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Map of the United States showing the state nicknames as hogs. Lithograph by Mackwitz, St. Louis, 1884.

The London underground is nicknamed "The Tube"

"a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.",^[1] or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name.

It is not interchangeable with a term called "short-for". It can also be the familiar or truncated form of the proper name,^[2] which may sometimes be used simply for convenience (e.g. "Bobby", "Bob", "Rob", or "Bert" for the name Robert).

The term hypocoristic is used to refer to a nickname of affection between those in love or with a close emotional bond, compared with a term of endearment. The term diminutive name refers to nicknames that convey smallness, hence something regarded with affection or familiarity (e.g., referring to children), or contempt.^[3]

The distinction between the two is often blurred. It is a form of endearment and amusement. As a concept, it is distinct from both pseudonym and stage name, and also from a title (for example, City of Fountains), although there may be overlap in these concepts.

A nickname is sometimes considered desirable, symbolising a form of acceptance, but can often be a form of ridicule.

Etymology[link]

The compound word ekename, literally meaning "additional name", was attested as early as 1303.^[4] This word was derived from the Old English phrase eaca "an increase", related to eacian "to increase".^[5] By the fifteenth century, the misdivision of the syllables of the phrase "an ekename" led to its reanalysis as "a nekename".^[6] Though the spelling has changed, the pronunciation and meaning of the word have remained relatively stable ever since.

Conventions in various languages[link]

To inform an audience or readership of a person's nickname without actually calling them by their nickname, English nicknames are generally represented in quotes between the bearer's first and last names (e.g., Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, Daniel Lamont "Bubba" Franks, etc.), however it is also common for the nickname to be identified after a comma following the full real name or later in the body of the text, such as in an obituary. The middle name is generally eliminated (if there is one), especially in speech. Like English, German uses (German-style) quotation marks between the first and last names (e.g., Andreas Nikolaus „Niki“ Lauda). Other languages may use other conventions; for example, Italian writes the nickname after the full name followed by detto 'called' (e.g., Salvatore Schillaci detto Totò), in Spanish the nickname is written in formal contexts at the end in quotes following alias (e.g. Alfonso Tostado, alias «el Abulense»), and Slovenian represents nicknames after a dash or hyphen (e.g., Franc Rozman – Stane). The latter may cause confusion because it resembles an English convention sometimes used for married and maiden names.

Uses in various societies[link]

In Viking societies, many people had nicknames heiti, viðrnefni, or uppnefni which were used in addition to, or instead of their family names. In some circumstances the giving of a nickname had a special status in Viking society in that it created a relationship between the name maker and the recipient of the nickname, to the extent that the creation of a nickname also often entailed a formal ceremony and an exchange of gifts.^{[citation needed]}

Slaves have often used nicknames, so that the master who heard about someone doing something could not identify the slave. In capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, the slaves had nicknames to protect them from being caught, as practicing capoeira was illegal for decades.^{[citation needed]}

In Anglo-American culture, a nickname is often based on a shortening of a person's proper name, a diminutive. However, in other societies, this may not necessarily the case.

In Indian society, for example, generally people have at least one nickname (call name or affection name) and these affection names are generally not related to the person's proper name. Indian nicknames very often are a trivial word or a diminutive (such as Bablu, Dabbu, Banti, Babli, Gudiya, Golu, Sonu, Chhotu, Raju, Adi, Ritu, etc.).

In Indonesia, nicknames are often considered more polite and affectionate, especially when the real name exceeds two syllables. Former Indonesian presidents Abdurrahman Wahid and Achmed Sukarno were usually called 'Gus Dur' and 'Bung Karno', respectively.

In Australian society, Australian men will often give ironic nicknames. For example, a man with red hair will get the nickname 'Bluey'.

Performing arts[link]

Many writers, performing artists, and actors have nicknames, which may develop into a stage name or pseudonym. A bardic name may also result from a nickname. Many writers have pen names which they use instead of their real names. Famous writers with a pen name include Voltaire, Molière, George Sand, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, George Orwell, Dr. Seuss, and Lemony Snicket.

Computing[link]

In the context of information technology, a nickname (or technically a nick) is a common synonym for the screenname or handle of a user.

Nickname is a name to shorten a name. Nick is a term originally used to identify a person in a system for synchronous conferencing. In computer networks it has become a common practice for every person to also have one or more nicknames for the purposes of anonymity, to avoid ambiguity or simply because the natural name or technical address would be too long to type or take too much space on the screen.

