keitsitse Losaba♑, @boi2_dikoti_M, Ơ.Ơ

Locracia♥, ♡Thandeka♥ Khuzwayo♡ and Ayanda♥☺♥. In most cases the pictorial characters are used for decorative purposes or even as replacement of alphabetical characters as in the case of B☺itumelo. Astronomical symbols

such as ♑ (for Capricorn) are also used. In some cases the use of special characters leads to unrecognisable or unreadable combinations of characters as in the case of ♬♡☆η [α] ү' _Ҩ* **, or a name consisting only of 13 underscores _____________. Diacritic symbols and other symbols are also used regardless of the value they may have in other languages with the creation of names such as ♥£ƐƐUø 3Яd Λugust♥ (representing perhaps LEEUo 3Rd August), DÏßΘñgZǻ»- ⌣™ (representing DIBOngZa) and ît§ tєbøgø (representing it’s

tebogo). These names are perfectly readable if the diacritic symbols are ignored or letters are associated with more familiar values. For example, the German double s or ß (eszett or scharfes S) becomes a B or the section symbol (§) becomes an s. Some of the last three names mentioned here also include elements of other alphabets as in Ayanda ツ (the ツ character refers to the tsu sound in the Katakana script of Japanese), ςυε-คηη мc └υcκιε (this name

includes some Greek characters such as sigma ς, upsilon υ, epsilon ε, eta η, kappa κ and iota ι together with character with a kh value in Thai: ค) and Floyd

Shivambu 和平 (with the Mandarin for peace: 和平). The use of numbers and references to the country of origin was also observed. Table 8: Individuals with usernames with numbers or country references

8.1 Individual username with numbers

Graeme Smith @GraemeSmith49, Thuli Madonsela @ThuliMadonsela3, David Kau @davidkau1, Zwelinzima Vavi @Zwelinzima1, Jonty Rhodes @JontyRhodes8, Diane Stanton @Diane84019683, Arno van Huyssteen

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@Arries1989, Ramoshaba Masilo @silos079, Mfanafuthi KaSeboko @Mfanafu18799, Boitumelo Morekhure @Tumi1979, BlackSheep_Jnr @Olivier149, Desiree @Dezi_ray101, Leandri JansevVuuren @Lean3Jvv, moipone ngoepe @moipone_75551, sphiwe masimula @piwe_41369, Jaco van Jaarsveld @JacovJ1976, lerato @Lerato50Lerato, Palesa @Pal3sah, mbali'enhle @mbalienhle17, Gwede Mantashe @GwedeMantashe1, Juanita Olivier @Juanitaoli4, Louis Moolman @28acd192536a4f4, specul8r sa @specul8rsa, Lehlohonolo Aaron @Aaronlja113La

8.2 Individual username with country reference

Brendan Boyle @BrendanSAfrica, Mark Pilgrim @MarkPilgrimZA, Colin Moss @ColinMossSA, Zelda la Grange @ZeldalaGrangeSA, Nomalanga Mkhize @NomalangaSA, Tony Leon @TonyLeonSA, Jane Smith @JaneSmithZA, Johannes de Bruyn @TheJL_za, Lauren Hess @LaurenH_ZA

The use of numbers in usernames (cf. 8.1) can be ascribed to different sources. Generally, however, one main reason for the use of numbers could be the fact that a more obvious username has already been taken. One could speculate that the use of numbers, in some cases, could have special significance with regard to sporting achievements or the age of a person. A number of usernames in the data showed the addition of a single digit mainly to distinguish themselves from other users with exactly the same usernames, such as: @ThuliMadonsela3, @davidkau1, @Zwelinzima1 or @JontyRhodes8. Without more context one cannot interpret the aforementioned use of numbers any further. Some usernames suggest the use of the birth year of the users, as in: @Arries1989, @Tumi1979 and @JacovJ1976. Also note the shortening of the names all three users employed. Again, some wordplay or nonstandard use of numbers was identified in this category: @Dezi_ray101 for Desiree, @Pal3sah for Palesa, @Lean3Jvv for Leandri JansevVuuren, @Juanitaoli4 Juanita Olivier and @specul8rsa for specul8r sa. The first username shows phonetic rewriting of Desiree into @Dezi_ray101; not only is the name split by means of an underscore, but the number 101 is also added. The use of 101 could be random, but could also be associated with the value assigned to this number in popular culture where especially within the American higher education system introductory courses are denoted by 101. In the @Pal3sah for Palesa, the number 3 assumes the value of the letter e. The other three examples employ the sound value of numbers as in the sound for 3 in Afrikaans (drie) to substitute dri in the name Leandri, hence Lean3 is used. The same applies to -oli4 (Afrikaans vier for 4) instead of Olivier. The final example uses the sound and not the

