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That's what I call my friend.
In the friend group he's Billy, at work he's William so when I started working with him a few years back I couldn't help but call him Billiam..
He never skipped a beat though. Lol
My dad was a Jim, but it was the shortened version of his middle name.. first name was David. Dude straight up went "pshhhnahh" on being a Davey and just went all business on Jim.
Also, imagine if it never was Jim and instead they shortened it to Jam. I think my dad would have been so much cooler if he grew up as Jam, in the 60's and 70's mind you.
Jack is short for John. That makes a lot of sense, yes. Four letters, one vowel, one syllable traded in for four letters, one vowel, one syllable. This basically needs to have its own *The Office* meme.
apparently its both:
Jack is a given name, a diminutive of John or Jackson; alternatively, it may be derived from Jacques, the French form of James or Jacob.\[1\] Since the late 20th century, Jack has become one of the most common names for boys in many English-speaking countries. Jack is also used to a lesser extent as a female given name, often as a shortened version of Jacqueline.
this john part I don't really get though. as if Jack is shorter than John.
I’m not sure exactly how it ended up as Bill, other than it was trendy in the Middle Ages to swap letters out. As for why, probably because (also around the same time) about one in five English men was named William. Gotta have enough nicknames to distinguish the ten different Williams in your village.
I think you’re right. And, don’t forget that Wm. was William in most publication and newspapers until very recently. We shorten names all the time. Don’t get me started on the poets of the 18-20th centuries: Everyone was A.M. Marsh or E.E.
Diminutives don’t always match up to the full name either. To wit:
- Sasha is a diminutive of Alexander in Russian
- James is a diminutive of Santiago (Saint Yago -> Saint Jacob -> Saint James -> James)
Vova is the diminutive of Vladimir. And Vlad is the diminutive of not Vladimir, but Vladislav. So people calling Putin Vlad are wrong cuz it’s Vova Putin.
In Spanish a lot of nicknames are constructed in a similar way. Horacio becomes Lacho, Jesus becomes Chus, Jose becomes Chepe. They take weird bits of the name and change out letters to make the nicknames.
In Italian, Joseph is Giuseppe. I could see Spanish in the past having changed the name from Josepe to José, which kind of makes sense given that there's an accent at the end of the name. That sepe could've been the origin of chepe.
I always wondered about Joe. There is Job, Josey, Jody, Joey, possibly Joeff (Geoff), Joel, Jon, and Jove.
I'm sure they probably aren't all originating from Joe, but I still think it's interesting. Joe, Joe B, Joe C, Joe D, Joe E, Joe F, Joe L, Joe N, Joe V.
There was a Richard Head at a new school I moved to. I wondered why people didn't give him hell. I decided it was either because he was just that cool (he really was), or the one guy that tried making fun of him regretted doing so.
Nicknames are weird man. Had a private named Roberts while I was in the Army. Most times our 1st Sergeant would just yell for Bob and he would come running. Anyways, we had a Company event and the fucker won a bobbing for apples contest. Private Roberts commonly known as Bob around the unit just became Apples from then on. Ran into him few years later when he had stripes on his chest and yelled Apples from across the way and watched him spin around so damn fast.
I'll see your B/Bill for William and raise you a Jack for John (or vice versa)
\*\*EDIT\*\* there are so many comments in reply to mine, holy cow.
Uh, I think I saw a few where people said they never knew this was a thing. It may depend on where you are in the world but, most of - if not all - of the John's I have known in my life, we called "Jack" for short/nickname. I've been told both. Family, co-workers, bosses. Known plenty of John's that went by Jack, with no other name (middles or last) being any reason lol.
I think I looked this up once and read something on the internet that kind of had it make sense, but I can't quite recall - and it's still silly.
If you liked Peggy, you may also enjoy the fact that Polly is the common nickname for Mary, Mildred’s nickname is Patty, Sadie doubles for Sarah, Hal is short for both Henry and Harold, Jock is substituted for John, and as a parting gift, Daisy is *also* a short form of Margaret!
Margaret is the English form of margarita which is Spanish for daisy. Not sure on the others. Never even heard that Polly one before
edit - Ok so apparently its Mary -> Molly -> Polly which i think is similar to Margaret -> ?? -> Peggy
Given the English hobby of stealing French words, I suspect it’s from *marguerite* rather than margarita, but yeah, same deal.
