How is bill short for william

But more interesting is the fact — little known to most Americans — that the original nickname for Henry was Harry. Prince Harry's real name is Prince Henry of Wales. Evans says that Harry isn't so much a nickname of Henry as a mispronunciation of Henri, the original French form of Henry that arrived in England with the 11th-century Norman Conquest. Since few people could read or write in Medieval England, they pronounced the new name as best they could, sounding more like Harry than Henry.

Many of the most common English nicknames can be traced back to Medieval times, when half the men in England were named either John or William, and the other half were Robert or Richard. Evans says that inherited surnames didn't even show up until around Before that, people used occupations or lineage as last names: John the Smith or Robert son of William.

In those days, nicknames were essential to keeping Richard your neighbor straight from Richard your brother. A popular trick was to create rhyming names.

The original shortened form of Richard was Rick, which became Hick and Dick. The letters "H" and "D" were popular rhyming consonants, apparently, because the original nickname for Robert wasn't Bob, but instead was Hob or Dob.

Bob arrived much later, Evans says, but you can still see the original nicknames in English surnames like Hobson and Dobson. Credit the Irish with this one. Evans says that a curiosity of Irish Gaelic will turn a "W" sound into more of a "B" depending on whether the word is the subject or object of a sentence. The ladies also got in on the rhyming act, but took it a step further. In the s, there was a fad for rhyming "M" names with "P.

The same thing happened to the name Martha. It started with the nickname Math, which moved to Matty, then switched to Patty, and eventually Patsy.

Thomas Jefferson's wife, Martha, was known as Patty. Neither Patsy nor Patty had anything to do with Patricia. In a final twist, another common nickname for Margaret was Daisy. Don't even try to get there using the rhyming method. This one was adopted by educated Brits who recognized that the French word for daisy, the flower, was Marguerite.

A few nicknames are attributed to baby talk. Little children have a notoriously hard time pronouncing the letter "R" which often comes out sounding like an "L. Who is ghost Charlie? Is Charlie a full name? What does Charlie mean for a girl? Is Charles short for anything? Is Billy a nickname for William? Is Carlos Spanish for Charles? What does Carlitos mean in Spanish? Is Carlos an Italian name?

What does the name John mean? What is the female version of John? Is John always short for Jonathan? Is John and Johnny the same name? What nationality is Johnny? What is Carlo short for? Is Carlo Acutis a saint? Previous Article How do I upload a file to canvas? Of course, Harry is now used as a given name for boys. In , it was the rd most popular name for boys in the United States.

One reason for its upsurge in popularity is the huge success of those amazing Harry Potter books. There are no definitive theories on how Jim became the commonly used nickname for James, but the name dates back to at least the s. Jim has since shed its racial past, and is once again a popular first name for boys all by itself, sans James. Sally was primarily used as a nickname for Sarah in England and France. Same is true for Molly, a common nickname for Mary.

Though Sally from the Peanuts never ages, the name itself does and has declined in popularity in recent years. Today, most girls prefer the original Hebrew name Sarah. BY David K. Why is Dick from Richard? Why is Bill from William? Why is Hank from Henry? Why is Jack from John? Why is Chuck from Charles? Why is Peggy from Margaret? Why is Ted from Edward? Why is Harry from Henry? Why is Jim from James?