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spelling value of the number 8 (thus ate not eight) in order to form speculator from specul8r in @specul8rsa. Some users choose to identify themselves with their country of origin (cf. 8.2) by adding a shortened form of the country name, such as SAfrica in @BrendanSAfrica, an abbreviation such as SA in @NomalangaSA, as well as the commonly used online ISO 3166 country code for South Africa, ZA, as in @MarkPilgrimZA. Apart from references to the country South Africa, some users even link their usernames to their exact geographical location as in the case of FloydFromFourways @floydmunetsi from Fourways, and Shaun Else @ShaunElseJHB from Johannesburg. The Twitter usernames in the name corpus also showed links with their titles, positions or even work contexts. Table 9: Individuals with usernames relating to their titles, positions or work

contexts

9.1 Individual with a title in username

Wendy Tlou @mswendyt, Evita Bezuidenhout @TannieEvita, Phindile Dhlamini @MsPhindiddy, Zandile Zini @MissZini, Tlhalefang Pooe @MissTlhale, Mr Mosoetsi @MrKea_, Nonkululeko Nhlapo @MizzNkuLi, Sebabatso Motsoene @drsmotsoene

9.2 Individual username with position

Jacob G. Zuma @SAPresident, MissSA DipalesaMbola @DipalesaMbola, Jo-Ann Downs @HonourableJoAnn, Dali Mpofu @AdvDali_Mpofu, Mpho Nchejane @SYZZER_DJ, kgomotso kekana @stereokay_DJ

9.3 Individual name with company or organisation

Jonathan Jansen @JJ_UFS, Jeremy Maggs @maggsonmedia, Thandazile @ThandazaEFF, Phumzile Mlambo @phumzileunwomen, Lerato Moloi @LMoloiSAIRR, Chris @scuba_chris, Sandile Mabaso @Singing_Sandile

Some Twitter users opt to add titles to their names (cf. 9.1) such as Ms (@MsPhindiddy), Mr (Mr Mosoetsi @MrKea_), Miss (@MissTlhale and @MizzNkuLi), Dr (@drsmotsoene) and even the Afrikaans form of address tannie or aunt in English ( as in @TannieEvita; actually this could almost be considered a required part of the name of the public figure Evita Bezuidenhout). Similarly, positions or occupations are also displayed where a job title is used as a username (cf. 9.2), as was done with @SAPresident, or as part of a username as in @HonourableJoAnn and @AdvDali_Mpofu. Furthermore, a link with an institution, company or organisation can also be added to a username (cf. 9.3) as was done by Jonathan Jansen with @JJ_UFS linking to the University of the Free State (UFS), Thandazile’s association with the EFF political party in

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@ThandazaEFF as well as a person working for the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) in @LMoloiSAIRR. Van Langendonck (2007:303) also notes the use of “activities” such as occupations and hobbies in names on Internet chat rooms. In addition to all the mentioned usernames, the use of phrases or almost sentences in usernames was also observed. Table 10: Individuals with usernames in the form of a phrase or sentence

10.1 Individual username as sentence

Lwanda Mahola @Iam_Empress01, Iammisssmith @iammisssmith, Sentle Tsotetsi @IamPuseletso_, º•○●IAmMatshepo●○•º @MatshepoMokone, V $ V P @Iam_Ludel, mãmã_used_to_sàý @iamcrazeindeep, U n △ t h i. @Unathii_IamHer, Keitumetse @iam_Goodwin, Corrie Labuschagne @thatcorrie, ♥ B O N G I W E ♥ @UgottaLoveBongy, IG : Ntombenhle18 @Yeah_Its_Ntombi, P H E L A D I @I_Am_PhelaDi, Thamsanqa @ItsTheRealThami

Some Twitter usernames (and real names) include more than just a name in what would in normal circumstances be considered a phrase or even a sentence. Apart from some instances where words are separated by underscores, most of these phrases or sentences are concatenated. Quite often declarative constructions starting with “I am” are used: @Iam_Empress01, @iammisssmith, @IamPuseletso or the slightly different @Unathii_IamHer. However, other constructions also occur such as @UgottaLoveBongy, @Yeah_Its_Ntombi, @ItsTheRealThami or the extended real name and username combination of mãmã_used_to_sàý @iamcrazeindeep. Findings

In summary, it is clear that for businesses, organisations as well as certain individuals – especially public figures – it is important to be easily identified on an online platform such as Twitter. This concern has a direct impact on the type of Twitter real names and usernames that are chosen. In this regard, some shortened forms and references to their country of origin, South Africa in the context of this article, are evident. When it comes to other individuals, a lot of variation in the way real names and usernames were selected was observed. The naming practices on Twitter, regardless of being real names or usernames, can be summarised in the following way:

