In the Shadow of the Smokestack
an oral history of Mexican Americans in Morenci, Arizona

NICKNAMES FOR PEOPLE IN MORENCI

"There were people that had nicknames. Many people did not know what their names were, their true names, because we knew them by their nicknames."

Pedro Gomez, 98 years old

It seems like everybody in Morenci had a nickname. Some nicknames were acquired by people's personal traits such as "El Violin "because he was tall and skinny and "La Patona" because she had big feet. Others were a play on their names or the diminutive such as "Rica"for Ricardo and "Tavito" for Octavio. Other individuals may have received their nickname for something they did or wore, such as "Santo Claus" because his grandmother made him wear a long stocking cap with a pom pom on the end.

Sometimes a member of the family acquired a nickname and it was given to the whole family such as "Los Violines," "Las Patonas," "Los Chickens," and "Las Cheladas." In some cases the diminutive form of the nickname was given to a younger brother or sister such as "Hueso's" brother was called "Huesito" and "Caca's" brother was "Caquita."

Octavio (Tavito) Marquez, gave me a list of nicknames which grew and grew as I conducted the interviews. Some of the participants knew the person by their nickname but couldn't remember their real name. The following list is the result of interviewing numerous people. If the name is underlined, click on it for that person's interview.

 

 

NICKNAMES

Boss - Valentine Herrera

Caca - Cruz Ruiz

Caquita - Jose Ruiz

Chacho - Erlindo Romero

Chandolo - ? Orozco

Chango - Alfredo Contreras

Chile - Chilo Martinez

Chino - Magnino Macias

Cookie - Elena Díaz Bjorkquist

Cupie - Joe Orozco

Don Quesos - Jesus Flores

El Camote - Johnny Sanchez

El Chicken - Felipe Rodriguez

El Chonte - ? Pompa

El Cookie - Cayetano Perez

El Kaiser - Andres Montoya

El Mayate - Salvador Medina

El Metcalfeño - Rodolfo Villareal

El Mocho - Ramon Valdez

El Oso - Butch Calderon

El Violin - Tony Merino

Hershey - Gilbert Martinez

Huesitos - Guadalupe Muñoz

Hueso -

Joe Lewis - Luis Cervantez

La Vivora Negra - Pedro Gomez

Las Cheladas - Díaz sisters

Las Gatas - Montoya Girls

La Patona - Otilde Martinez

Las Patonas - Martinez sisters

Los Chickens - Rodriguez Family

Los Colitas - Perez Family

Los Monitos - Morales Family

Los Quachos - Perez Family

Los Violines - Merino Family

Lula - Raul Villareal

Maruka - María Mannelli Ponce

Mono - Juan Morales

Monito - Johnny Morales

Mother Goose - Eloisa Ponce

MuMu - Edmundo Marquez*

Nalgas - Tanis Paz

Negra - Tomás Paz*

Pachuco - Martin Ponce

Pancho - Francisco Martinez

Pepita - Josephine Martinez Granado

Pinky - Sammy Ponce

Quachanga - Pablo Díaz

Quismas - Ismael Lozano

Rica - Ricardo Macias

Santo Claus - Ricardo Ponce

Sarco - Jose Garcia

Seino - Hijino Herrera

Tavito - Octavio Marquez

* killed in World War II

 

 

Nicknames from the 40’s and 50’s

Chocolate - Nick Madrid
Little Chocolate - Nick's younger Brother, Bobby Madrid
El Cake - Richard Armijo ( He came from New Mexico and when asking to
repeat something, said "Que, Que", hence Cake.)
El Morcielago - Vicente Najar (also called Chente)
El Pocha - Joe Lozano (Son of Wismas who you list as Quimas)
El Tapon - Raymond Anaya
Squeakie - Ruben Anaya and Jimmy Parra
La Molina - Joe Pizano (In reference to a Woman that passed as a man and
worked in the mine).
Columbus - Joe Vega (He always wore a Tee Shirt, even when it was
snowing, was also called "La Mama De Tarzan" )

  Papo - Serapio Herrera
La Flaca - Fernando ?
El Tweet - Louie Benavidez
El Viejo - Bernardo Paez Sr. (from the forties)
La Guera - Guadalupe Valdez (from the forties)
DeeDee - David McCullar
Pangie - Juan Borjon
El Baby - Freddy Murillo
LaChanga - Ruben Murillo (Baby's older brother)
El German - Ray Apodaca
La Songa - Robert? Ontiveros
El Pelon - Henry Flores
Betillo- Albert? Flores
El Wampiro - Juan
El Butcher - Freddy ?
     

 

If you know the real names of any of the nicknames listed above or have other nicknames to add to the list, please e-mail them for inclusion in the list.