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NadaHappyCamper
04-04-2005, 09:24 PM
What name is the nickname "Biff" a shortened version of?

belladonna
04-04-2005, 10:04 PM
Nothing. It's a nickname like "Champ" or "Scout", and is independent of the given name. Based on the few baby namer sites I just checked, it was apparently based on an English slang word meaning "to hit" or "punch".

NadaHappyCamper
04-04-2005, 10:06 PM
Oh, :smack: thanks

Colibri
04-04-2005, 10:25 PM
The actual name of the only guy I know who goes by Biff is Eldredge.

AWB
04-04-2005, 10:32 PM
<b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001855/">Biff Tannen</a></b>:
What are you looking at butthead?

AWB
04-04-2005, 10:33 PM
Biff Tannen (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001855/):
What are you looking at butthead?

N9IWP
04-05-2005, 06:53 AM
Buford maybe?

Brian

Oy!
04-05-2005, 07:22 AM
Biffward? Biffmont? Biffathan? Biffmund? Ah, Biffbert!

Eve
04-05-2005, 08:17 AM
I grew up in Preppie Central, and there was a loose tradition of your nickname having the same first initial as your first name: so "Biffs" might likely have been Bills or Bobs.

I was doing PR for a Japanese bank back in the '80s, and one of the VPs, Masao Kitada, told me he wanted an American nickname, like all the other Japanese businessman. I told him of the Preppie Tradition—so to this day, there is a banker in Japan named "Muffy" Kitada.

Cugel
04-05-2005, 08:42 AM
http://www.jerseys.com.au/images/24.06_regcap.jpg

Miss Mapp
04-05-2005, 10:02 AM
FWIW, the "Biff" I work with is actually named William. (Which rather supports Eve's Bill/Bob hypothesis.)

awldune
04-05-2005, 10:09 AM
FWIW, the "Biff" I work with is actually named William. (Which rather supports Eve's Bill/Bob hypothesis.)

I know one whose real name is Burton, another point for the b-name theory.

Thudlow Boink
04-05-2005, 10:26 AM
Biff Henderson (http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/show_info/bios/ls_show_info_bios_bhenderson.shtml):
Born James Jackson Henderson Jr. in Durham, North Carolina, he acquired the nickname Biff from his mother when her friend had a dream involving a boy named Biff.

Biffy the Elephant Shrew
04-05-2005, 11:03 AM
http://www.jerseys.com.au/images/24.06_regcap.jpg
I think I need one of those.

Chronos
04-05-2005, 02:24 PM
I thought it was short for |31FF!!!11!1!!!ONEONE!!ELEVEN1!

Maus Magill
04-05-2005, 03:02 PM
I thought it was short for |31FF!!!11!1!!!ONEONE!!ELEVEN1!
Time to either show your age, or put away the Commador 64

Labdad
04-05-2005, 03:23 PM
Biff Benedict Pocoroba (http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pocorbi01.shtml)

Yep, his given name was Biff. He played catcher for the Atlanta Braves for nine seasons.

Now he's retired, and makes some of the best bratwurst you ever tasted in your life. You can get them at the Universal Joint (http://www.ujointbar.com/menu.html) in Decatur, Georgia.

scout1222
04-05-2005, 04:16 PM
FWIW, the "Biff" I work with is actually named William. (Which rather supports Eve's Bill/Bob hypothesis.)

I'm quite glad you list your location, because the one Biff I know is really named William. But he's in San Diego. :D

Derleth
04-05-2005, 05:22 PM
biff is also the name of a common *nix program that alerts you when you have email. (http://dsl.org/cookbook/cookbook_38.html#SEC510) It was named after a dog who barked whenever the mailman came. (You'll have to scroll a bit.)