I'd bet good money that the first use of the word was 'He's a Mackem' ...
... absolutely not 'I'm a Mackem'.
Nicknames aren't usually adopted by people as a nice way to describe themselves but are often taken back later as is the case with '******' ...
... that was originally used as a common, if unkind and inaccurate, term to refer to all black people. It then, after the abolition of slavery, became an offensive term used to remind people of their roots. It was then taken ownership by black people who used it as a term of defiance.
The same applies to 'Brummie' which was originally an insult meaning 'shoddy'.
'Geordie' was originally a common insult.
"Frank Graham, a local writer and publisher, states that the name originally was a term of abuse meaning “fool”. In 1823 local showman Billy Purvis used it to put down a rival. He is quoted as saying “Noo yor a fair doon feul, not an artificial feul like Billy Purvis! Thous a real Geordie!”
All of these terms were originally used as insults then taken back in an ironic fashion.
The same goes for individual nicknames ...
... think about your mates and who coined their nicknames.
We have a mate called 'Glon', real name Glen, because he had a tattoo, when he was abroad and mortal, and stupidly gave the tattooist the spelling SUNDERELAND.
It's a pisstake that he grew to love, ironically ...
... I'm not being patronising to Mackems, it's just how things are imo.
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