What's in a name?

[Mike M]

Stick with the 8 ball brother Irish history and politics are as clear as mud .

The only thing anyone agrees on in Irish politics is that it's unfathomable

 

[Mike M]

Mícheálín

Micheál, Mícheál or Michéal sometimes even the Irish aren't sure where to put a fada

 

[Dave himself]

The only thing anyone agrees on in Irish politics is that it's unfathomable

Never a truer word spoken brother .

 

[emwolf]

So, sophomore year of high school and I am the 4th of my brothers to attend the same school. They've reached the point where every teacher knows at least one brother and I'm referred to by last name only. My first day of health is a brand new teacher to the school who passes around a seating chart and asks us to put down what we want to be called. As Reagan was recently elected president, I chose "Gip." Luckily I had a friend who was willing to play along and referred to me as Gip. Soon the nickname caught on with others and most of my acquaintances were calling me Gip. My mom gets a progress report from the teacher saying it's a pleasure having Gip in the class. Having gone through three others of similar humor, she catches on immediately and also starts calling me Gip. That lasted until I graduated.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Here's an interesting article that sheds some light on English derived pet names, at least:

Why Is Chuck Short for Charles and Dick Short for Richard?

There's no 'U' in Charles or 'B' in William, so how did those get to be the nicknames?

people.howstuffworks.com

Slavic pet names are equally baffling to English speakers, as anyone who's read Brothers Karamazov can attest.

 

[Rosseforp]

I was talking with a friend the other day about "shortened" versions of given names, and I'll be honest - some of them puzzle me no end.

I mean, I get shortened versions of names such as Chris for Christine or Christopher, Dan for Daniel, Ed for Edgar, or Edward, even Hal for Harold or Pen for Penelope.

Then it starts to get strange: Hank for Henry, Jim for James, Milly for Mildred, Bob for Robert and Sadie or Sally for Sarah.
Not only is the derivation from the name strange, incorporating letters that are not in the given name, but in some cases, it's not shorter at all. Jim has the same number of syllables as James. How's that "short"?

Then there's the short versions of names that make so sense whatsoever:
I mean Daisy or Peg for Margaret? Pat or Patsy for Martha or Matilda?
How the heck do you get Dick for Richard?

My personal all time favorite is Jack for John.
Same number of letters, same number of syllables, letters that don't come from the given name.
It's just as easy to say "John" as it is "Jack", so how could that ever be considered a short version of the given name John?

My Dad's name was Harrold, but went by Hal, and my Mother's Dad was named Harry.
I went to school with Bert Blyleven's younger sister "Trudy", short for Gertrude. True Doggone story.

Yeah, I suspect those folks were on approximately the same level of the parents of the Bob Newhart trio.
You know, "Hi, I'm Larry. This is my brother Daryl, and this is my other brother Daryl".

I hung out with my other friend named Doug so much growing up, his mother started calling us the two Darryl's. She still does!

My mom Margaret went by Marge. When I got my mom's birth cert, it said Marguerite. When I asked her about it, she flipped out. She blamed her father and said she hated it and never used it.

Yep, my Mom always went by Rose, hated her full name, Rosetta. Wont even mention her middle name, but that is what her older sister named her turtle.

Spoiler

Rhymes with turtle

~doug~

 

[njpaddy]

Our oldest daughter was 10 when we were having our second. Being fans of Rory Gallagher at the time (late 70s-early 80s), we were leaning towards Rory if a boy. Our oldest HATED that name and prayed for a girl. She got her wish and all were happy with our choice of Megan Elise.

 

[Mike M]

The peace line runs through every human heart.

I've missed you're poetic soul

 

[Owen Bawn]

I've missed you're poetic soul

 

[TinyTim]

Here's an interesting article that sheds some light on English derived pet names, at least:

Why Is Chuck Short for Charles and Dick Short for Richard?

There's no 'U' in Charles or 'B' in William, so how did those get to be the nicknames?

people.howstuffworks.com

Slavic pet names are equally baffling to English speakers, as anyone who's read Brothers Karamazov can attest.

When I began reading Russian novels in college, I struggled mightily to keep track of all the different names for the same character.

 

[SparkyLB]

Well, I suppose that's actually better than X Æ A-12, Jermajesty, or Moon Unit, the name of the children of Elon Musk, Michael Jackson and Frank Zappa respectively.

So you’re saying Dweezel gets no attention? (That’s Zappa’s other boy.)

 

[luvmysuper]

So you’re saying Dweezel gets no attention? (That’s Zappa’s other boy.)

Compared to X Æ A-12 or Moon Unit, Dweezel is almost a normal name!

 

[Ted A]

In college I worked for a guy named Judd. His name was actually Eugene. But a younger sibling of his couldn’t pronounce Eugene and said Wudge. They decided that wasn’t such a good name for someone in the 50s so changed it to Judd