# Why is Richard called Dick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069 "2000-07-27T16:37:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JoeyHemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ba0ec/32.png) [@JoeyHemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyHemlock)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/1 "2000-07-27T16:37:48Z")
Where do nicknames come from? I can understand **William** becoming **Will** , but why **Bill**? And **Richard** to **Rich** makes sense, but **Dick**? And for Pete’s (short for Peter’s) sake, why are people named **John** called **Jack**? That’s just stupid! ---
**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 27, 2000, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/2 "2000-07-27T17:00:43Z")
We did this one once before: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=7747](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=7747) ---
**Author:** ![don\_Jaime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b4bc9f/32.png) [@don\_Jaime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_Jaime)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/3 "2000-07-27T17:28:33Z")
I now Jack. It comes from French. “Jan” becomes “Jankin” - “-kin” being a diminutive - then “Jackin” then “Jack.” That’s how. Read it one of David Feldman’s books, either “Imponderables” or “Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?” It has nothing to do with “Jacques” or “Jacquot,” which are the French “James.” Those derive from “Jacob,” James via the Greek, teh French versions from Hebrew. As for Dick, I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/4 "2000-07-27T23:39:45Z")
Having read that earlier post, I didn’t see anyone directly finger my own WAG, so I’ll waste more perfectly good server space with it here. You’re an young census taker, or tax recorder, or something, with two gifts that most folks in the Isles don’t have: literacy and the King’s English. Since you’re young and green, you’re naturally sent to the farthest corner of the Kingdom, somewhere where the folks speak in a brogue, or a burr, or something else that is almost incomprehensible to you. You ask the name of the very first head of household you meet there what his name is, and he says, “I’m Rich Dringell.” “What?” you ask. “Rich Dringell, you stupid bloody bastard!” So, you sigh to yourself and write down exactly what you heard: _“Dick Trickle.”_ And he puts an “X” next to what you wrote down. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/5 "2000-07-28T01:55:24Z")
If you knew Richard, like I know Richard, you would call him a dick too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/6 "2000-07-28T02:20:11Z")
And how did you get Peggy from Margaret…same with Molly… Or Sally from Sarah? I know DAISY comes from Margaret, because that’s what the name means…I THINK…if I’m wrong, please, feel free to torture me. ---
**Author:** ![fierra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58956e/32.png) [@fierra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fierra)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/7 "2000-07-28T14:11:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*And how did you get Peggy from Margaret…same with Molly… > Or Sally from Sarah? > > I know DAISY comes from Margaret, because that’s what the name means…I THINK…if I’m wrong, please, feel free to torture me. > \*\* Read the other posts - there is a link to when this was discussed before & that also links to the definitive Cecil answer…it is from Latin which means Pearl (& I knew that because it’s my middle name. Guess you don’t (normally) get nicknames for middle names though, as my nicknames are based on my first name & no one has ever called me Peg). Going back to meanings - with my first name I am called “fair pearl” (my mother must have been clairvoyant!). Oh, & I’m getting the thumbscrews out now! Fi. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/8 "2000-07-28T14:23:51Z")
Unfortunate name is Richard. Not only is he a dick but also a turd (Richard the third - cockney rhyming slang) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/9 "2000-07-28T15:02:54Z")
If Dick hadn’t been a nickname for Richard before Nixon, it would have been after that Watergate Dick Head. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2000, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/10 "2000-07-28T19:53:49Z")
What gets me is guys who prefer to be called Dick, like my father-in-law (whom it fits.) ---
**Author:** ![GasDr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@GasDr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GasDr)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/11 "2000-07-29T01:10:22Z")
WAG Richard -\> Rich -\> Rick -\> Dick Name deevolution. ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2000, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-richard-called-dick/27069/12 "2000-07-29T04:32:10Z")
I’d like to echo **don Jaime**. His French Connection seems convincing. The James to Jacob connection explains why after the ousting of the House of Stewart from the throne, the followers of the old King James were known as Jacobites. I dunno Dick either, But it has been going on for a long time. This couplet referring to the doomed King Richard the 3rd was written in 1485: > [@](#): > > - > > Jockey of Norfolk, be not too bold > For Dickon thy master is bought and sold > \* Intriguing.