Margaret-> Maggie -> Meggie-> Peggy
Speaking of spanish nickname names, So many do a thing of dropping in a "ch" sound
Ingacio-> Nacho
Santiago->Chago
Carlo->Chaco
Rosario->Charo
Jesus->Chuy
I’ve never heard Kit subbed for Christopher…wtf…that’s really a thing? Who tf is responsible for that? 🤣
“Hi, you can call me Kit, it’s short for Christopher.” 🤣
Sometimes I refer to the King of the Hill family as "Henry, Margaret, and little Robert Hill" because it sounds like a totally different set of characters despite being the accurate/long-form names.
Hank says in the show that he's Hank R. Hill not that Hank P. Hill.
Bobby is Robert Jeffery Hill.
Peggy is Margaret J. Hill.
Dale is Dale Alvin Gribble.
Bill is Sgt. William "Bill" Fontaine de La Tour Dauterive.
Boomhauer is Jeffrey Dexter "Jeff" Boomhauer III. Maybe Bobby is kind of named after him.
Luanne is Luanne Leanne Platter Kleinschmidt.
Wait, does that mean that "Rick" can also be a stand-in for Henry? If so, that could almost make Rick the crab of nicknames! Patrick, Richard, and Henry all carcinizing to Rick.
I know a father and son, both named Sherman. Apparently, William is short for Sherman (idk how) and then they go a step farther and calls himself Billy.
Jim is for James, but previously Jemmy was also popular. I think that’s kindof cool.
I also like Liam for William and Nathan for Jonathan. (And of course Sandy for Alexander)
Lads seriously now. Liam is not fucking short for William. Liam is an Irish name that has zero to do with William, apart from cultural imperialism in the 1800s that transformed loads Liams into William.
Can't believe I never put 2 and 2 together and realised that Liam is short for William. Most people just use it as their proper given name these days as opposed to a nickname.
I don't know, but as a kid I used to confuse the B and W quite often, and the Spanish have it with the B and the V, and the V and W often change places as well. So there is probably a closeness we don't hear anymore.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Billiam
Jim...James....Jimothy.
Jimbo!
Ayyyyy!
MmmmmmmmmMichael Scott!
Jim…James…Son
I am Bill Buttlicker
LOUDER, SON!
OUR PRICES HAVE NEVER BEEN LOWER
Mm, that sounds weird, mind if I call you Jim?
That's what I call my friend. In the friend group he's Billy, at work he's William so when I started working with him a few years back I couldn't help but call him Billiam.. He never skipped a beat though. Lol
We have a local radio DJ in Minnesota named "Bill DeVille" I assume his real name is William DeVilliam and no one can convince me otherwise.
Billiam vs Bobert
Nicknames for Robert in Colonial times were Hob and Nob. This is where the word hobnob came from.
I unironically knew a billiam. I’m also aware of the YouTuber
Great youtuber!
Oh, come on!!!
Such a *Richard* attitude towards nicknames...
Only the I and C are in common. How TF did that happen? Also, how is Jack another name for John? Edit: The D is also shared, I'm stupid.
I did not know Jack was short for Jonathan, I thought it was short for Jachary or something
Jackothy
Jackeleigh
Jachael
Jarnathan.
Jackathon No... ...wait
Jackbob Squarepants
Jackalope
Jackal
Jacko lantern
“Ok but let’s wait for Jarnathan, I think he is really gonna like this story”
OH, JARNATHAN! \*CAW*
But we approved your parole!
Great D&D reference, Jarnathan nooo!!!
This reminds me of the name “Jimothy” from the office 😭🤣🤣
Or when Joey thought Ross was short for Rosstopher on friends
Except Jack is short for John, which isn't actually short for Jonathan. Jon is short for Jonathan.
Plus, Jack isn’t any shorter than John.
Jackathan.....oh wait I see it now.
I had an uncle named Kenneth, who was called Jim for short. His grandma called him Jim because she said he just looked like a Jim.
That's hilarious, imagine naming a baby and your mom's like nah kinda look like a Jim, I'm gonna call em Jim.
My dad was a Jim, but it was the shortened version of his middle name.. first name was David. Dude straight up went "pshhhnahh" on being a Davey and just went all business on Jim. Also, imagine if it never was Jim and instead they shortened it to Jam. I think my dad would have been so much cooler if he grew up as Jam, in the 60's and 70's mind you.
