Reply to Nicknames/short names that don't make sense

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Dick and Richard

Jack and John

Peggy and Margaret

Chuck and Charles[/quote]

Many of these old nicknames, as well as the many nn's for Elizabeth, Henry, William, Mary, etc., made sense back in colonial or medieval times when they originated. We might not recognize where they come from anymore, but does doesn't mean the don't make sense.

There are a number of theories about where the English nn Jack came from, such as that it was derived from the French Jacques, or that it is a short form of "Jankin" or "Jenkin", which were themselves common pet names for John. (The surname Jenkins means "little John," "kin" being a common diminutive used in England around the 10th-11th century (from the Dutch) and Jen meaning John. In fact the nn Hank actually came from Hankin, which like Jack was a nn for John (from Hans-kin, or little Hans, Hans of course deriving from Johannes). For some reason Hank became used as a nn for Henry in colonial America.

Dick may come, believe it or not, from the English inability to pronounce the name Richard as it was pronounced by the Normans who introduced it to England in medieval times.

Etc.[/quote]

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