Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

nickname

nickname , noun

[Old English ekename surname, hence, a nickname, an ekename being understood as a nekename, influenced also by English nick, v. See Eke, and Name.]

A name given in affectionate familiarity, sportive familiarity, contempt, or derision; a familiar or an opprobrious appellation; as, Nicholas's nickname is Nick.

Nickname (#) , transitive verb

To give a nickname to; to call by a nickname.
You nickname virtue; vice you should have spoke. — Shakespeare
I altogether disclaim what has been nicknamed the doctrine of finality. — Macaulay