In the forties, in Middlesex, absolutely everyone at school had a nickname depending on their race, origin or even hair colour. We had, Eyeties, Ginger, Specky, Wops, Taffies, Macks, Shorty, Lanky, Chinky, Sambo etc etc. I was Skinny, or The Galloping Hairpin. None of it was malicious or intended to upset. In fact, if you didn't have a nickname you'd have felt a bit out of it. But I concede that times have changed (unfortunately) and people would be very angry with these things nowadays. Oh how innocent we all were then!