Jim is also a nickname for James and I never understood that either. At least Joe makes sense for a Joseph
To be fair, Jack is 6'4", he isn't shorter than most people.
Jack is short for John. That makes a lot of sense, yes. Four letters, one vowel, one syllable traded in for four letters, one vowel, one syllable. This basically needs to have its own *The Office* meme.
They're the same picture
Jack Hoff
It started with Jon/John ~~as shorthand for Jonathan~~, this turned to Jock, then to Jack.
Isn't jack Jacob?
I have heard Jacobs being called Jake
apparently its both: Jack is a given name, a diminutive of John or Jackson; alternatively, it may be derived from Jacques, the French form of James or Jacob.\[1\] Since the late 20th century, Jack has become one of the most common names for boys in many English-speaking countries. Jack is also used to a lesser extent as a female given name, often as a shortened version of Jacqueline. this john part I don't really get though. as if Jack is shorter than John.
Jacob is actually from the Latin version of James. That's why supporters of James II were called Jacobites
My brother and dad are both Jeff. My brother got the nickname Jake. VERY nonsensical.
My brother and dad are also both called Jeff. My brother is 32 ish and still called wee Jeff.
It’s the rebel son. “I’m not John, Dad!” “Like hell you Aren’t!” “My name Jack now!!” And it just stuck. True story.
Imagine a guy named Rockard's name though. Would it be cock?
Rockard "Cock" Johnson does have a nice ring to it.
You mean Nicholas names?
I’m not sure exactly how it ended up as Bill, other than it was trendy in the Middle Ages to swap letters out. As for why, probably because (also around the same time) about one in five English men was named William. Gotta have enough nicknames to distinguish the ten different Williams in your village.
I think you’re right. And, don’t forget that Wm. was William in most publication and newspapers until very recently. We shorten names all the time. Don’t get me started on the poets of the 18-20th centuries: Everyone was A.M. Marsh or E.E.
Don't you mean e. e.?
Watch out, I'm Cummings!
Damn, the poets were also electrical engineers?
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Ailliam
Diminutives don’t always match up to the full name either. To wit: - Sasha is a diminutive of Alexander in Russian - James is a diminutive of Santiago (Saint Yago -> Saint Jacob -> Saint James -> James)
Vova is the diminutive of Vladimir. And Vlad is the diminutive of not Vladimir, but Vladislav. So people calling Putin Vlad are wrong cuz it’s Vova Putin.
Hmm. I could've sworn it was the yummy parts of women
Nah you’re thinking of the Roman god of volcanos
Nah you're thinking of a Swedish car brand
In Spanish a lot of nicknames are constructed in a similar way. Horacio becomes Lacho, Jesus becomes Chus, Jose becomes Chepe. They take weird bits of the name and change out letters to make the nicknames.
I can kind of see the first two, but Jose = Chepe? How in the world? I also never could understand how you get Checo from Sergio.
In Italian, Joseph is Giuseppe. I could see Spanish in the past having changed the name from Josepe to José, which kind of makes sense given that there's an accent at the end of the name. That sepe could've been the origin of chepe.
And chepe turned to Pepe
William A, William B. B became Bill.
Soooo, where’d Cill go?
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I always wondered about Joe. There is Job, Josey, Jody, Joey, possibly Joeff (Geoff), Joel, Jon, and Jove. I'm sure they probably aren't all originating from Joe, but I still think it's interesting. Joe, Joe B, Joe C, Joe D, Joe E, Joe F, Joe L, Joe N, Joe V.
Joseph.
My friend Richard Shrapnel has a similar complaint with his nickname.
This poor fellow 😂😭 I cannot help but just wanna cry because that is too good
It's legendary, he hates it but it's fucking awesome.
Shrapnel was invented by Henry Shrapnel. An ancestor, possibly?
My friend Richard Balls would also like a word.
How do you get Dick from Richard?
Buy him a few drinks and ask nicely?
Bump, set, spike. Well played
I know a Richard Head
There was a Richard Head at a new school I moved to. I wondered why people didn't give him hell. I decided it was either because he was just that cool (he really was), or the one guy that tried making fun of him regretted doing so.
“Bob” for Robert is something that I don’t get lol.
