BENTON — To commemorate the people of the village, Al Farrey set out on a unique mission to uncover and compile a list of residents’ nicknames.
Farrey started his project using a compilation of about 60 to 80 Benton inhabitant nicknames in a list displayed at a barber shop.
This document was made about 25 years ago, Farrey said, and was printed on a vintage label fashioned into a plaque.
After a year of work by Farrey and his brother, the list now has about 294 names.
The vast majority of the names on the list — Farrey estimated about 90 percent — spouted from the recollections of the Farrey brothers; the rest of the names were volunteered by other residents.
“Mainly it was remembering back through our childhood,” said Farrey. He and his brother sat down and went back through a mental tour of their neighborhood, going “door by door,” recalling who was in each house and what their nicknames were. They did the same inventory for the current generation.
The list spans Farrey’s 77 years, he said. A number of the original 60 to 80 names may date back even farther.
Farrey said he decided to work on the list simply because he wanted to recognize the nicknames of people in the town, but he left out last names to avoid bringing up potential sore spots.
“We made that intentional,” he said.
The list: Abby, AlleyCat, AllyOop, Alzie, Amby, Amzie, Babe, Babs, Baldy, Bandy, Banger, Barney, B-Bar, Bear, Beep, Big, Lou, Bigler, BillJack, Billygoat, Birdie, Blainer, Blubber, Bones, Booger, Bootie, Bounce, Boxer, Boxes, Bozo, Bruiser, Bubba, Bubbins, Buck, Bucket, Bucky, Bud, Buddha, Buddy, Bill, Bugger, Buggs, Bully, Bum, Bun, Bunny, Burger, Bushy, Buster, Butch, Butsie, Buxter, Buzz, Cal, Calvert, CannonBall, Cap, Casey, CheeseBurger, Cheezy, Chet, Chicken, Chilly, Bill, Ching, Chisel, Chub, Clary, Cookie, Coon, Cootie, Cope, Cruiser, Cub, Cuddy, Cutie, Danny, Dapper, Deedlow, Dew, Key, Dewey, Diddle, Digger, Dim, Dinger, Dink, Dinny, Doc, Dooley, Double, Clutch, Dragger, Duck, Duff, Duffy, Dunce, Dunk, Dusty, Dutch, Dynamite, Ears, Eck, Eddiebegood, Elmer, Farmer, Fish, Flarity, Foss, Foxy, Frankie, Frannie, Frog, Gas, Glory, B, Goat, Gochi, Goose, Gopher, Griff, Gunner, Gunny, Gus, H, H, Bomb, Ham, Hannon, Bomb, Happy, Harv, Heck, Hezzy, Hink, Flink, Hoagie, Hooker, Hooks, Hoot, Hop, Howdy, Huck, Huggins, Hunkerty, Hunkus, Hunter, Hussie, Iggy, Impy, Izzy, Jack, Jackie, Jacquie, Jagger, Jake, Jargo, Jiggs, Jimbo, Jimmy, Duze, It, Joker, Josie, Judy, Jug, Jughead, Juice, Kelly, Kitty, Kludge, Lambert, Leaky, Lil, General, Liz, Lizzy, Lorney, Luey, Mack, Magoo, Manny, Mickey, Mimi, Monkey, Moon, Moose, Mouse, Mouthy, Muff, Muldoon, Mulligan, Murf, Murph, Mutt, Nancy, Nanni, Needle, Cough, Neil, Nipper, Nonie, Nutto, Oaker, Old, Tom, Park, Pauly, Peck, PeeWee, Peg, Peggy, Peggy, Pa, Percy, Perk, Perky, Pint, Pipe, PJ, Pogo, Pony, Pop, Pork, Porky, Posie, Pots, Pottsie, Pratt, Punkin, Puss, Rattlesnake, Pete, Red, Rhondabird, Ricketty, Bill, Rip, Rock, Rocky, Ron-Jon, Roundy, Sal, Sankie, Scrapper, Shirt, tail, Shockus, Shorty, Sig, Simp, Sis, Skeeters, Skip, Skunk, Sleepy, Slickum, Smithers, Snapper, Snobby, Snowball, Sonny, Sox, Sparrow, Spike, Sprout, Squirrely, Steiner, Stormy, Suds, Swag, Swede, Taeden, Tate, Tea, 'N, Toffee, Teeny, Temp, Tex, Thel, Thumper, Tic-Toc, Tiddon, Tink, Tinker, Tiny, Toad, Too-Ker, Toot, Toothpick, Tootie, Trick, Tucker, Tudds, Tuffy, Turney, Tut, Tyke, U, Know, Wacker, Weezie, Wheel, Wheezy, Whimpy, Whiskers, Wick, Willie, Woody, Yaw-Hoo, Yonk-Yonk, Zeke and Zube.
