Nicknames: How John Became Jack and Other Odd Nicknames
John-Jack
One of the most famous bearers of this name, John F. Kennedy, was known to friends and family as "Jack." But I wonder if he knew how much history that name had? John is a name with history stretching back far into Biblical times. However, during medieval times, the name John was altered slightly in the Germanic tongues to Jankin or Jackin. Out of that, we get the nickname Jack.
Richard-Dick
Just as with the previous name, medieval times brought about Dick as a nickname for Richard. The Normans, descendents of Vikings who resided in northern France, had a unique way of trilling their "r" sounds. When the English attempted to pronounce Richard as the Normans did, it was reported that they could not quite do it correctly and the "r" came off sounding like a "d". Thus Dick became a pet name for Richard.
Henry-Hank
Just as with John, Hank was derived from Hankin, a form of Jankin. Originally Hank was a nickname for John but over time it became closely associated with Henry.
Henry-Harry
Harry was the Medieval English form of the Germanic name, Heimiric or Henry.
James-Jim, Jimmy
The medieval pet form of James was Jim. Many of the names in medieval Europe were altered like this because of the conflicts in languages. In England for a time, there were contradictory Romance languages of the Norman French and the harsher, guttural languages of the Germanic tribes: the Danes, the Saxons, and the Celts. When one couldn't pronounce the name exactly, a new name was born. But the original name never went away completely. This is also how you get Molly as a nickname for Mary.
Margaret-Megan, Meg, Peggy
Margaret was derived from a Romance language (Latin) so it did not translate easily into Welsh (a Germanic-derived language.) Megan was the form the Welsh used and Meg/Peg/Peggy were nicknames for Megan. Today, most use Megan as a formal name but some do use it as a nickname for Margaret.
Sarah-Sadie, Sally
Sadie most likely came about as a nickname for Sarah based on the medieval English attempt to pronounce the Norman trilled "r". (See Richard-Dick) The "r" came off as a "d" sound in English. Sally probably came about due to similar circumstances. Some Germanic languages may have attempted the trilled "r" and it came off as an "l" sound.
Edward-Ted, Teddy
Again, Edward was derived from the Norman French and English/Germanic speakers interpreted it as Ted or Teddy.
Susannah-Sukie
Susannah is also a Romance language name and Sukie was the closest pronunciation the Germanic tribes could associate.
The list is extensive and most can be traced back to the conflict in the Romance languages versus the Germanic tongues. So if you are curious about a name and nickname pairing, check to see what language they are derived from. And most likely, you will have found your answer.
Published by Carol Wilkins
I am a speech communications professor who dabbles in writing and research. View profile
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15 Comments
Post a CommentI was always stumped by how Elizabeth became Betty, Margaret is Peggy, William is Bill or Billy, Dorothy is Dotty or Dot, Charles is Chuck, Katherine is Kitty, Virginia is Jenny, Eleanor and Elmira are Elly, Theresa is Terri, Anthony is Tony, Antoinette is Toni, Victoria used to be Vicki but now she's often called Tori, Barbara is Babs, Lawrence is Larry, Francis is called Frank, Eugene is Gene, Robert is Bob - I'm dating myself with some of these names but they were common names and nicknames when I was growing up.
To answer Kelly's question about John being Duke, the actor John Wayne's nickname was Duke, thus a lot of Johns go by Duke... I know this is two years later, but some might wonder.
John is not actually a derivative of Jacob. John is from the Hebrew, "Yochanan" meaning "YAHWEH is gracious." Jacob is derived from the Hebrew, "Ya'aqov" meaning "supplanter." The "Jack" connection comes Medieval period in history when the Germanic "Jackin" form of John was popular.
I have heard that John is a derivative of Jacob, which is a more plausible full name for Jack.
Morgan played the role of Officer Bill Gannon as the partner to Sgt. Joe Friday.
You have now helped to clear up years of confusion in my family, with my friends, and with my students!
You still didn't identify the John/Jack connection. Let's ride in the waaaaaaaayback machine! Way back thousands of years ago, in an ancient land called Israel, the name that we'uns now pronounce as John, was originally (please forgive me my real friends I'm using modern American english letters to spell out paleo-Hebrew...) pronounced "Yachanan," with the 'ch' being the gutteral throat thing. Questions? Ask away!
That's very interesting...I didn't know!
Henry Morgan, the actor is more well-known as Harry Morgan, Col. Sherman Potter of Mash, and earlier Pete of Pete and Gladys, as well as the sidekick in Dragnet, tho I forget that character's name.
Great Article. My kids have nick names but none are formed from their real names.