Words: Monica, n. (slang)

MONICA, MONIKER, monicker, monnicker, monekeer, monniker, monekeur, monneker, monoger, monekur, monocker. Not, as one might be forgiven for thinking, the cry of a president in ecstasy, but slang variants for a name or nickname.

The etymology is mysterious, according to Eric Partridge's Slang and Unconventional English. Suspects include: St Monica (the name deriving from the Latin monitor, an adviser), or an Italian word, monaco, for monk, or backslang for "eke-name", with the back-form "emaneke" becoming, by aphesis, maneke, then moneke. A derivation from monarch is another idea. Partridge himself puts his money on monoger as an abbreviation of monogram, though monoger appeared only in 1926, compared with monekeer in 1851.