Pet Names for Geeks and Nerds

Diggory

French

"Lost one"

This buoyant name has the same bouncy rhythm as Rafferty and Barnaby, but is virtually unused. It has plenty of literary cred, too: characters in The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter and Thomas…

Gambit

Word name

Gambit means ploy or trick, which makes it an appropriate name for a little player. Eight boys were named Gambit in the US in one recent year.

Gellert

Gellert is a masculine name with Hungarian and Germanic origins, most famously associated with the Hungarian composer Gellért Szabó and St. Gellért (Gerard), an Italian missionary who became the…

Hagrid

Literary name

Gentle giant Rubeus Hagrid is the groundskeeper at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter novels (probably after Hagrid Rubes, the equally kind ancient Greek mythological giant), but that's not the only reason…

Jaskier

Literary and botanical name

"buttercup"

Jaskier is the original Polish name of the bard character in The Witcher , incorrectly translated in the English versions of the books and video games as Dandelion but really meaning Buttercup. The…

Pixel

English modern coinage

"picture cell or element"

Coined in the 1960s to define the smallest photographic element of a televised image. It's a portmanteau of "picture" + "cell" or "element".