Jim/Jimmy for James.
Hal or Hank for Henry.
Especially amongst English footballers. Eg. Wayne “Wazza” Rooney.
Ooh, just thought of a good one - “Dode” for “George” (Scotland only, possibly only NE Scotland).
Betty for Elizabeth has never made sense to me.
And I had an Uncle Charles, whose nickname (not limited to him specifically) was Chicka.
It is apparently common for older Italian- Americans named “Vincent” to be called " Jimmy" . I have never been able to figure out why.
That comes from P.P., initals of Padre Putativo, meaning assumed father. St Joseph (José) was Jesus’ assumed father; he appears in lists of saints (including almanacs’ listing of “feastday of…”) as José, P.P.. Solomon is Salomón, R. (king); Assissi appears as Francisco de Asís, Mje. (monk), etc.
It survives in tons of family names, like Atkins.
Jacques is James/Jacob, not John.
This is an important point. All of the diminutives in this thread have sensible explanations (Harry for Henry is via French Henri; Hank for Henry is via German Heinrich). But I’m not sure that reasonable explanations are wanted in this thread, so I’m not sure how much to go into any of it.
nm
Shug for Hugh - why??
I think this is to do with how Elizabeth was originally pronounced - Elisabet - Then shortened to either Elisa or Bet - or Betty
Very likely. Another nickname for Elizabeth which I’ve just thought of and bears no resemblance that I can see to the name is ‘Libby’. My Uncle Chicka had two daughters, one Diane and the other was Elizabeth, who was always called Libby.
I can see how Lizzy could morph to Libby. I don’t get Jim from James. I once knew an Andy who was really an Alexander, which does make sense but you don’t see it very often.
I’m puzzled at the puzzlement – James to Jamie to Jimmy, it’s just a vowel change.
On the British z for r substitution the first time I encountered this was a Gary known as Gaz in 1973. However the most famous Gazza is called Paul – but his surname is Gascoigne.
I think it just comes down to a combination of wordplay, the need to distinguish people of the same name (especially in the past when fewer names were used) and what Maya Angelou said – the child who is loved has many names. People just like to make up nicknames, some of them stick and some of them spread.
Hehe, I once had an English teacher (American actually) who was called Ted. He explained to us “All other Teds are Edwards. I’m Theodore”. I got the impression he didn’t really like his name.
Also Liddy for Elizabeth. That drove Bob Dole’s wife nuts.
I have an Uncle Francis who goes by Bud, not Butch.
And an Aunt Elizabeth who goes by Biz.
If she ever has her name in lights, it’ll be a Biz marquee!
Hammer?