Can Jack be a nickname for Jonathan?

It's dumb enough that for some reason Jack is a nickname for John...

Why not just name him Jack? All the Jack's I've known have been great while the Jonathan's were pushover forgettable types.

No.

Not dull at all. Names are fascinating.

John and Jonathan strangely don’t share the same root, hence why Jack can be a nickname for John (although it’s not widely used these days) but isn’t usually for Jonathan.

Regarding John -> Jack, happy to be corrected but I believe it goes all the way back to the Norman conquest and a lot of back and forth between Old French and Old English.

John was Jen in Old French, or Jan in Old Dutch. In Old English ‘kin’ was used an affectionate suffix (similarly to how we’d use ‘ie’ these days e.g. Jack became Jackie). So we have Jen or John becoming Jankin, which due to French pronunciation eventually becomes Jackin and somehow along the way is shortened to Jack.

Henry to Harry is a similarly dull tale!

Happy to be corrected by an expert, Cake, but why the sarcasm? Just own your expertise.

John and Jonathan do not have the same root, but Jonathan and Nathan do.
Jack traditionally is a nn for John, but can also be a form of James. Jacqueline is the feminine form of James.

If you are going to call the baby Jack, you might as well put Jack on the bc.

Nicknames don’t have to have any connection with a given name.
My nickname was Spike.
My ex-FIL was registered as Henry he was always called Bill!

Sorry - x post about a million people!

Jack is a nickname for John. My uncle Jack is John on his birth certificate but has been Jack all his like.

John and Jonathan do not share the same root name, and they are not basically the same name. They are not comparable to Sophie/Sophia, for example, which are clearly from the same roots.

John comes from Iohannes, the Latin form of Ioannes, which is the Grek form of the Hebrew name Yochanan. It means God is gracious.

Jonathan comes from Ionathan, which is a Latin and Greek form of the Hebrew name Yehonatan (or simplified as Yonatan). It means God has given.

Any source which says they share the same roots, are incorrect, but hey, I'm a Hebrew speaker, so what do I know?!

To give examples of names which do share the same Hebrew roots, James and Jacob do, as do Mary and Miriam.

No. Jonathan is a lovely name why shorten it to “jack”?

These days no one gets to know someone called John and then starts to call them Jack as a natural progression.

Not in the same way Peter and David will be shortened to Pete and Dave.

So if you fancy Jack as a day to day name just use it from the off, even if birth certificate name is. Jonathon.

If you use Jonathan, kids in school might shorten it to anything from ‘J’ to Jonno or Jon. You might have to introduce ‘Jonty’.

John F. Kennedy was also known as Jack!

Yep I taught a Jack short for Jonathan. It is more commonly a nickname for John but as the origins of Jonathan lie in John it is not wrong.

Fair enough. We’ll have to agree to disagree, because I don’t think Jonathan is a name that can legitimately have the nickname Jack.

I don’t think it’s irrelevant that John and Jonathan are related. Helen / Ellen / Eleanor / Helena are all distinct but related names which can all legitimately have the nn Nell.

Kinda think Sophie and Sophia are more similar than John & Jonathan, but whatever.

It’s like saying Mary and Miriam are the ‘basically the same name’.

I wouldn't do it personally as it will just cause confusion as these days most Jacks are Jack on their birth certificate rather than John

Husky - yes John and Jonathan are different names but your assertion that they are 'completely different names' is slightly ridiculous - would you say the same about Sophie/Sophia or Mark/Marcus?

We knew a Jonathan who was Joe for short.

I thought you could use any name you like for a nickname, and that a nickname is different to just abbreviating a name?
I know a Jonathan called Joz and another called Thon.

I know of 3 Jonathans called Joff.

OK, Husky. I'll check with the name etymology police next time.

FWIW I agree with you that it won't work.

It’s irrelevant that they come from the same source. They are now two separate names, and Jack originated as a nickname for only one of them (John).

Jack has never been a nickname for Jonathan, and it will sound forced. That said, the OP can (and might as well) use Nigel as a nickname for Jonathan, if she wants.

I know a Jack whose full name is Jonathan. Also a Joe.

John and Jonathan both come from a common Hebrew source of Iohannes, Latinised from Yohanan. They are basically the same name.

Please feel free to take your pick of any number of legitimate sources, but I wouldn't be so snobby about Wikipedia - the batshit stuff gets peer-edited out pretty quickly. Cross-referenced against other sources it's very useful and generally reliable.