Nicknames for people[link]

"I, Jimmy Carter..." James Earl Carter is sworn in as President of the United States using his nickname "Jimmy".

Nicknames are usually awarded to, not chosen by the recipient. Nicknames may be based on a person's name or various attributes. Attributes upon which a nickname may be based include:

Title[link]

They may refer to a person's occupation, social standing, or title. They may also refer to characterists of a person.

• "Bones" for a forensic scientist, surgeon, or mortician
• "Sawbones" for a surgeon.
• "Doc" for a doctor.
• "Sparky" for an electrician
• "Sarge" for a military Sergeant as in the comic strip Beetle Bailey
• "Lou" for a Lieutenant (for example, a police lieutenant)
• Similarly, "Chief" for a police or fire chief
• Moneybags for a wealthy person.
• Genius or brains for some one at school who is believed to be a clever person, although it should be said that "genius" in this colloquial sense is not the same as the technical use of the term "genius" in psychology.

Physical characteristics, personality, or lifestyle[link]

Physical characteristics[link]

The Weimaraner's coat color led to its nickname of the "Silver Ghost".

Nicknames can be a descriptor of a physical characteristic, or the opposite of a physical characteristic. It should be noted that in English, such nicknames are often considered offensive or derogatory, unless the nickname is based on a trait that is viewed positively. Some examples of nicknames related to physical characteristics include:

• Weight: "Fatso" or "Slim" for a person who is overweight or thin.
• Height: "Beanpole" or "Short Fry" for a person who is tall or short.
• Hair colour: "Red", "Ginger", "Ranga", or "Bluey" for a person with red hair. "Blondie" a girl with blonde hair.
• Type of hair: "Curley" or "Cue Ball" for a person without hair as in "Curley" from "The Three Stooges"
• Skin Colour: "Pinky" for a person with Rosacea

Sometimes nicknames are based on things that alter a person's physical appearance. Such nicknames can be temporary.

• "Four-eyes" for a person with glasses
• "Train tracks", "tin teeth", or "braceface" for a person with braces, such as Sharon Spitz on the animated series Braceface
• "Zit" can be a name for someone with pimples.

All of the above examples would be offensive in most contexts.

Personality[link]

Nicknames can be a descriptor of a personality characteristic, or the opposite of a personality characteristic. These types of nicknames were often used in fairy tales such as "Snow White". Sometimes such nicknames may be indicative of a physical disorder.

• Talkative:"Motormouth","Chatterbox","Ratchet-Jaw"
• Cautious: "Nervous Nellie"
• Tired Demeanor: "Sleepy" as in a dwarf from Snow White
• Pessimistic: "Sad Sack"

Mental characteristics[link]

A nickname may allude to a person's apparent intelligence (though often used sarcastically):

• Encyclopedia, as in Donald Sobol's fictional child detective Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown
• Einstein, referring to the famous physicist.
• Sherlock, in reference to A. C. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
• Brainiac, as in the fictional DC Comics character.
• Dopey, as in the dwarf from Snow White

Lifestyle[link]

• Promiscuity: "Hot Lips" as in the character "Margaret Houlihan" from the novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors.

Mary Mallon (1870–1938) was nicknamed "Typhoid Mary"

Abbreviation or modification[link]

A nickname can be a shortened or modified variation on a person's real name.

• Contractions of longer names: Margaret to Greta.
• Initials using the first letters of a person's first and last name.
• Dropping a Letter: With many nicknames a letter, usually R, is dropped: Fanny from Francis, Walt from Walter.
• Phonetic Spelling : Sometimes a nickname is created through the phonetic spelling of a name Len from Leonard.
• Letter Swapping: During the middle ages, the letter R would often be swapped for either L or D: Hal from Harry, Molly from Mary, Sadie from Sarah, Robert: Hob, Dob, Rob, Bob and Nob, from Richard: Rick, Dick, and Hick; Bill from Will (which in turn comes from William), and Peg from Meg (which is derived from Margaret).
• In the 19th century, frontier America, Mary and Molly were often given the nickname Polly.

