# Why is "Dick" short for "Richard"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2002, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615 "2002-07-06T10:59:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EKE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f08c70/32.png) [@EKE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EKE)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/1 "2002-07-06T10:59:18Z")
A non-native English speaker asked me why Dick is a nickname for Richard. After confessing my complete ignorance, I promised him I would forward his question to the great collective. Does anyone know this? Mitch ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/2 "2002-07-06T12:59:46Z")
Just a wag, but maybe the progression is… Richard\>Rich\>Rick\>Dick? ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/3 "2002-07-06T13:40:45Z")
May have something to do with the British habit of rhyming nicknames. See: [This column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_268.html). ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/4 "2002-07-06T13:59:41Z")
I think **postcards** is right. Apart from the ones mentioned in the article I can also think of Bob (Robert), Ned (Edwin), Ted (Edward - [sub][sup]more likely Theodore in the US[/sup][/sub]), Nan (Anne), Nell (Helen) and Dobbin (Robert/Robin). Some of these are obsolete or old fashioned - I’ve only ever heard of Dobbin used as a name for a horse. It’s not only a British thing either; Beppe can be a familiar form of Giuseppe and I’m sure there are others. Why do we do this? I don’t have a cite but my guess is that its related to the habit of short/familiar forms of names tending to disguise the longer name they come from. Another way of doing this is by not choosing the first syllable: Tony for Anthony, Sandy (Alexander), Liam (William), Trish (Patricia), Dolph (Adolph/Adolphus), Toto (Salvatore) etc. Of course some of these are so common that they don’t really disguise the source name much. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/5 "2002-07-06T14:04:13Z")
And Jack is “short” for John. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/6 "2002-07-06T15:31:50Z")
Jack is actually short for Johnathon. Peg (or Peggy) for Margaret is another one. Spanish has some strange ones: Chuey for Jesus Pepe for Jose Pancho for Francisco Haj ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/7 "2002-07-06T16:34:25Z")
One of the strangest is Chuck for Charles. ---
**Author:** ![Another\_Primate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Another\_Primate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Primate)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/8 "2002-07-06T17:12:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Reeder \* > \*\*One of the strangest is Chuck for Charles. \*\* I wonder about that, too. Maybe we primates just like saying “uck”? buck, Chuck, duck, f…, guck, Huck, j., k., luck, muck, n. puck, q., ruckus, suck, stuck, struck, shuck, etc. w., x. yuck., z. That’s a lot of ‘ucks’. Left out the vowels, of course. ---
**Author:** ![NeutronJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neutronjack/32/4134_2.png) [@NeutronJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeutronJack)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/9 "2002-07-06T17:14:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hajario \* > \*\*Jack is actually short for Johnathon. \*\* Really? Not in my experience. My drivers license says John, but I go by Jack. Same for my father, and his father. I don’t believe that this is peculiar to my family–President Kennedy was named John, and was called Jack. Same for Shakespeare’s Falstaff. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/10 "2002-07-06T17:23:00Z")
How do we get Hank from Henry is what I want to know. The Dutch get Henk from Hendrik as well. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/11 "2002-07-06T18:31:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by grienspace \* > \*\*How do we get Hank from Henry is what I want to know. The Dutch get Henk from Hendrik as well. \*\* I think this post explains itself; I see ‘Henk’ as an abbrieviation of ‘Hendrik’, namely “Hen’k”; then a logical progression into the english translation. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/12 "2002-07-06T19:21:53Z")
But how DO we go from John to Jack. Hank is a nickname for Henry. But Jack is a name in its own right. Also, re: José (Joseph) to Pepe. The most common explanation is that it’s short for _Pater Putatibus_ - putative father. It even creeps in to scholarly works. I have, however, when searching the web, found sources who say that this is [old] urban legend and just a little to good to be true. Maybe something for Cecil. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/13 "2002-07-06T19:27:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hajario \* > \*\*Jack is actually short for Johnathon. > > Peg (or Peggy) for Margaret is another one. > > Spanish has some strange ones: > > Chuey for Jesus > Pepe for Jose > Pancho for Francisco > > Haj \*\* Pepe is basically P.P. (pe pe), which stands for “padre putativo”. José was the putative father of Jesús. [http://www.el-mundo.es/larevista/num194/textos/nombres.html](http://www.el-mundo.es/larevista/num194/textos/nombres.html) As for Jesús, the nickname can be Chus, Chucho, Chusito…and so on. Basically in Spanish baby talk, a s becomes a ch and a p becomes an F. So Franco or Francisco becomes Pancho or Paco. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/14 "2002-07-06T21:24:17Z")
We’ve [done this one before](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=7747&highlight=peggy+margaret). Note my own brilliant contribution. It’s baby talk. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/15 "2002-07-06T23:26:02Z")
**cuate** re: Pepe. [This site](http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/3925/F.htm) has another opinion, as I wrote before. My guess is that you know Castellano. If not, let me know and I’ll translate it. ---
**Author:** ![Maloney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Maloney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maloney)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/16 "2002-07-14T08:08:37Z")
To return to the original question. The name Richard came to Britain with the Normans (11th Century). This site tells us why Richard then became Dick [http://www.behindthename.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?terms=dick&nmd=n](http://www.behindthename.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?terms=dick&nmd=n) ---
**Author:** ![kase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@kase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kase)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/17 "2002-07-14T13:36:57Z")
and Bill for William? I agree. Chuck is the weirdest. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/18 "2002-07-14T14:54:40Z")
I wanna know how the got Beaver out of Theodore (Leave it to Beaver show). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/19 "2002-07-14T15:51:13Z")
**Cnote** , review my post and I think it will become self-explanatory. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615/20 "2002-07-14T16:02:32Z")
Awww, blast from the past **AHunter3**. Cool (It’s frightening, however, to see how many of those people have been banned. Sheesh.) But it was fun reading. Nicknames. Got it. Kind of down the lines of the Dick Trickle thing, if you ask me, but people are people. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dick-short-for-richard/117615.md?page=2)