https://blog.plover.com/lang/etym/nickname-names.html The Universe of Discourse Mark Dominus (Tao Sun, 09 Feb 2025 Min Xiu ) mjd@pobox.com Surnames from nicknames nobody has any more [TOP] English has a pattern of common patronymic names. For example, "John Peters" and "John Peterson" are About me someone whose father was named "Peter". ("Peters" should be understood as "Peter's".) Similarly we RSS Atom have John Williams and John Williamson, John Roberts and John Robertson, John Richards and John 12 recent entries Richardson, John James and John Jameson, John Johns and John Johnson, and so on. Surnames from nicknames nobody Often Dad's name was a nickname. For example, a has any more common nickname for "John" is "Jack" and we have Just give the man (less commonly) John Jacks and (more commonly) John the fish! Jackson. John Bills and John Bilson, John Wills and Claude helps me John Wilson, and John Willis and John Willison are find more Bill, Will, and Wille, all short for William. presidential emoji "Richard" is "Dick", and we have John Dicks (or Polish Spam Dix) and John Dickson (or Dixon). "Nicholas" is Just ANSWER THE "Nick" and we have John Nicks (or Nix) and John QUESTION Nickson (or Nixon). A complex bug with a [?]simple[?] Sometimes the name has the diminutive suffix "-kin" fix inserted. Wilkins is little Will's son, as is Another corner of Wilkinson; Peterkins is little Peter's son. Pennsylvania Dancing bread These patterns are so common that if you find XKCD game theory surnames that follow them you can almost always question infer a forename, although it may be one that is no I DON'T KNOW longer common, or that is spelled differently. For Poor Richard's example, many people are named Pierce, Pearse, Almanack Pierson, or Pearson, which is from the name Pierre, Stuff I wanted to Piers or Pierce, still used in English although say to the much less common than in the past. (It is from the historic district same root as Peter.) Perkins is little Pierre. people but didn't Robin used to be a nickname for Robert (it's "Robkin" with the difficult "-bk-" simplified to Archive: just "-b-") and we have John Robins and John Robinson. 2025: JF 2024: JFMAMJ Sometimes, the pattern is there but the name is JASOND unclear because it is a nickname that is now so 2023: JFMAMJ uncommon that it is neatly forgotten. The fathers JASOND of John Watts, Watson, and Watkins were called Wat, 2022: JFMAMJ which used to be short for Walter. John Hobbs, John JASOND Hobson, and Hobkins are named for Hob, which was 2021: JFMAMJ short for Robert in the same way that Rob and Bob JASOND are still. (I had a neighbor who was called Hob, 2020: JFMAMJ and told me his family claimed that it was short JASOND for Robert, but that he wasn't sure. I assured him 2019: JFMAMJ that they were correct.) "Daw", an archaic nickname JASOND for "David", gives us Dawes, Dawkins, and Dawson. 2018: JFMAMJ JASOND Back in September when I started this article I 2017: JFMAMJ thought on John Gibbs and John Gibson. Who's named JASOND "Gib", and why? Is it archaic nickname? Yes! It was 2016: JFMAMJ short for Gilbert. Then I forgot about the draft JASOND article until today when I woke up wondering about 2015: JFMAMJ John Simpson (and, I realize now, John Simms and JASOND John Simkins). And it transpired "Sim" or "Simme" 2014: JFMAMJ was once a common nickname for Simon. JASOND 2013: JFMAMJ I would welcome further examples. JASOND 2012: JFMAMJ Addenda JASOND 2011: JFMAMJ 20250210 JASOND 2010: JFMAMJ Vicki Rosenzweig reminds me that another lost JASOND nickname for Richard is "Hick" (like "Rick" and 2009: JFMAMJ "Dick") and from this we get Hicks, Hix, Hickson, JASOND Hixon, Hickman, and (she informs me) "Hickmott". 2008: JFMAMJ JASOND "-mott" perhaps indicates a male in-law, according 2007: JFMAMJ to the Dictionary of American Family Names via JASOND Ancestrry.com. The only other clear example of this 2006: JFMAMJ that I noticed was "Willmott". Note that Gaelic JASOND names like Dermott are not of this type; the 2005: OND resemblance is coincidental. We get Hodge / Hodges / Hodgson / Hodgkins from ----------------- "Hodge", an arcahic nickname for Roger. Subtopics: Lucy Keer suggests that Bateson / Bates is from Mathematics 242 "Bat", an archair nickname for Bartholomew. Programming 99 Language 93 Christopher Taylor reminds me that in Atkins and Miscellaneous 72 Atkinson the "At-" is short for "Adam", and Book 50 similarly in "Addis" and "Addison". I know a guy Tech 49 named Atteson but I'm not sure it is the same Etymology 35 thing. Haskell 33 Oops 30 20250210 (again) Unix 27 Cosmic Call 25 Response to this article has been too much for me Math SE 25 to keep up with. Physics 21 Law 21 Hacker News user tibbar mentions mentions several I Perl 17 either didn't know, or knew and forgot to include: Biology 15 Brain 15 * "Dob" is another old nickname for "Robert", Calendar 15 giving us "Dobson"; Food 15 * "Dodge" another nickname for Roger, hence Dodgson, as in Louis Carrol's real name, [mjd-univer] Charles Dodgson; Higher-Order Perl * "Tibb" is an old nickname for Theobald, giving Blosxom surnames like "Tibbs" and "Tibbets"; * "Hud" for "Hugh", giving us the Hudsons. Comments disabled Citizen Claude weighs in I also asked Claude for suggestions: I'm going to paste a blog article that discusses common English surnames that are patronymic versions of forenames that no longer exist. For example, the common surname "Watson" is from "Wat", and "Wat" was once a common nickname for "Walter", but no longer used. I would like you to list ten similar examples that are not mentioned in the article. Claude replied: Here are ten examples of common English surnames derived from obsolete forenames or nicknames, different from those mentioned in the article: 1. Higgins/Higgs - from "Hick," a medieval pet form of Richard 2. Timms/Timson - from "Tim," originally a medieval nickname for Timothy 3. Hodgson/Hodges - from "Hodge," once a common nickname for Roger 4. Atkins/Atkinson - from "At" or "Atte," medieval diminutive of Adam 5. Parkins/Parkinson - from "Perkin," diminutive of Peter/Pierre 6. Judson/Judd - from "Judd," medieval nickname for Jordan 7. Malkins/Malkinson - from "Malk," diminutive of Malcolm 8. Larkins/Larkin - from "Larry" or "Laurence," medieval form of Lawrence 9. Collins/Colson - from "Col," medieval nickname for Nicholas 10. Huggins/Huggett - from "Hug," medieval pet form of Hugh Remember that some of these might be made up. For example, Wiktionary claims that #7 is matronymic, from Malle, a nickname for Mary. Who's right? I don't know. The only way to settle this is with a cage match! I hope. I complained that #2 was not to spec because "Tim" is still common, and demanded a replacement: 1. Rankins/Rankin - from "Ran," a medieval diminutive of Randolph I also asked Claude if I had made any errors, and it said: The article claims that "Robin" comes from "Robkin" with "bk" simplified to "b". This is incorrect. "Robin" is actually a French diminutive of Robert, coming from Old French Robin/Rovin. ... This seems plausible. [Other articles in category /lang/etym] permanent link