Name portions[link]

• Front of name:Sometimes a nickname can come from the front: Chris from Christopher/Christina, Ed from Edward/Edmond/Edgar/Edwin, Iz or Izzy from Isaac/Isaiah/Isidore/Izale/Isabel/Isabella, Joe or Jo from Joseph/Josephine/Joanna, Abby from Abigail, Nick or Nico from Nicholas, Peg from Peggy, Sam from Samuel/Samantha/Samson
• End of Name: Drew from Andrew, Xander from Alexander, Eth from Kenneth, Topher from Christopher, Beth from Elizabeth
• Middle of Name: Liz from Elizabeth or Del/Della from Adelaide
• Addition of Diminutives to Names:Before the 17th century, most nicknames had the diminutive ending "in" or "Kin", where the ending is attached to the first syllable: Watkin/Walter/Wat-kin Hobkin/Robert/Hob-kin or Thompkin/Thomas/Thom-Kin. While most of these have died away, a few remain such as Robin (Rob-in, from Robert), Hank (Hen-Kin from Henry), Jack (Jan-kin from John), and Colin (Col-in from Nicolas).
• Many nicknames usually drop the final one or two letters and add ether ie/ee/y as an ending: Davy from David, Charlie from Charles, Danny/Dani/Danie from Daniel/Danielle and Jimmy from James
• In some cases, another name may be used as a nickname.
• Initialization, which forms a nickname from a person's initials: A.C. Slater from Albert Clifford Slater
• Nicknames are sometimes based on a person's last name ("Tommo" for Bill Thompson) or a combination of first and last name ("Droopy" for Andrew Peterson, or "A-Rod" for Alex Rodriguez)
• Loose ties to a person's name with an attached suffix: Gazza for English footballer Paul Gascoigne (though used more widely in Australia for Gary) and similar "zza" forms (Hezza, Prezza, etc.) for other prominent personalities whose activities are frequently reported in the British press. (See also Oxford "-er" for a similar but wider phenomenon.)
• Combination of first and middle name, or variations of a person's first and middle name. For example, a person may have the name Mary Elizabeth but has the nickname "Maz" or "Miz" by combining Mary and Liz.

Relationship[link]

They may refer to the relationship with the person. This is a term of endearment.

• In Japanese culture, Japanese honorifics are designed so that a term of endearment conveys the exact status of the relationship between two people. However, the recipient of the honorific is allowed to restrict the use when used by a certain person.

Surname[link]

To avoid confusion between peer groups with the same given names, surnames may be used.

Family[link]

A nickname can be used to distinguish members of the same family sharing the same name from one another. This has several common patterns among sons named for fathers:

• The first bearer of the name can be referred to as Senior, Daddy or have "Big", or "Older" placed in front of his given name, as in "Big Pete", or "Older Pete".
• A son named after his father (but not after his grandfather) is often referred to as Junior, Chip (also a diminutive of Charles, but in this case in reference to "a chip off the old block"), Skip, Sonny, Bud, Buddy, or Deuce. Skip can also refer to a man named after his paternal grandfather, implying that the name "skipped" a generation. Another common, but much less popular nickname for a son named after his father is having "Little" placed in front of his name, as in "Little Pete", though this tends to be avoided if possible (especially if the son happens to become physically bigger than the father he's named after, and/or when the son becomes a full grown adult, regardless of if he does, or doesn't physically outgrow the father he shares a name with), due to its unpopularity with most sons who share the same name with their fathers. Likewise, a similar, and more acceptable form of this kind of nickname is to have "Younger" placed in front of the son's name instead, as in "Younger Pete".
• The third generation carrying a name (usually with III after his name) is often referred to as Trey, Tripp, or Trip (from Triple). Skip also is a frequently used nickname for "thirds" because they "skipped" being a "Junior".
• The fourth generation carrying a name (usually with IV after his name) may be referred to as Ivy, (as in IV) Quad, Quadry, or Dru (from Quadruple).
• The fifth generation carrying a name (usually with V after his name) may be referred to as Quint, Quince, Quincy, or Quinton (from Quintuple).

Action/incident[link]

It may relate to a specific incident or action.

• Capability Brown was so called because he used the word "capability" instead of "possibility".
• Chemical Ali and Comical Ali.
• Thirteen for Dr. Remy Hadley from TV's House M.D., because she was assigned the number 13 in her job interview process and continued to be called by her number even after she was hired.
• "Opa" for the Dutch lifesaving KNRM-hero Dorus Rijkers. Dorus became a Grandpa (Dutch:Opa), at the age of 23 (by marriage to a widow with eight children), and soon everybody called him Opa.
• "The Falling Man" for one of the jumpers during the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center terrorrist attacks.

Famous/fictional character[link]

It may compare the person with a famous or fictional character.

