Well I never knew this!

[Jeanolly]

I've just had a lightbulb moment (at least I think I have!).

I never knew until about 2 minutes ago that Jimmy is a diminutive for Jeremy. I thought it was short for James. Or maybe it's for both?

Lots of names are both names in their own right and diminutives though. Kate or Katherine or Katerina or Catriona or Katie or Ceit or Kathleen etc etc.

Liam may well be it's own name and that's great, but it is a very very well established diminutive of William whether or not you want it to be.

What about Jiminy Cricket?

And Jedediah, but not Zedediah.

He's Jeremy - I've seen his birth certificate.

There are several people called Zebediah or Zechariah in the Bible.

Liam may well be it's own name and that's great, but it is a very very well established diminutive of William whether or not you want it to be.

It’s the Irish form.

Sally is a diminutive for Sarah. My granny was known as Sally all her life, but the name on her birth certificate was Sarah.

Yes I'd heard of Zebediah too but her son is Zedediah.

Or Jem or Jez

Yes or Remy.

Sally is a diminutive for Sarah.

Sadie is also, but they are both standalone names as well.

The Cornish form of James is Jago. Seems to be spreading past the border.
Jennifer is Cornish too, from Ginevre (Breton) and Guinevere (French).

Jago is like Iago in Spanish > Santiago (Saint James).

I know that Nellie comes from Helen. I believe it's because Helen spelled backwards is Neleh. I'm prepared to be corrected. Also, haven't read the full thread!😁

It isn’t. They are related names but Liam is the Irish for William.

No nothing to do with backwards spelling. Listen to the way the two names sound. Our ancestors took far more notice of the sounds of words and far less notice of spelling than we do.

It really is though. There are lots of Irish Williams who shorten it to Liam.
The Irish form of the Germanic Wilhelm is Uilliam, which is where we get Liam.

😂😂

Scottish here and DH grandfather was John called Jack where as my father also John gets called Ian.

They’re not shortening William though.

They’re using a short version of the Irish Uilliam technically, but in reality most Irish people won’t have heard of Uilliam and consider Liam the Irish form of William.

Basically, Irish Liams who have William on their birth cert are using the Irish form of their name not ‘shortening William’.
This is very common in Ireland with other names too. It used to be even more common, but a child is more likely to be given the Irish name on the birth cert these days I think, if that’s what they’ll be called day to day.

I’m in Ireland and know a few Eoins named for their dad or grandad John too. It’s the Irish version of Ian. Seán is another Irish name cognate with John.
I don’t think everyone knows the names are related. I know brothers called Ian and Eoin.

I read years ago that the name Sean got popular in Ireland when the Normans settled here because that's what Jean sounded like to Irish ears. I don't know if that's true or not, but it sounds plausible.

Yes, could be. No letter j in Irish.