What’s in a Nickname? - Circa - NCMA - North Carolina Museum of Art

Circa: The NCMA Blog

What’s in a Nickname?

by Caroline Rocheleau | Sep 14, 2015

Fefi, you’ve mentioned nicknames in your posts, and I thought I would pitch in and show your readers the grouping of hieroglyphs that means “his beautiful/good name.”

These hieroglyphs can be written before or after the person’s nickname, depending on how it is used in the sentence.

The first sign is an open mouth (the sound R) and below it a zigzag that represents water, which has the value N (easy to remember N like in Nile, the most important source of water in Egypt). And your readers may recognize the last horizontal sign . . . yes, the F-sign like in Fefi!

The vertical sign has the value “nfr.” To help pronounce it, add the vowel E in between the consonants: n . . . e . . . f . . . e . . . r. Your readers may be familiar with this word because it is used in the name of the famous Egyptian queen Nefertiti! "Nefer" means beautiful or good.

This whole grouping is actually a short phrase with a noun (rn = name) and a possessive adjective (f = his) and an adjective (nfr = beautiful). His beautiful name.

Now, my dear Fefi, I challenge all your readers to go look for that special little phrase on your false door!

(The hieroglyphs in this blog post are made possible thanks to JSesh, an open source hieroglyphic editor.)

Caroline Rocheleau

Caroline M. Rocheleau is curator of ancient art at the NCMA.

Comments (5)

  1. Fefi - Reply

    September 14, 2015

    Caroline, what a good lesson idea! It works so well with my other posts. (Where would I be without an Egyptologist to help me?)
  2. C. Allen Shaffer - Reply

    September 14, 2015

    You made my day! I seriously WAIT for these.... And, I'm glad Fefi is ok too! He's obviously feeling well enough to take a "dig" at Egyptologists (pun intended) Thanks so much for this series!!
  3. Caroline Rocheleau - Reply

    September 16, 2015

    No. YOU made my day! I loved your email enquiring about Fefi's well-being. Our ancient friend was fortified by your voice offerings and, no worries, he will resume his blogging activities shortly. And I might pitch in from time to time.
  4. Deborah Hamer - Reply

    September 24, 2015

    Students will love doing this. Can we use modern name nick names - to research or their names such as mine: Deborah that mean teacher or bee? Then find out how to write it in hieroglyphics?
  5. Caroline Rocheleau - Reply

    September 25, 2015

    Deborah, our friend Fefi is currently working on a little something that will interest you and your students. Stay tuned!
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