• Napoleon or Hitler for someone with a dictatorial manner.
• Pollyanna for someone with a very optimistic view of things.
• Hawkeye as in Hawkeye Pierce for someone who can make light of a most devastating situation, from the TV series M*A*S*H

Place of origin/residence[link]

It may be related to their place of origin or residence.

• Gloucester, Paul from Gloucester or PFG for someone named Paul who comes from Gloucester.
• Newf or Newfie a person from Newfoundland,Canada

Reputation[link]

It may be derived from or related to what the person is well known for.

• The Duke for John Wayne
• The Angel of Death for Josef Mengele
• The Hangman, The Blonde Beast for Reinhard Heydrich

Affiliation[link]

It may refer to a person's political affiliation.

• Dipper for a member of Canada's New Democratic Party.
• Tory for a person affiliated with the United Kingdom's or Canada's Conservative Party.

Unique[link]

A famous person's nickname may be unique to them:

• Tippecanoe for William Henry Harrison
• Dubya for George W. Bush, a Texan pronunciation of the name of the letter 'W', President Bush's middle initial.

Nicknames of geographical places[link]

Hirakata-shi, Osaka, Japan. Nickname road "Gingko street"

Many geographic places adopt nicknames because they can help in establishing a civic identity, help outsiders recognize a community or attract people to a community because of its nickname, promote civic pride, and build community unity.^[7] Nicknames and slogans that successfully create a new community "ideology or myth"^[8] are also believed to have economic value.^[7] Their economic value is difficult to measure,^[7] but there are anecdotal reports of cities that have achieved substantial economic benefits by "branding" themselves by adopting new slogans.^[8]

Collective nicknames of inhabitants of a geographical place[link]

Besides or replacing the demonym, some cities and villages have collective nicknames for their inhabitants. This tradition is still strong nowadays in Wallonia (Belgium), where this sort of nickname is referred to in French as "Blason populaire".

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up nickname in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Sports Nicknames: 20,000 Professionals Worldwide by Terry W. Pruyne

Skip Bayless
Born	John Edward Bayless II (1951-12-04) December 4, 1951 (age 60) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Education	Vanderbilt University
Occupation	Television Sports Commentator (ESPN) commentator, sportswriter, sportswriter
Notable credit(s)	ESPN First Take (see Cold Pizza) 1st and 10
Website
http://www.espnmediazone.com/bios/Talent/SkipBayless-Bio.htm Skip Bayless on ESPN

Skip Bayless (born John Bayless II on December 4, 1951) is a sports journalist and television personality. Bayless regularly appears on ESPN2's ESPN First Take and its afternoon show 1st and 10. Bayless previously wrote regular columns for ESPN.com and its "Page 2" section. He is perhaps best known for his strong opinions and sometimes controversial stances on professional athletes.

Schooling and family[link]

Bayless was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The first child of John and Levita Bayless, he was named John Edward Bayless II on his birth certificate, but his father immediately began calling him Skip or Skipper. The name stuck, and Skip Bayless was never called John by his parents. He eventually had his name legally changed to Skip. His brother is the chef, restaurateur and TV personality Rick Bayless.

Bayless as a junior, along with Jerry Waugh, Jim Hill, and Tony Robinson led Junior Varsity (JV)'s Northwest Classen High School basketball team. ^[1]

Bayless averaged 1.4 points per game as a senior playing basketball at Northwest Classen High School. ^[2]

Bayless graduated from Northwest Classen High School and Vanderbilt University where he majored in English and History and was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma.

Bayless is a member of the inaugural class of the Vanderbilt Student Media Hall of Fame.^[3]

Writing career[link]

Bayless went directly from Vanderbilt to The Miami Herald, where he wrote sports features for two years before being hired away by the Los Angeles Times. There, he was best known for investigative stories on the Dodgers' clubhouse resentment of "golden boy" Steve Garvey and his celebrity wife Cyndy and on Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom's behind-the-scenes decisions to start different quarterbacks each week (James Harris, Pat Haden or Ron Jaworski). Bayless also won the Eclipse Award for his coverage of Seattle Slew's Triple Crown.

At 25, Bayless was hired by The Dallas Morning News to write its lead sports column, and two years later, the rival Dallas Times Herald hired him away by making him one of the country's highest paid sports columnists—prompting The Wall Street Journal to do a story on the development. Bayless was voted Texas sportswriter of the year three times.

