To Eke Out a Living, or a Name

So here's a fun bit of philology I learned today: "nickname" had the word eke in its forefront until people added the "n-" syllable because that happens with words that start with vowels sometimes. "Eke" means "to lengthen," but in contemporary English it's always used in the phrase "to eke out a living," so, to stretch. Well, people stretch names sometimes too, adding to them something of their own.