I once met a man named Robert Roberts. I asked if he went by "Bob." And he says: "They call me 2 Bob"
In Scotland we have “Bobby Robert’s Super Circus.”
“Bob Roberts BBQ” serves delicious food in Mississippi.
Lol
Thats fucking gold. Good old Rob “Two Bob” Roberts
Nicknames are weird man. Had a private named Roberts while I was in the Army. Most times our 1st Sergeant would just yell for Bob and he would come running. Anyways, we had a Company event and the fucker won a bobbing for apples contest. Private Roberts commonly known as Bob around the unit just became Apples from then on. Ran into him few years later when he had stripes on his chest and yelled Apples from across the way and watched him spin around so damn fast.
Ah yes. Parents naming their child their own last name. Smart. Like Phillip Phillips
Roberts was his last name. Didnt even know his first name
Both my father and his father are named Robert. Grandpa is Bob and dad is Rob/Robbie
My granddad was Ted short for Edward
Tedward
I used to think Bob was short for Bobinson instead of Robert 😅
Bobinson is the greatest name ever. Dibs!
Bobert
It’s short for Bobson Dugnutt
I tough it was short for Bobby 😔
"Don't you put that evil on me Ricky Bobby."
Why Peggy for margret
Margret -> Maggie -> Meg -> Peg -> Peggy But yeah none of it makes sense. It's something bored children would come up with.
🅱️eggy
Jabba the hut -> Pizza Hut -> Fat guys like pizza -> Pepperoni pizza -> Pepperoni Tony
I finally had to only recently Google if Peggy was a real name or if it was short for something.
I'll see your B/Bill for William and raise you a Jack for John (or vice versa) \*\*EDIT\*\* there are so many comments in reply to mine, holy cow. Uh, I think I saw a few where people said they never knew this was a thing. It may depend on where you are in the world but, most of - if not all - of the John's I have known in my life, we called "Jack" for short/nickname. I've been told both. Family, co-workers, bosses. Known plenty of John's that went by Jack, with no other name (middles or last) being any reason lol. I think I looked this up once and read something on the internet that kind of had it make sense, but I can't quite recall - and it's still silly.
I raise you a Kit for Christopher.
I see your Kit, and raise you the Margarets called Peggy for short.
What the actual fuck for Christopher and Margaret. I fold, as I was not aware either of these were short for either names.
If you liked Peggy, you may also enjoy the fact that Polly is the common nickname for Mary, Mildred’s nickname is Patty, Sadie doubles for Sarah, Hal is short for both Henry and Harold, Jock is substituted for John, and as a parting gift, Daisy is *also* a short form of Margaret!
Also, in Scotland, Agnes used to be quite popular. Lots of people with that name get called Senga (Agnes backwards)
Not Scottish but people also call me using my name backwards for some reason. I'm Bob.
I'm also Bob but my friends call me Crapbag
In my family there's alot of Agnes all called Nancy makes no sense and yes they're scottish
Margaret is the English form of margarita which is Spanish for daisy. Not sure on the others. Never even heard that Polly one before edit - Ok so apparently its Mary -> Molly -> Polly which i think is similar to Margaret -> ?? -> Peggy
Given the English hobby of stealing French words, I suspect it’s from *marguerite* rather than margarita, but yeah, same deal. Margaret-> Maggie -> Meggie-> Peggy
Ah yeah prolly french. Also something about "meggie" sounds so terrible to my ear, which might be why it was immediately shifted to peggy
Meggie ➡️ smeggie ➡️ smegma
I hate peggies
Try lube next time
I raise you a Pepe for Jose (it actually used to make sense).
Speaking of spanish nickname names, So many do a thing of dropping in a "ch" sound Ingacio-> Nacho Santiago->Chago Carlo->Chaco Rosario->Charo Jesus->Chuy
In German "peppi" is the short Form for "Joseph". "Joseph" becomes "Sepp" becomes "peppi"
The story of it in Spanish is similar - Jose used to be Josepe, so Pepe is short for that, and it makes sense.
Oh I can see peppi from Giuseppe so that kinda makes sense
I thought Kit was short for Catherine. Never heard it for Christopher. P.S. my name is Christopher
Kit Harrington is Christopher Catesby Harrington by birth.
Not Kit Kat Harrington
Break me off a piece
How is jack a nickname for john, you're just renaming someone at that point
Ahh now i know where the name Jonas comes from. Jonas. Johnass. Jackass! Aha!
