Php if and else

I'm trying to make this code work but I don't know why it won't. Basically I want it to display a name if the nickname column in the database is null. And if it's not null it should display the nickname. Also I'm somewhat noob so keep that in mind when responding.

$namn = mysql_query("SELECT name FROM Horseinfo WHERE name = '$somevariable'");
$nicknamn = mysql_query("SELECT nickname FROM Horseinfo WHERE name = '$somevariable'");

<? $row = mysql_fetch_array($nicknamn,$namn); 
                if(is_null($nicknamn)) {?>
                <div style='font-size:18px; padding-bottom:3px; margin-top:0px;'>records for <? echo $row['name'];?></div>
            <?} else {?>
                <div style='font-size:18px; padding-bottom:3px; margin-top:0px;'>records for <? echo $row['nickname'];?></div>
            <?}?>