Nickname
late Middle English: from an eke-name ( eke meaning ‘addition’: see eke2), misinterpreted, by wrong division, as a neke name .
wiktionary
From Middle English nekename, alteration (due to a rebracketing of an ekename as a nekename) of earlier ekename(“nickname”), from eke(“also, additional”) + name(“name”). [1] Compare Old Norse aukanafn, auknafn, auknefni(“nickname”), Faroese eyknevni(“nickname”), Danish øgenavn(“nickname”), and German Low German Ökelname(“nickname”).
For other similar cases of incorrect division, see also apron, daffodil, newt, orange, umpire.
etymonline
nickname (n.)
mid-15c., neke name, a misdivision of ekename (c. 1300), an eke name, "a familiar or diminutive name," especially one given in derision or reproach, literally "an additional name," from Old English eaca "an increase," related to eacian "to increase" (cognate with Old Norse auka-nefi, auknafn, Swedish öknamn, Danish ögenavn; see eke; also see N). As a verb, "to give a nickname to," from 1530s. Related: Nicknamed; nicknaming.
