9/22/2023 0 Comments Eggy peggy![]() Like the name Bill coming from William, Bob is a rhyming, shortened form of the name that rose to popularity during the Middle Ages. Bob from Robert Comedian Bob Hope (1968) ITV/Shutterstock So popular, in fact, that people began adding the letter “T” to the common nickname “Ed” to further differentiate between people with the same name. The name Edward was popular during the Middle Ages. ![]() While Ted is a common nickname for Theodore, it’s also used for Edward. Anyone who has attempted to read an original version of The Canterbury Tales knows how difficult it is to parse through spelling back then, but it does make for a fairly easy explanation of Chuck being a nickname for Charles. Chuck from Charles Charles “Chuck” Berry playing guitar in 1965 Everett/ShutterstockĪpparently in the Middle English, the name Charles was actually spelled Chukken. It seems that, over time, English speakers decided to tweak the vowel sound and do the same with Hank. Their name Hendrick is similar to Henry and is often shortened to Henk. The Dutch are likely responsible for this common crossover of names. ![]() Hank from Henry Country musician Hank Williams (1951) Underwood Archives/Shutterstock As you can probably tell, like the rhyming trend, people used to love replacing the R-sound in certain names with an L-sound to create a whole new nickname. If you’ve ever heard someone using Molly as a nickname for a woman named Mary - and found yourself confused - it’s the same theory behind Sally being a nickname for Sarah. It’s also worth nothing that Jack and John are also two of the most common names for otherwise anonymous men (think “Jack of All Trades” and “John Doe”), so they’re easily interchanged. They apparently translated the name John to Jen, which then became Jenkin or Jakin, before finally landing on Jack. Some believe Jack came from an old Scottish form of the name John being referred to as “Jock.” On the other hand, it could be based on the Norman culture (which was vibrant in France in the 1000s) and their use of -kin at the end of names. There are a couple of theories for this popular nickname switch. Kennedy went by the nickname “Jack” Universal History Archive/UIG/Shutterstock It’s the same reason we have Bill from William. That continued to transform into the Peggy and Peg we know today, based simply on a trend of creating nicknames that rhyme. Over the years, Maggie morphed into Meggie and Meg, likely because of accents changing the vowel sound. Unlike Daisy and Peggy, it’s definitely easier to see why the nickname Maggie comes from Margaret - and it’s also the answer to unlocking Peggy’s origin as a nickname. Peggy from Margaret Jazz singer Peggy Lee (1955) Warner Bros/KobalShutterstock Take a look below to find out more about Margaret and other names with common yet surprising nicknames. (See? It makes total sense!) After learning that, I decided to dig even deeper about curious monikers by looking them up on the helpful website Behind the Name. Margaret stems from the French name Marguerite, which also happens to be the name of a type of daisy.
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