Do you ever wonder where some name shortenings came from?

[Nnickname]

Probably is obvious or well known and I’ll expose myself as an idiot, but take Bill for William. Why? It’s not Billiam. Same as Nellie for Ellen and the much loved on here Kit for Christopher.

And Peggy for Margaret!

In the olden days there were fewer names in use so more nicknames were needed to help distinguish people, so you got lots of rhyming nicknames like Will -> Bill and Richard -> Rick -> Dick.

Nellie and Ned sometimes came about as corruptions of ‘mine Ellie’ and ‘mine Ed’

It was very common in the Middle Ages to create rhyming names. William shortens to Will but then it got rhymed to Bill, similarly Rick and Dick for Richard.
Peggy is a rhyme for Meggy which is just a diminutive of Margaret.

Daisy being short for margaret is always the weirdest

Think that’s from the association with the French ‘marguerite’ which is a type of daisy

@piglet81 that is what google says yes. But it’s still a weird leap.

I've always been confused by Jack as a nickname for John - it's just a different name and the same length?!

"name Jack is a derivative of John, which originated in medieval England. The name went from John to Johnkin to Jankin to Jackin to, you guessed it, Jack"

My Aunt Peg was a Margaret as it went from Margaret to Maggie, to Meggy, to Peggy.

It's just how it happens. My son is Raphael and he's called all sorts, including Roodles because he was Raph and then Raffles, then RifRaf, then Riffles, then Raphadoodles and so on

My Nan was Margaret, known as Ann
Hospital said she wasn't responding, I pointed out they were using the wrong name

Ted for Edward and Harry for Henry?

I had an Aunt Queen who was christened Elizabeth.

On a similar note why is the Jacobean era known as such when it was king James?

Queenie is due to queen elizabeth I guess?

Jacobean is from Jacobus (Latin for James). That's why we are now in the Carolean era, from Carolus (Latin for Charles).

Queenie is also for Victoria I think.

My grandmother was named Bridget. Everyone called her Peggy.

Jim for James 🤔🤔

Thanks for this!

Aren’t we in a Carolingian era?

My real name is Mary… and for some mad and unexplained reason my family call me Toots…. 🤷‍♀️

I always feel a mad snobbishness about people who call their children the short versions of names. I don't mind truly modern names like, I dunno, Hunter or Ace or Bellamy or some shit, but actually naming your child Kit or Peggy or Tilly, rather than thr full name and using the diminutive, seems really ignorant to me.

I'd go so far as to be snobbishly offended by people whose birth certificate says Sally, Polly, Harry, or Jo. I clearly equate "educated about old fashioned things" with worthiness.

Lady Margaret Beaufort was quite important in her day, and her symbol was a daisy. So people would have known it from her if they didn't know it already.

I was surprised when I learned on this board that Jack is a nickname for John!

(I am not from the UK.)

@MrsSamR
I see now that you already mentioned it!
@ShowOfHands
Thank you for explaining it.

I have done a lot of family history research and came across a man sometimes married to a Martha, and sometimes married to a Pattey. It confused me until I googled and apparently Pattey/Patty is an established shortening of Martha.😕

I know a Sally who is actually a Sarah!?