Marblehead has always had a reputation for being a Town very much enamored with the nicknaming of its inhabitants. Many of the names have stuck down through the years and have been handed down from generation to generation, many times to great personal discomfort.

One person in Town very must interested in the preservation of nicknames was Charles O. Mitchell, with his own nickname of "Ish" probably derived from the cartoon character of yesteryear, "Ish Kabbible."

Mitchell, a long-time employee of the Water Department, and a postcard collector with a fine collection, and another hobby dear to his heart is the gathering up of local nicknames. In a book he once showed me, he had listed 536 nicknames, A to Z, complete with surnames.

Back in 1929, during the 300th Anniversary of Marblehead's incorporation, the Marblehead Messenger came out with a special souvenir edition, and on one page were listed 616 colorful nicknames. A prize of $10 was offered to the person who first brought into the Messenger offices the surnames to match the nicknames. I never did find out who won that contest, but I can bet a good many Old Timers, who were around in '29, puzzled their brains out, thinking of the correct answers.

Some names that people are called by as nicknames are not true nicknames, but rather are just derivations of their given first or last names such as Champ for Champlin, Gus for Augustus, Timmy for Timothy, Bowdy for Bowden, Webby for Webster, Hutchy for Hutchinson, Amby for Ambrose, Jot for Jonathan, Auvy for Auville, and so on.

Nicknames were usually necessary in the old days to distinguish one family member from another. Large families like the Adams, Atkins, Browns, Blaneys, Bowdens just had to to give special names to the men folk to tell them apart.

Lots of nicknames became attached to a person all through life, and some people never knew one's real first name until either during the funeral or while reading an obituary. I'm sure some nicknames even got engraved on the stones at Waterside Cemetery.

Ish Mitchell went all out to provide an interesting list of both nicknames and surnames, and I am happy to mention just a few here, in alphabetical order. Some are colorful, some unusual, and most do have strange stories attached to their origination.