In 1989, Bayless wrote God's Coach, about the rise and fall of Tom Landry's Dallas Cowboys. Following the Cowboys' Super Bowl victory in 1993, Bayless wrote The Boys, which broke the story that coach Jimmy Johnson and owner Jerry Jones were not "best friends" and correctly predicted that Jones would fire Johnson no matter how much success the team had. (Jones fired Johnson after the Cowboys won another Super Bowl the following year.)^{[clarification needed]}

Following a third Cowboys Super Bowl win in four seasons, Bayless wrote the third and final book of his Cowboys trilogy, Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the "Win or Else" Dallas Cowboys. After covering the Cowboys through the 1996 season, Bayless chose to leave Dallas after 17 years and become the lead sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune. In his first year in Chicago, Bayless won the Lisagor Award for excellence in sports column writing and was voted Illinois sportswriter of the year.

Bayless eventually had a highly publicized dispute with the Tribune's executive editor, Ann Marie Lipinski, over limiting all Tribune columns to just 650 or so words. Bayless quit over the policy and was immediately hired by Knight Ridder Corporation to write for its flagship newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News.^[4] While in San Jose, Bayless became a fixture on ESPN's Rome is Burning and in a weekly Sunday Morning SportsCenter debate with Stephen A. Smith, "Old School/Nu Skool." ESPN hired Bayless full-time in 2004 to team with Woody Paige on ESPN2's Cold Pizza and to write columns for ESPN.com. In 2007, Bayless stopped writing columns to concentrate on what is now called ESPN First Take (formerly Cold Pizza) and on ESPN's afternoon show, First and 10.

Radio and television[link]

Skip Bayless has occasionally substituted as host for syndicated radio program The Jim Rome Show. He has also previously contributed to ESPN as a recurring panelist on The Sports Reporters, NFL Prime Monday (now ESPN Monday Night Countdown) in the 1990s, and Jim Rome is Burning. For three years (1998–2001), Bayless was a contributor at major championships for the Golf Channel.

KTCK Sports Radio 1310 "The Ticket"[link]

In 1994 Bayless left his show at KLIF in Dallas to help start the city's first sports talk radio station, KTCK Sports Radio 1310, "The Ticket." For two years Bayless was the primary host on the 6–9 a.m. morning show as "the Ticket" became one of the country's most successful sports stations. Bayless also was an original investor and when the ownership decided to accept a lucrative offer to sell the station, the new owners bought out Bayless' contract. He immediately became a regular on ESPN Radio's first national show, The Fabulous Sports Babe, and later co-hosted a weekend show on ESPN Radio with Larry Beil. He was also a regular on Chet Coppock's show on Sporting News Radio.

[edit] Cold Pizza/ESPN First Take

Bayless is featured in debate segments on what is now known as ESPN First Take (formerly Cold Pizza), and the segments are re-aired as First and 10 in the afternoons. Bayless debates the day's 10 hottest sports topics with a rotation of sportswriters and ex-athletes including Stephen A. Smith, Rob Parker, Jon Ritchie, Lomas Brown, Hugh Douglas, Kordell Stewart, Greg Anthony, Jalen Rose, Marcellus Wiley, Shaun King, and 2 Live Stews (Ryan and Doug Stewart). Terrell Suggs, Donovan McNabb, Chad Ochocinco, Donnie Wahlberg, and rappers Lil Wayne, Bow Wow, Wale have also taken on Bayless. Recently, Bayless has been tagged with the nickname "Skip Tebow" by many of his guests based on his unrelenting support of New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow. Bayless openly embraces the nickname.

Bayless is a regular twitter user, and he tweets on the topics and points he made on the ESPN First Take show. He also posts the Podcast from the show regularly from his twitter account.

Bayless has a "I Heart @RealSkipBayless" shirt. This shirt is given to the fans of the show, or if someone who comes to the show and loses a bet to Bayless. The person who loses the bet has to appear on the show and wear the shirt. So far, the shirt is undefeated.

Bayless lists his top five NBA players as of June 15, 2011: Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and Carmelo Anthony.^[5]

Cultural references[link]

Bayless, along with Woody Paige and Jay Crawford, appeared in a cameo role in the film Rocky Balboa. The three are seen on their First and 10 segment discussing a possible fight between a retired Balboa and current heavyweight champion Mason Dixon. Bayless opines that Balboa "was completely overrated" and mocks his age.

He appears in the ESPN 30 for 30 film Pony Excess, the story about the Southern Methodist University football scandal, covering the Mustangs while writing for both Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times Herald.

