Nick names are cool , well they are cool most of the times.You have to be really creative to find a suitable,funny,apt,compelling nick name that lasts.Its not necessary that they mean something , it is actually better if they don't and mind you they are not just for fun ,never.Like every other creature in this world , nick names too have a birth,life,history and rarely death.

There is this guy who is fondly called as di(t)ch , not sure why he got this name but when people call him dich ,it just feels right.There is even a orkut fan group for this.The funny thing about nick names is , like in this case people start responding to it readily , so much so that they slowly forget their actual name.
Then there are universal nick names like mama,thayir etc.In any college you will find more than one responding to these.
Sometimes people are not all that good when nick-naming , for instance people who tend to do everything in easiest and most efficient way possible get names like vetti, which means jobless or one who avoids/escapes from doing tiny chores.Come on getting work done the easiest way is one of the six sigma management principles, No?