improbably nicknames

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:38 pm

According to Chambers 20th Century Dictionary, an obsolete form of the name "John" is "Jankin", which apparently mutated into "Jack" and "Jock".

dwest · Post by **dwest** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:40 pm

Innocent Bystander wrote:
devondancer wrote:Surnames too, at least here in the UK. "Dusty" Miller (that one's fairly self-explanatory), "Nobby" Clark - why?
In Hindi, "Nabi" means "Clerk". Hence, anybody called Clark in the British Army in India would be called "Nabi" or "Nobby". The slang made its way back but the meaning didn't.

I thought it was from nobs like me?

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:48 pm

dwest wrote:I thought it was from nobs like me?

Please refer back to "Richard Hedde" as listed previously.

djm

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:57 pm

Really James is an odd translation from the same name as Jacob. Thus Jacques makes sense, and Iago (consider that J and I are the same original letter in Latin--which makes the Dutch use of J make more sense), from it add Santo and we get the Spanish Santiago.

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:53 pm

Walden wrote:Really James is an odd translation from the same name as Jacob. Thus Jacques makes sense, and Iago (consider that J and I are the same original letter in Latin--which makes the Dutch use of J make more sense), from it add Santo and we get the Spanish Santiago.

If you think those are odd, consider the gaelic versions Seamus and Hamish.

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:23 pm

You have to be there. "Seumas" or "Seamus" is just "James" with a Gaelic accent. The "intrusive Gaelic Vowel" prevents two consonants from being sounded together so, for instance, the name "Norma" becomes "Norruma", and "James" or "Shames" (with a very soft "J") becomes "Shamuss". There is a different regional accent which tends to pronounce "S" as "Sh" - Sean Connery slips in and out of this - and if you take the "J" as softer yet, or more in a Spanish style "J", it becomes "Hamish".

rorybbellows · Post by **rorybbellows** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:08 pm

Not improbable ones but heres some from Dublin that I remember.
Anyone with the surname White, would be nicknamed "Chalky"
Anyone with the same initials for first name and surname especally DD would be called "Double"
If your first name was Raymond you could be nicknamed"Razor"
If your surname was O' something it was very common to stick the O' at the end of your first name (micko or Johno )
Big strong men would be nicknamed either "The Bull"or "The Horse"followed by their surname and of course anyone called Murphy would be nicknamed"Spud"

RORY

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:51 pm

My dad's called John Shaw but just about since birth he's been Jack to everybody, and that's 85 years!

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 4:05 pm

SteveShaw wrote:My dad's called John Shaw but just about since birth he's been Jack to everybody, and that's 85 years!

And may he be for many more!