Sir, - What's in a nickmane? Brendan Daly takes both yourself and Kevin Myers to task (November 14th) for applying fanciful appellations to Presidents Robinson and McAleese. But why take exception to this? Surely the best-known of all Irish Presidents survives in folk memory by his nickname: Dev. And looking back over this century's great leaders, we find a host of noms-de-plume and noms-de-guerre - Lenin, Stalin, Ike, Iron Lady, Tito - to say nothing of royalty, the papacy, and the acting profession, where original, given names are honoured more in the breach than the observance.
Is the granting of a nickname an insult, or an honour? I like to think the latter. Looking back over my schooldays, the teachers of whom I have the best memories are those on whom we had bestowed the most imaginative "handles" - in fact, to refer to a teacher merely by his surname inferred that the unfortunate individual was devoid of sufficient personality around which to fashion a suitable nickname.
So, Mr Daly shouldn't worry. Nicknames have to be earned, and I'm sure that both Robbo and Mackers are pleased to be up there with Dev, the grand-daddy of them all. - Yours, etc.,
From D. K. Henderson
Castle Avenue, Dublin 3.