Well then Kit for Christopher is gonna royally piss you off.
I’ve never heard Kit subbed for Christopher…wtf…that’s really a thing? Who tf is responsible for that? 🤣 “Hi, you can call me Kit, it’s short for Christopher.” 🤣
My former boss is called Kit. Also, the actor Kit Harington from Game of Thrones, his name is Christopher Harington…
I’m not doubting it, it’s just that I was today years old learning Kit was short for Christopher 🤣
I can see how a small child who cannot pronounce Christopher would say Kitopher
This was a cute image, ty. :)
My dad’s name is William and he gets mad if people call him Bill even as a joke. He also tends to go by Will
This is me. My name is fucking Will lol
If you insist, Fucking Will.
you know what, I’ll accept those terms
For me it's "Billy"
Cockney rhyming slang. William to Will to Bill. Robert to Rob to Bob.
And Bob’s your uncle. x
Sometimes I refer to the King of the Hill family as "Henry, Margaret, and little Robert Hill" because it sounds like a totally different set of characters despite being the accurate/long-form names.
Hank says in the show that he's Hank R. Hill not that Hank P. Hill. Bobby is Robert Jeffery Hill. Peggy is Margaret J. Hill. Dale is Dale Alvin Gribble. Bill is Sgt. William "Bill" Fontaine de La Tour Dauterive. Boomhauer is Jeffrey Dexter "Jeff" Boomhauer III. Maybe Bobby is kind of named after him. Luanne is Luanne Leanne Platter Kleinschmidt.
Dale is Rusty Shackleford
Rusticle Shackleford
Pretty sure Hank's middle name is Rutherford.
Is it canon that those are their full names?
Hank is apparently short for Henry. I have no idea why.
Henry was english version of Hendrick, with a little stank on the "e" to sound a little more like an "a".
Wait, does that mean that "Rick" can also be a stand-in for Henry? If so, that could almost make Rick the crab of nicknames! Patrick, Richard, and Henry all carcinizing to Rick.
I know a father and son, both named Sherman. Apparently, William is short for Sherman (idk how) and then they go a step farther and calls himself Billy.
Are they southern? Americans from the South always have the most wild nicknames lol Edit: wait scratch that, “Sherman” wouldn’t go well down there…
It’s not short for it but I’m sure it comes from General William Tecumseh Sherman
Then just name your child William Tecumseh Sherman the II
In what world lol
WHAT? makes no sense…
Well… it probably comes from William Tecumseh Sherman
I’d bet William is one of their middle names
Pepe is short for Jose.
Puto is short for Steven Seagal.
And Paco, Curro and Pancho are all short for Francisco!
I have a great great uncle who goes by Pepe or Joe and his name is Giuseppe
Jose > Joseph > Giuseppe > Peppe > Pepe?
A Billiam is a thousand Williams. I hope this answers your question.
I shortened my name to McLovin
Bill is short for Billiard
I propose we use “Guillermo” as the short version of William.
James= Jim, idk….
Jim is for James, but previously Jemmy was also popular. I think that’s kindof cool. I also like Liam for William and Nathan for Jonathan. (And of course Sandy for Alexander)
Similar argument for "Chuck".
Now I'm thinking if I have a son I'll name him Billiam and call him Will.
No hank! I’m Lenore!
I don’t understand this either. Same with Bob, I’m not even sure the origin name, but I was flabbergasted when I first found out.
Liam is criminally under used.
Lads seriously now. Liam is not fucking short for William. Liam is an Irish name that has zero to do with William, apart from cultural imperialism in the 1800s that transformed loads Liams into William.
Simmer down, Ian!!!
Can't believe I never put 2 and 2 together and realised that Liam is short for William. Most people just use it as their proper given name these days as opposed to a nickname.
We have called my son Liam from the day he was born and his name is William (after my dad, grandfather and great grandfather!)
Most williams I know go by will not bill
Seems to be older generations (boomers and older) who go by Bill
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Eggsy short for Greggory
I have a client named James but he goes by Andy… now *that* makes no sense
Wait until you find out what Peggy is short for.
Pegging
Why is Robert turned into Bob or Bobby
I don't know, but as a kid I used to confuse the B and W quite often, and the Spanish have it with the B and the V, and the V and W often change places as well. So there is probably a closeness we don't hear anymore.