People are gobsmacked to find out the ‘unwritten rule’ why names like William and Richard are shortened to Bill and Dick
HAVE you ever wondered how nicknames come about? For instance, how do you get from William to Bill, or Richard to Dick?
Well, one linguist has claimed to know the answer – and it’s sent social media into meltdown.
Eleanor Stern – a writer from New Orleans in the US who studied linguistics in London – uploaded a video to her TikTok account where she lifted the lid on her expert opinion.
In the clip, Eleanor, whose profile is @eleanor.stern, explained that she knows some people are fascinated by the concept of nicknames and how they came to be.
She then explained that most nickname origins fall into different categories, which includes syllables, rhyming or simply a misinterpretation of sound.
Eleanor took to the popular social media platform and said: “I just saw a video of someone asking why nobody ever shortens their name in a fun way – like why is Christopher always Chris instead of ist, or whatever?
“Why is Elizabeth always Liz, instead of like, Ebit?”
“Anyway there are unwritten rules that explain why we make the nicknames that we make in English,” she continued saying she’d had to dig into her old linguistics book to get to the bottom of it.
Eleanor continued: “Basically, you’re going to create the nickname based on either the first syllable of the name, the stress syllable of the name or the second most stressed syllable of the name.”
She then gave an example, drawing on the similarly sounding names Alexandra and Alexander.
Eleanor explained: “If you go by Ali, you’re obviously pulling that from the first syllable of the name.
“But if your name is Alexander and you go by Xander, that’s not the first syllable – that’s the stress syllable that you’re using as the basis of the nickname.”
The social media user drew the same conclusion when it came to the names Alexis or Alexia.
“If you go by Lexi, that’s the stressed syllable.”
Her third example was how you can create a nickname with the second stressed syllable, for instance how Elizabeth becomes Liz – or in this scenario – Beth.
However, Eleanor was also keen to point out that there were some exceptions to the rule, which results in bizarre nicknames.
There are unwritten rules that explain why we make the nicknames that we make in English
Eleanor Stern
She continued: “Then we have these weird idiosyncratic things.
“For one thing, there are sounds that we just hate to hear in a nickname – one of them is ‘th’.
“So, yes, Beth is a nickname for Elizabeth, but also a sort of old fashioned alternative is Bess.
“Also, for a while, English speakers were just obsessed with rhyming, which is where we get nicknames like Bob for Robert or Bill for William.
“Those started as Rob and Will and over time, people were rhyming and joking around, and they turned into those rhyming nicknames instead.”
Meanwhile, some nicknames have come about simply because someone misheard them in the first place.
Giving away more details, she said: “So my name is Eleanor. I go by El, which is the first syllable and the stressed syllable, but some people named Eleanor instead have the nickname Nell.
“Similarly, some people named Edward, instead of going by Ed, go by Ned.”
Eleanor then shared how if you said the possessive phrase “mine El” or “mine Ned” repeatedly, “people might start to hear it is ‘my Nell’ or ‘my Ned.’
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After she posted the video, Eleanor was inundated with comments about one nickname and its origins in particular – just how does Richard become Dick?
She revealed: “So you start off with Richard. That gets cut down to Rick, partly because people don’t really like that ‘ch’ sound in nicknames, I suspect.
“And then you rhyme with Rick and you produce Dick, which is where that nickname comes from.
“At the time the nickname came about, it didn’t have a secondary meaning, so it wasn’t funny.
For a while, English speakers were just obsessed with rhyming, which is where we get nicknames like Bob for Robert or Bill for William
Eleanor Stern
“Now it’s funny, but the nickname already exists, so it just sucks for you.”
Ever since, people have been losing their mind at the ‘unwritten rules’ and said they had no idea about where certain nicknames had come from.
One person wrote: “I have always wondered where Bob and Bill came from this is so interesting!”
A second said: “Very interesting! My name is Stephanie, and I was recently wondering why Steph is always the default nickname for me (and not, say, Annie).”
A third typed: “This is the perfect coffee break content on a Monday morning.”
While a fourth added: “I want to study linguistics so badly this is so interesting to me.”