Forum: english.stackexchange.com
Tags: <etymology><american-english><proper-nouns>
Title: What do the American nicknames 'Dutch' and 'T-Bone' mean?
Question: Does the nickname  Dutch  have any significance? I know it was Reagan's, and I'm sure I've come across it in other books/films.  Also  T-Bone , as in  T-Bone Walker ,  T-Bone Burnett : what does that mean? (I realise T-bone is a steak, but why would people be named after a meat cut, and why this one?)

Answers:
sents: text: Dutch, not an uncommon nickname, seems to be used for a variety of reasons.
text: It could be because a person is connected to Holland, or because a person is of German descent.
text: Here, "Dutch" is from "Deutsch," the German-language word for "German.
text: " Other reasons are more idiosyncratic.
text: Here are some examples: Ronald Reagan , 40th President of the United StatesAs a boy,
text: Reagan's father nicknamed his son "Dutch", due to his "fat little Dutchman"-like appearance, and his "Dutchboy" haircut; the nickname stuck with him throughout his youth.
text: Dutch Schultz , notorious gangsterHis old associates dubbed him "Dutch" Schultz in honor of a deceased strong-arm thug who was notorious for dirty fighting at the turn of the century.
text: Dutch Ruppersberger , U.S. congressmanDutch is legally part of his name: Charles Albert Dutch Ruppersberger III, but it wasn't always.
text: When Rep. Charles Albert Ruppersberger III (D-Md.)
text: first ran for Congress in 2002, he decided that his 13-letter last name was too long to put on a bumper sticker.
text: Besides, he says, he needed something catchier, something that would stick in people’s heads.
text: So he opted for his lifelong nickname: Dutch.
text: But there was one hitch:
text: It wasn’t his real name, so he couldn’t put "Dutch" on the ballot.
text: "When you market yourself, you have to make sure that you have the same name on the ballot, so I needed ‘Dutch’ on the ballot," he said in an interview.
text: "
text: So what I did is I legally
text: -- I’m a lawyer -- I legally added Dutch to my name.
text: So I would go by C -- period -- A -- period -- Dutch, and all of the bumper stickers would say, ‘Go Dutch.’
text: So legally I added Dutch to my name."
text: But why did he choose "Dutch"?
text: The Maryland Democrat’s nickname has been --Dutch-- since the moment of his birth.
text: --When I was born ...
text: the doctor came out and said to my father, ‘You have a big blond Dutchman,’ -- he said.
text: --So they started calling me ‘Dutch,’ and when my mother and he would write letters, he’d ask, ‘How’s the Dutchman doing?’
text: I’ve been called Dutch all of my life.-- Dutch Fehring , Stanford's winningest baseball coach.
text: It was during his freshman year in high school that he earned the nickname --Dutch,-- because he was of German descent.
text: After Fehring returned a kickoff 60 yards for a touchdown, a local sportswriter tabbed him --The Flying Dutchman--
text: and the nickname stuck.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/860/Daniel
score: 14
sents: text: Arnold Schwarznegger's character's (nick)name in the film "Predator" was "Dutch".
text: I once read a review which claimed this was a way to explain his accent away.
text: As for T-Bone Walker, Wikipedia tells me Aaron Thibeaux Walker[4] ....
text: In 1929, Walker made his recording debut with a single for Columbia, "Wichita Falls Blues"/"Trinity River Blues," billed as Oak Cliff T-Bone.[1]
text: Oak Cliff was the community he lived in at the time and T-Bone a corruption of his middle name .
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 7
sents: text: We have answers for T-Bone Walker, but not for T Bone Burnett.
text: An article by the Newark Star Ledger (posted on his own site ) says: Christened Joseph Henry Burnett, T Bone came by his nickname "honestly," around the age of 5, he says.
text: The fact that he shared a moniker with famous Texas guitarist T-Bone Walker caused some wincing when he first started to perform, but he stuck with it.
text: So his name doesn't begin with a T and he didn't copy it from Walker, he just picked it somehow.
text: Some other T-Bones : T-Bone Slim (1890-1942), pen name for American poet, songwriter, and labour activist
text: Matti Valentine Huhta:
text: Apparently Slim was a common name for hoboes, perhaps because they tended to be skinny from lack of food.
text: And maybe the T-Bone was for ironic contrast, and for the T sound from the end of Matti.
text: His " Lumberjack's Prayer " begins: "I pray dear Lord for Jesus' sake, /
text: Give us this day a T-Bone Steak".
text: T-Bone (rapper), a Christian rapper: "His name came from being called ' Bones ' as a youngster because he was very skinny.
text: The 'T' was "added to give the name a little slang edge, hence the name 'T-Bone' was born."
text: " And these three all have names beginning with T: Tony "T-Bone" Bellamy, lead guitarist, pianist and vocalist of the 1970s band Redbone.
text: Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, an American bassist: "guitarist G.E. Smith ... gave him the nickname T-Bone — for blues guitarist T-Bone Walker — after Wolk played his bass behind his head during a solo".
text: Tom "T-Bone" Stankus, an American musician.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/9001/Hugo
score: 4
sents: text: I have no doubt that "T-Bone" comes from the steak.
text: I think that a cut of steak is something considered fairly rugged and manly, so for this reason it might be attractive as a nickname.
text: Of course that is just speculation.
text: Also, I notice (from Wikipedia)
text: that T-Bone Walker got his nickname because his middle name starts with a T. I suspect that a name like T-Bone could easily arise from this sort of connection.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/449/Kosmonaut
score: 3
sents: text: Having played in the brass section of a marching band in grade school, I know that trombones are frequently referred to as "t-bones".
text: In the context of musicians, I have often assumed that those bearing the moniker "T-Bone" were, among other things, notorious trombonists (or "tromboners" per band director Dewey Largo on The Simpsons ) but clearly this is not a reference that translates into popular culture with any frequency.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/141374/David Carter
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
"Dutch" is not an uncommon nickname and may refer to someone of German descent or connected to Holland or, as the case of Ronald Reagan, to a "dutchboy" haircut. It is unclear what the nickname "T-bone" means, although the term is often used as a slang expression for the trombone.
The nickname "Dutch" usually denotes some connection or link to Holland or Germany and T-Bone appears to originate from "Thibeaux".
"Dutch" is not an uncommon nickname and may refer to someone of German descent or connected to Holland or, as the case of Ronald Reagan, to a "dutchboy" haircut. It is unclear what the nickname "T-bone" means, although the term is often used as a slang expression for the trombone.
Dutch could be used because a person is connected to Holland, or because a person is of German descent. For example, Reagan's father nicknamed his son "Dutch", due to his "fat little Dutchman"-like appearance, and his "Dutchboy" haircut; the nickname stuck with him throughout his youth.   "T-Bone" most probably comes from the steak.  A cut of steak is something considered fairly rugged and manly, so for this reason it might be attractive as a nickname.  But there is also a musical reference as trombones are frequently referred to as "t-bones".
"Dutch" could be used for someone connected to Holland, or because a person is of German descent. Reagan's father nicknamed his son "Dutch", due to his "fat little Dutchman"-like appearance, and his "Dutch boy" haircut and the nickname stuck with him throughout his youth. "T-Bone" probably refers to the cut of steak, as something considered fairly rugged and manly, so for this reason it might be attractive as a nickname.  
The answer to this question may well be different in every case. The nickname "Dutch" may well be applied because of someone's connections to the Netherlands. However, in the case of Ronald Reagan, it was due to his "Dutchboy" hairstyle as a child. With regards to the nickname "T-bone", it may well come from the steak cut, with it being considered perhaps rugged and manly.