# Why do men named Richard use the nickname Dick? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034 "2012-06-04T14:55:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/1 "2012-06-04T14:55:59Z")
Seriously - there are so many other options. Rick is decent. I actually like Rich quite a bit. Richie is OK. Full on Richard is delightful. So why do these fellas choose Dick? I have to say, if one of the short forms of my IRL name was Twat or Pussy, I think I’d go ahead and spell it out completely, ya know? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/2 "2012-06-04T15:02:16Z")
I thought Dick fell out of fashion. Have never met anyone under 40 who goes by Dick. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/3 "2012-06-04T15:06:26Z")
What gives you the idea that people choose their nicknames? When I was young, I was called Joey and I disliked it a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/4 "2012-06-04T16:33:21Z")
It’s a perfectly good name, and the fact that it has aquired another meaning doesn’t change that. The fact that people refer to the bathroom as “the john” hasn’t seemed to have affected the popularity of the name John. Mention someone like Dick Van Dyke or Dick Clark and the other meaning of “dick” never even occurs to me. Maybe you just have a dirty mind. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/5 "2012-06-04T16:41:23Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > It’s a perfectly good name, and the fact that it has aquired another meaning doesn’t change that. The fact that people refer to the bathroom as “the john” hasn’t seemed to have affected the popularity of the name John. > > Mention someone like Dick Van Dyke or Dick Clark and the other meaning of “dick” never even occurs to me. Maybe you just have a dirty mind. 😉 Well, you don’t have to be such a … oh never mind. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/6 "2012-06-04T16:51:04Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > What gives you the idea that people choose their nicknames? When I was young, I was called Joey and I disliked it a lot. Well I’m not talking about people who have a nickname thrust on them. I assume when you met someone new you didn’t shake hands and say ‘Hi, I’m Joey!’ if you hated it - you would like say ‘Hi, I’m Joel.’ and if people chose to nickname you it was on them. However, I’ve had lots of men introduce themselves as Dick. ‘Hi! I’m Dick Knight!\*’ I assume if the guy hated it perhaps he would introduce himself as Rich or Richard or Rick. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > It’s a perfectly good name, and the fact that it has aquired another meaning doesn’t change that. The fact that people refer to the bathroom as “the john” hasn’t seemed to have affected the popularity of the name John. > > Mention someone like Dick Van Dyke or Dick Clark and the other meaning of “dick” never even occurs to me. Maybe you just have a dirty mind. 😉 Actually, I was reading the ‘WTF Names?!?!’ thread in MPSIMS and I was curious. Furthermore, apparently dick = penis for quite some time: > [@](#): > > The meaning “penis” is attested from 1891 in British army slang. from here: > **[Search 'penis' on etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=penis)** > > Search results for 'penis' on etymonline meaning that men were choosing Dick as a name long after the double meaning came about. \*Real name of a former co-worker ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/7 "2012-06-04T17:00:27Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Furthermore, apparently dick = penis for quite some time: > > from here: > > [Search 'penis' on etymonline](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=penis) > > meaning that men were choosing Dick as a name long after the double meaning came about. From your cite, it looks like the reason “dick” became used as a slang term for penis may have been _because_ “Dick” was such a common and typical man’s name—as in the phrase “every [Tom, Dick, and Harry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom,_Dick_and_Harry).” > [@](#): > > **dick** “fellow, lad, man,” 1550s, rhyming nickname for Rick, short for Richard, one of the commonest English names, it has long been a synonym for “fellow,” and so most of the slang senses are probably very old, but naturally hard to find in the surviving records. The meaning “penis” is attested from 1891 in British army slang. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/8 "2012-06-04T18:04:47Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Seriously - there are so many other options. > > Rick is decent. I actually like Rich quite a bit. Richie is OK. Full on Richard is delightful. > > So why do these fellas choose Dick? Because my dad is 74, and doesn’t care what a bunch of dirty-minded whippersnappers think. The penis thing is much more recent, with the first incidence in 1890. It’s only become more common than the name in recent decades. > **[What came first, Dick or “dick”?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343167/what-came-first-dick-or-dick)** > > A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/9 "2012-06-04T18:06:58Z")
Hear, hear, OP. If I was a Richard, I’d choose the full name. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/10 "2012-06-04T18:25:13Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > However, I’ve had lots of men introduce themselves as Dick. ‘Hi! I’m Dick Knight!\*’ That was my band director’s name, my first two years of high school! > [@](#): > > dick “fellow, lad, man,” 1550s, rhyming nickname for Rick, short for Richard, one of the commonest English names Hah, I’ve long suspected it was rhyming slang, and that “Rick” predated “Dick”. My paternal grandmother’s name was Dick. Okay, her name was Lorena. But her father wanted sons, and ended up with three daughters, and somewhere along the line they all got tagged with boy’s names as a joke: Dick, Pete, and Johnny. And all three of them cheerfully answered to those names for the rest of their lives - they’re the names everybody knew them by (though the baby brother they finally got refused to answer to “Mary” 😛 ). Grandma Dick once mentioned that it made it easy to tell when the guy on the phone was a salesman - she’d hang up as soon as he called her “Lorena”, because that immediately made it obvious that this was somebody who didn’t know her - _everybody_ who knew her called her “Dick”. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/11 "2012-06-04T18:28:10Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Well I’m not talking about people who have a nickname thrust on them. This is funny because the nickname is dick. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/12 "2012-06-04T19:21:03Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Well I’m not talking about people who have a nickname thrust on them. I hate it when a dick is thrust on me. What’s odd is that on Bewitched, one Dick was replaced by another. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/13 "2012-06-04T20:37:02Z")
Why use the name “Dick”? Because it sounds so **butch** , that’s why! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/14 "2012-06-04T20:44:18Z")
Hrm, so when a novella mentions that someone hired a ‘private dick’, the reader is thinking ‘gigolo’? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/15 "2012-06-04T21:50:52Z")
You are a man named Richard in a room full of dicks. Funny compliment. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/16 "2012-06-04T21:59:44Z")
> [@diggerwam](#): > > You are a man named Richard in a room full of dicks. Funny compliment. :p:p My sweetie’s name is, indeed, Richard. Think I’ve heard exactly 1 person call him ‘Dick’ during the last 5 years, though it was meant honestly, not as an insult. I know he hates it. I’ve never heard anyone else call him anything but ‘Richard’, and that’s just too formal for me; as a result, for the first time in my life I’ve found myself using diminutives like sweetie and hon. Literally NEVER did that before, and now it’s about all I do. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/17 "2012-06-04T22:05:31Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I thought Dick fell out of fashion. Have never met anyone under 40 who goes by Dick. I’ve never met one under 65. My dad is 60 and has gone by Rick his whole life. I know several older Richards, Riches, and Ricks, but not one Dick. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/18 "2012-06-04T22:20:43Z")
I know plenty of Dicks (yes, and plenty of dicks) of various ages, including one in his lower/mid twenties. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/19 "2012-06-04T22:33:58Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > I’ve never met one under 65. My dad is 60 and has gone by Rick his whole life. I know several older Richards, Riches, and Ricks, but not one Dick. Indeed, I was named after my dad’s best friend from high school who, as an adult, went by “Dick”. My dad is coming up on 68, and yeah, I’ve never run into a Richard from my generation who goes by “Dick”. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034/20 "2012-06-04T22:37:27Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > My paternal grandmother’s name was Dick. Okay, her name was Lorena. You’ve got to be kidding. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-named-richard-use-the-nickname-dick/624034.md?page=2)