Standard nicknames that have no apparent resemblance to the full name

[Joey_P]

I’m not sure which one is specifically a nickname for the other, but I know several people (including a cousin) who will respond to either Teddy or Sal. In fact for at least two of them (including my cousin) I couldn’t tell you which one is their actual name.

[Nava]

@Hypnagogic_Jerk

It’s just that etymologies from abbreviations are rarely correct, especially with words older than the 20th century. Pepe (or is it Pepé?) for José seems like it’d be older than that.

Pepe. Pepé is le Pew.

The P.P. is also many centuries older than the 20th, it’s found in almanacs from the 16th and in statues before that.

[Acsenray]

@Joey_P

I’m not sure which one is specifically a nickname for the other, but I know several people (including a cousin) who will respond to either Teddy or Sal. In fact for at least two of them (including my cousin) I couldn’t tell you which one is their actual name.

Teddy or Sal? My guess would be that his real name is Salvatore. I can see how you could get to either from there.

@gwendee

My grandfather’s name was Norman. Actually, on his birth certificate it was N., but that’s for a different thread. Every one called him Bud. My grandmother said it was because his older sister couldn’t say “brother” clearly so it sounded like Bud when she talked to or about him.

One time my grandmother was repeating the explanation when I happened to be sitting next to my great aunt, the sister in the story. “They’ve been telling people that for as long as I can remember. It’s nonsense. I was six years old when he was born! I could pronounce everything perfectly well. There was an older boy in the neighborhood named Bud Kereger who I thought was just wonderful. I thought they should have named the baby Bud so that’s what I called him.” (Nobody reverted back to calling him anything but Bud.)

It might have been nonsense in this particular case, but it’s accepted that generally speaking there are several nicknames that are derived from “brother,” including “Bud,” “Buddy,” and “Bubba.”

[Annie-Xmas]

“Baby M” was named “Sara” by her biological/genetic mother and “Melissa” by her genetic father. When the father’s name was chosen as her name, her mother dubbed her “Sassy,” and never called her anything else.

[Svejk_1]

@Gala_Matrix_Fire

Pepe for Jose.

This is also true in Czech - Josef = Pepa or Pepik. I wonder if this has something to do with the padre putativo story.

[Kamino_Neko]

@Sarabellum1976

James - Jacob, Diego

Neither of those are nicknames, they’re foreign names from the same source.

Hebrew, Yaakob, IIRC. Translated to Jacobus in Latin.

Jacobus became Jacomus, which became James.

Jacob is just delatinized.

Diego ultimately comes from St James (that is to say Sant Iago) - some say Diego comes from Didacus, but I’m in the camp that believe it’s the other way 'round - when someone who didn’t know the derivation decided that a Diego’s name needed latinization, he settled on Didacus.

[ioioio]

@Nocturne

. . . Assuming that Katie-kins caught on as a real name (thank goodness it didn’t), then eventually we might be calling people named Katie “Kakie” or something. . . .

I’ve known several Katherines who were nicknamed Kacky.

[matt_mcl]

@Filbert

I know a Sandy - Scottish nickname for Alexander.
Surely a lot of these just come from the fact that so many people used the same names- as well as the custom of naming after previous generations- so you have 3 Edwards in the family, one gets ‘Ed’, one gets ‘Ted’, and the last becomes ‘Ned’ (apparently a contraction of ‘mine Edward’, if you’re wondering). If you read much history- and note it is often very old names that have so many forms- the same names crop up so often, in some eras, people would have to work out some way of telling 'em all apart, and that means lots of versions, even if they don’t make much sense!

Likewise in my family: my grandfather and uncle are Roberts, but it’s Grandpa Bob and Uncle Rob.

[Beware_of_Doug]

@Dr.Girlfriend

I think Skip is one of those generic nicknames that can go with a lot of names.

Skip - II (named for grandfather)
Chip - Jr.
Trip - III

I’m technically a Skip but have never been called that.

[Nava]

@Svejk_1

This is also true in Czech - Josef = Pepa or Pepik. I wonder if this has something to do with the padre putativo story.

Well, my latin is absolutely rusty, but I’m reasonably sure that the initials of assumed father in Latin are P.P. as well - actually, those medieval statues with P.P. engraved on the base would have them as the Latin initials. It’s got to be something like putativus pater (with appropiate declensions).
My mother (she who recognizes the names and can give mini-bios of extremely obscure saints) says that Paco comes from Pa.Co. Padre de la Comunidad (pater comunitatis), Father of the (Franciscan) Order. Statues of St Francis Assissi would be recognizable either for the wounded hands, for being with a wolf and a lamb, or for having Pa.Co. on the base. You’ve got a statue of a generic Franciscan, no idea who he is, and want to have a St. Francis? Why, just engrave Pa.Co. on the base and you’re done! (And yes, changing a statue to be someone else was done - the statue known as “St Anne the New” in my hometown started life as an unbearded St Joseph with Child)