"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.", 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, 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.

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.

Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.

Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters. He is known for his role as Wolverine in the X-Men film series, as well as for his leads in Kate & Leopold, Van Helsing, The Prestige, Australia, and Real Steel. Jackman is a singer, dancer, and actor in stage musicals, and won a Tony Award for his role in The Boy from Oz.

In November 2008, Open Salon named Jackman one of the sexiest men alive. Later that same month, People magazine named Jackman "Sexiest Man Alive."

A three-time host of the Tony Awards, winning an Emmy Award for one of these appearances, Jackman also hosted the 81st Academy Awards on 22 February 2009.

Jackman was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the youngest of five children of English parents Chris Jackman and Grace Watson, and the second child to be born in Australia (he also has a younger half-sister, from his mother's re-marriage). One of his paternal great-grandfathers was Greek. His parents divorced when he was eight, and he remained with his accountant father and siblings, while his mother moved back to England. As a child, Jackman liked the outdoors, spending a lot of time at the beach and on camping trips and vacations all over Australia. He wanted to see the world: "I used to spend nights looking at atlases. I decided I wanted to be a chef on a plane. Because I'd been on a plane and there was food on board, I presumed there was a chef. I thought that would be an ideal job."

Karrine Steffans (born August 24, 1978) is an American author, most notably of the Vixen series of books. She has worked as an actress and as a hip hop model, having appeared in more than 20 music videos, many by multiplatinum-selling rap artists. In 2007 and 2008, Steffans visited a number of college campuses to speak about her involvement in the hip-hop industry and its expectations of women.

Steffans was born in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and moved to Florida when she was 10 years old. She has written about her troubled childhood: she grew up in poverty, suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of an alcoholic mother and indifferent father, and was raped when she was 13. She ran away at 16, and began working as an exotic dancer. She lived on the streets for a month. She lived in New York and Arizona, and then moved to Los Angeles in 1999. She currently resides near Hollywood, California.

When she was 17, Steffans moved in with rapper Nathaniel Wilson, better known as Kool G Rap, with whom she had a son. Their relationship was "tumultuous", and Steffans says she left for Los Angeles to protect her son after physical abuse landed her in the hospital.