The origins of some nicknames are obvious. It’s easy to see why
Ed is short for
Edward,
Nick is short for
Nicholas, and
Ally is short for
Allison. Other diminutives require more explanation. If you’re curious how
Margaret turned into
Peggy, or how
Richard led to
Dick, check out the histories of 10 nicknames that push the limits of the term.
1.
The actor Richard "Dick" Van ****. | Paul Morigi/GettyImages
The name
Richard is very old and was popular during the Middle Ages. In the 12th and 13th centuries everything was
written by hand and Richard nicknames like
Rich and
Rick were common just to save time. Rhyming nicknames were also common and eventually
Rick gave way to
Dick and
Hick, while
Rich became
Hitch.
Dick, of course, is the only rhyming nickname that stuck over time. And boy did it stick. At one point in England, the name
Dick was so popular that the phrase “every Tom, Dick, or Harry” was used to describe Everyman.
2.
William Henry Gates III, who goes by the nickname Bill. | WPA Pool/GettyImages
There are many theories on why
Bill became a nickname for
William; the most obvious is that it was part of the Middle Ages trend of letter swapping. Much how
Dick is a rhyming nickname for
Rick, the same is true of
Bill and
Will. Because hard consonants are easier to pronounce than soft ones, some believe
Will morphed into
Bill for phonetic reasons. Interestingly, when William III ruled over England in the late 17th century, his subjects mockingly referred to him as “
King Billy.”
3.
Baseball player Henry "Hank" Aaron. | John Vawter Collection/GettyImages
The name
Henry dates back to medieval England. (Curiously, at that time,
Hank was a diminutive for
John.) So how do we get
Hank from
Henry? Well, one theory says that
Hendrik is the Dutch form of the English name
Henry.
Henk is the diminutive form of
Hendrick, ergo,
Hank from
Henk. Hanks were hugely popular here in the States for many decades, though by the early ’90s the name no longer appeared in the top 1000 names for baby boys. But
Hank is making a comeback! In 2010, it cracked the top 1000, settling at 806.
By 2013 it was up to 632.
4.
John "Jack" Nicholson. | Roy Jones/GettyImages
The name
Jack dates back to about 1200 and was originally used as a
generic name for peasants. Over time,
Jack worked his way into words such as
lumberjack and
steeplejack. Even
jackass, the commonly used term for a donkey, retains its generic essence in the word
Jack. Of course,
John was once used as a generic name for English commoners and peasants (John Doe), which could be why
Jack came became his nickname. But the more likely explanation is that Normans added
-kin when they wanted to make a diminutive. And
Jen was their way of saying
John. So little
John became Jenkin and time turned that into
Jakin, which ultimately became
Jack.
5.
Charles "Chuck" Berry. | Michael Ochs Archives/GettyImages
“Dear Chuck” was an English term of endearment and Shakespeare, in
Macbeth, used the phrase to refer to
Lady Macbeth. What's this have to do with
Charles? Not much, but it’s interesting. However,
Charles in Middle English was
Chukken [
PDF] and that’s probably where the nickname was born.
6.
The name
Margaret has a variety of different nicknames. Some are obvious, as in
Meg,
Mog, and
Maggie, while others are downright strange, like
Daisy. But it’s the
Mog/Meg we want to concentrate on here as those nicknames later morphed into the
rhymed forms Pog(gy) and
Peg(gy).
7.
Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy. | Wally McNamee/GettyImages
The name
Ted is yet another result of the Old English tradition of letter swapping. Since there were a limited number of first names in the Middle Ages, letter swapping allowed people to differentiate between people with the same name. It was common to replace the first letter of a name that began with a vowel, as in
Edward, with an easier to pronounce consonant, such as
T. Of course,
Ted was already a popular nickname for
Theodore, which makes it one of the only nicknames derived from two different first names.
8.
Prince Harry, whose full name is Henry Charles Albert David. | Samir Hussein/GettyImages
Since Medieval times,
Harry has been a consistently popular nickname for boys named
Henry in England.
Henry was also very popular among
British monarchs, most of whom preferred to be called
Harry by their subjects. This is a tradition that continues today as Henry Charles Albert David, as he was Christened, goes by Prince Harry. Of course,
Harry is now used as a given name for boys. In 2006, it was the 595th most popular name for boys in the United States. One reason for its upsurge in popularity was the huge success of the Harry Potter books.
9.
There are no definitive theories on how
Jim became the commonly used nickname for
James, but the name dates back to at least the 1820s. For decades,
Jims were pretty unpopular due to “
Jim Crow” laws. The name derived from a minstrel character used to perpetuate racist stereotypes in 19th-century America. The name “Jim Crow” soon became associated with African Americans and by the early 20th century, Jim Crow aimed to promote segregation in the South.
Jim has since shed its racial past, and is once again a popular first name for boys all by itself, sans
James.
10.
Sally was primarily used as a nickname for
Sarah in England and France. Like some English nicknames,
Sally was derived by replacing the
R in
Sarah with an
L. Same is true for
Molly, a common
nickname for Mary. Though
Sally from the Peanuts never ages, the name itself does and has declined in popularity in recent years. Today, most girls prefer the original Hebrew name
Sarah.