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Figure 1: Summary of Twitter names

Users of Twitter vary their name choices from exact versions of their names to shortened versions; swopped names and surnames as usernames or swopped real names and usernames; and names with additions such as numbers, country references or titles and positions. Sometimes Twitter users choose to use totally unique pseudonyms that can either be used with an existing true real name or with an equally anonymous ‘real’ name. Special characters, numbers and diacritic symbols are used in a manner that disregards established values or even boundaries between alphabets, orthographies and even writing systems.

On a linguistic level Twitter usernames and so-called ‘real names’ in some instances do not conform to the properties of proper names or proprial lemmas in other contexts. Twitter usernames, that need to be unique, cannot act as common nouns derived from proper names (cf. Van Langendonck 2007:7). However, this does not rule out that any user of Twitter could use a username in a secondary describing function, for example in the sense of “She is acting like

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a real @TasieHasie today”. This type of construction would have to be searched for and described from larger Twitter content corpora. With regard to deixis, pronouns can act as anaphora that refer back to a name; however, on Twitter, due to time differences in communication and convention, usernames are repeated in retweets or references to others.

The use of extensions, such as numbers, country references, occupations, titles, positions and even phrases, within Twitter usernames could be considered as an extreme form of close apposition (Van Langendonck 2007:125-132). In such cases proper names (or pseudonyms) function within a set construction with other elements. Through artificial semantic bleaching (by means of the requirement by Twitter that usernames must be single words) the combination of proper names and all the user name components can be considered as being proper names collectively.

The use of different categories of naming by Twitter users could also imply new (or maybe not so new if chat room and related naming practices are taken into account) prototypical naming conventions. It is evident from the name corpus that certain conventions, such as the use of numbers or special characters, are repeated by different users. Testing this inference over time and in comparison between different online mediums could provide more clarity on whether new prototypical naming conventions have been established. However, Van Langendonck (2007:194) does not regard nicknames (called bynames by him) as a prototypical category, but rather as a “special subcategory of proper names”. In essence, a Twitter username is not the same as a nickname as Twitter usernames have to be unique and can therefore not be repeated and, importantly, a person must choose his or her own Twitter username (cf. Van Langendonck 2007:300). Thus, other than in the case of nicknames that can be ascribed to a person by another, the Twitter username is a person’s own choice and can be changed as needed. Conclusion

Twitter usernames or handles are unique names used within the Twitter environment. Extensive research has been done on nicknames, internationally and within the South African context. Nicknames are sometimes considered as being a type of pseudonym. Nicknames serve a number of functions that may not all necessarily apply to Twitter usernames. Despite some similarities, there are quite distinct differences between what is generally regarded as nicknames and Twitter usernames, for instance the purpose and way of ascribing these names. Therefore a Twitter username, as many other online handles or names, should be considered a subcategory of pseudonyms different from nicknames. The Twitter context allows the use of both a username and a real name with maximum-length restrictions but does allow the use of different special characters.

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From the analysis of the corpus of 500 randomly selected South African Twitter usernames and real names, 17 categories of names were identified. A limited number of business and organisation names were included in the corpus. These names, together with some names of public figures, resulted in username and real names being quite similar and easily identifiable as anonymity is not a priority for this group. With regard to individuals, great variation exists regarding anonymity or the use of regular expected orthography. Generally, Twitter usernames function as any other name; however, some distinct properties were identified, such as the swopping of name and surname content; the addition of numbers, country references or titles and positions; disregard for capitalisation; the use of special characters, diacritic symbols and elements from alphabets other than the Roman alphabet; and close apposition by means of phrases or sentences as part of usernames. Twitter usernames are not necessarily used as common nouns, but this issue may have to be researched further by means of wider Twitter corpora. Other than in the case of regular names, Twitter nicknames are always associated with specific profiles and even in posts profile images (cf. Inglish 2013:29) are visible to readers of Tweets. It is therefore difficult, especially within an online environment, to truly separate a name from the other visual information presented. In essence, this specific context may require a more encompassing analysis of online identities rather than just nicknames in any further onomastic research with regard to an environment such as Twitter. School of Languages, Potchefstroom Campus North-West University E-mail: jako.olivier@nwu.ac.za References American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. ANC. 2014. African National Congress. http://www.anc.org.za/index.php (accessed 10/05/2014). Alberts, A. 1996. Byname van Dorslandtrekkers. Tydskrif vir volkskunde en

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