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English does a lot of shorting, rhyming nicknames. We even like to lengthen the rhyming part back out to be even more confusing. • Richard -> Rick -> Dick • W

English does a lot of shorting, rhyming nicknames. We even like to lengthen the rhyming part back out to be even more confusing. • Richard -> Rick -> Dick • William -> Will -> Bill -> Billy • Robert -> Rob -> Bob -> Bobby • Margaret -> Meg -> Peg -> Peggy • Edward -> Ed -> Ned | Ted -> Teddy A lot of common names also have just a variant which barely seems related: • Henry -> Harry • John -> Jack • James -> Jim And you'll have to Google for all the nicknames for "Elizabeth" because I can't remember them all. What we lack for creativity in names themselves, we make up for with creative nicknames because every other kid is called Elizabeth.

DavidAdams 2y ago
There are also a lot of nicknames for Margaret (Marge, Madge, Maggie, etc), I guess because there just aren't nearly as many biblical names for women/girls so people wanted to get creative.
kej 2y ago
To add on to what you said, the rhyming is usually in the direction of easier sounds for children to make. Kids will struggle with R a lot more than D, so you get Richard -> Rick -> Dick but not David -> Dave -> Rave, for example.
- iteria 2y ago
  Now all I can think is how there was a Janet in my family and none of us children could say her name, so she became Janice to us forever even as adults.
card_zero 2y ago
And somehow, Mary -> Polly. This is "lambdacism" apparently.
- nemomarx 2y ago
  mary to molly to Polly? I can kinda see the molly step at least
- tsm 2y ago
  It's Mary -> Molly-> Polly, which makes slightly more sense
  - Anthony-G 2y ago
    Thanks. I always assumed that Polly was a diminutive of Pauline.
Jordan_Pelt 2y ago
Hank and Hal are also short for Henry.
toyg 2y ago
Jack is also used for James, since it is the equivalent of Jacques in French and Giacomo in Italian. The apostle was actually called Yakov, after Jacob, which is the root of all those names.
dmit 2y ago
Also the r->z substitution. Charles -> Chaz. Barry -> Baz. Jeremy -> Jez. Caroline -> Caz. etc etc

DavidAdams 2y ago

There are also a lot of nicknames for Margaret (Marge, Madge, Maggie, etc), I guess because there just aren't nearly as many biblical names for women/girls so people wanted to get creative.

kej 2y ago

To add on to what you said, the rhyming is usually in the direction of easier sounds for children to make. Kids will struggle with R a lot more than D, so you get Richard -> Rick -> Dick but not David -> Dave -> Rave, for example.

iteria 2y ago
Now all I can think is how there was a Janet in my family and none of us children could say her name, so she became Janice to us forever even as adults.

card_zero 2y ago

And somehow, Mary -> Polly. This is "lambdacism" apparently.

nemomarx 2y ago
mary to molly to Polly? I can kinda see the molly step at least
tsm 2y ago
It's Mary -> Molly-> Polly, which makes slightly more sense
- Anthony-G 2y ago
  Thanks. I always assumed that Polly was a diminutive of Pauline.

Jordan_Pelt 2y ago

Hank and Hal are also short for Henry.

toyg 2y ago

Jack is also used for James, since it is the equivalent of Jacques in French and Giacomo in Italian. The apostle was actually called Yakov, after Jacob, which is the root of all those names.

dmit 2y ago

Also the r->z substitution. Charles -> Chaz. Barry -> Baz. Jeremy -> Jez. Caroline -> Caz. etc etc