Bibliography[link]

• God's Coach: The Hymns, Hype, and Hipocrisy of Tom Landry's Cowboys, Simon and Schuster, 1990. ISBN 0-671-70581-4.
• The Boys: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys' Season on the Edge, Simon and Schuster, 1993. ISBN 0-671-79359-4.
• Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the "Win or Else" Dallas Cowboys, HarperCollins Publishers, 1996. ISBN 0-06-018648-8.

See also[link]

• Rick Bayless – celebrity chef and brother of Skip Bayless

References[link]

External links[link]

• Skip Bayless ESPN Bio
• Skip Bayless at the Internet Movie Database

Toni Gonzaga
Born	Celestine Cruz Gonzaga (1984-01-20) January 20, 1984 (age 28) Taytay, Rizal, Philippines
Residence	Taytay, Rizal and Manila, Philippines
Nationality	Filipino
Occupation	television host, singer, actress, model
Years active	1998–present
Website
http://www.tonigonzaga.net

Celestine Cruz Gonzaga (born January 20, 1984), better known as Toni Gonzaga, is a Filipino singer, television host and actress. She started her career with GMA Network, then later moved to ABS-CBN Network. She hosts the entertainment talk show The Buzz, and the reality show Pinoy Big Brother. She's also a co-host and a performer in the musical variety show ASAP.

Early life and education[link]

Toni Gonzaga is a resident of Taytay, Rizal and the eldest daughter of Carlito and Crisanta Gonzaga, who also acts as her talent manager.^[1] Her sister is Catherine Gonzaga, also known as Alex Gonzaga whose also an actress and television host in TV 5. In Taytay, she was an elected barangay kagawad for one term^[2][3] and a Sunday school teacher in her evangelical church. She studied Mass Communication at the Dominican College in San Juan, Rizal for two years. Later, she transferred to the Asian Institute for Distance Education (AIDE) and shifted her course to AB English.

Career[link]

Toni Gonzaga started in local entertainment at the age of 13. It was on 1997 where she joined a singing competition called "Tanghalan Ng Kampeon" aired on GMA Network hosted by Pilita Corales and Bert "Tawa" Marcelo.^[4] The singing competition television show also start the careers of two other Filipina singers, Kyla and Faith Cuneta.^[5][6] She did not win the competition.

Her biggest break in the Philippine entertainment industry was her soft drink TV ad with Piolo Pascual in 2001.^[7] In the same year, she released her eponymous debut album under Prime Music and "Paano", a cover of Gary Valenciano, was released as it's carrier single. And in 2002 she became one of the main hosts in the long time afternoon variety show Eat Bulaga,^[8][9]. She also sung "Doon", the theme song of TAPE, Inc.'s afternoon TV drama, "Ikaw Sa Puso Ko" which stars Star Struck finalist, Nadine Samonte and Oyo Sotto which aired on GMA Network. In March, 2004 she joined Studio 23's Wazzup Wazzup with Archie Alemania and Vhong Navarro.

In 2005, she transferred to ABS-CBN Network^[10]. Later she became one of the main hosts of Pinoy Big Brother series and the Sunday musical variety program ASAP. In 2006 she released her second album and her first to Star Records with "Toni: You Complete Me" and star her first prime time drama series "Crazy For You" opposite Luis Manzano. In 2007, she was awarded the Princess of Philippine Movies by the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Foundation, Inc. (GMMSF) for the movie "You are the One" with Sam Milby as the Prince of Philippine Movies. In 2008, she had her first solo major concert at the Aliw Theater titled "Catch Me, Toni Gonzaga: First Major Concert" which had a repeat the same year. In 2009, she starred in a Valentine's Day Special episode of the longest-running drama anthology on Philippine television and on Asia, Maalaala Mo Kaya. And in 2010 she became part of entertainment talk show program The Buzz. She is the SM Cinema's Box Office Queen for 2010^[11][12] alongside John Lloyd Cruz as the Box Office King for their movie "My Amnesia Girl".

On September 30, 2011, she celebrated her 10th year anniversary in Philippine entertainment industry with a concert at the Smart Araneta Center titled "Toni@10" with guests Piolo Pascual, John Lloyd Cruz, Vhong Navarro, Pokwang, Vice Ganda, Sam Milby, and her real-life sister Alex Gonzaga, with the special participation of Gary Valenciano.^[13][14] TAG Concept, the production and talent management group owned by the Gonzaga family, co-produced the show with Star Events and Epic Entertainment.

In March, 2012, she starred in the first ever month-long special of "Wansapanataym" which aired four episodes^[15].

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Awards[link]