How to Give Names "Power" (Not Religiously) ?

[Jackarandajam]

If it were me naming a character, I'd start with simple but effective. I can see your guy here being called "Chaos," or "Trickster," Or maybe just "Dragon." Or we could go the Irish route and flip it around. "Honesty." "The Steady."

I don't like "Crack Shot" mostly because it's a very short jump to "Butt Crack" and you don't want to put that in your readers' brains unintentionally. Also, the term 'crack shot' is very closely tied to sharpshooting, so with guns, in American English and will sound strange on someone without a gun. For a character who's primary weapon is her fists I like "Hammer," or "Sledge," stuff like that.

MeatBricks... NightNight... Clock... Stars...

The really good ones are based on stories though. Like with a boxer, maybe "Pinkie," cause during a fight a decade ago they actually got a whole pinkie finger ripped off, but still finished the fight.
Even if the pinkie finger got put back on and/or they lost the fight, that's the way nicknames work; somebody says it, somebody else repeats it, and boom, stuck with it forever.

And it would be super cool to have some gigantic cauliflower eared monster of a boxer named Pinkie.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

MeatBricks... NightNight... Clock... Stars...

The really good ones are based on stories though. Like with a boxer, maybe "Pinkie," cause during a fight a decade ago they actually got a whole pinkie finger ripped off, but still finished the fight.
Even if the pinkie finger got put back on and/or they lost the fight, that's the way nicknames work; somebody says it, somebody else repeats it, and boom, stuck with it forever.

And it would be super cool to have some gigantic cauliflower eared monster of a boxer named Pinkie.

Now we're getting into mob territory. Benny the Fish. Jimmy the Squirrel. Lefty. Stumpy. One Eyed Pete- And~ now we're back to pirates. lol

 

[Jackarandajam]

Now we're getting into mob territory. Benny the Fish. Jimmy the Squirrel. Lefty. Stumpy. One Eyed Pete- And~ now we're back to pirates. lol

I've got an alien character in my space fantasy named BeginAgain.
Everybody calls him Beg. A nickname of a nickname.
Have I explained why his nickname is Beginagain? Nope.
Why? Because I have no idea why he is called Beginagain.

It's just what came out of my little fingertips.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I've got an alien character in my space fantasy named BeginAgain.
Everybody calls him Beg. A nickname of a nickname.
Have I explained why his nickname is Beginagain? Nope.
Why? Because I have no idea why he is called Beginagain.

It's just what came out of my little fingertips.

I do this all the time, too. It's in your brain somewhere. He knows. Your little fingers know. And eventually, he's going to turn around and tell you.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I think the imporant thing about nicknames is consistency, reason for it, and character reaction to it. If you get those right, then anything can work as a nickname.

Harry Potter gives a good, if perhaps childish, example. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is a silly nickname when you think about it. Yet, it's used everywhere, and all characters react to it in the same way, and there's logic behind it. It works in HP.

Or to make up a random example. Calling someone Joe the Average is a terrible nickname. Until you learn that he's a serial killer who likes to make his victims of average height and weight by chopping off pieces. Then it becomes a pretty gruesome name.

Think about it. There's nothing special or specifically dark about the nickname Blackbeard. And yet, everyone thinks "dangerous pirate" when they hear it.