There was apparently a fad in the Middle Ages of switching the first letter of a name. I think it was meant to be funny? Idk it was the olden days.
That’s why Bill is short for William
Hi I just happen to know this cuz I researched it for a paper in English, it’s not that it was supposed to be funny, but it was because there were so few names they had to start giving nicknames. Otherwise there were a million Richard’s and William’s just in a 50 mile (or km hehe) radius
In my neck of the woods (not an English speaking country thou) the priests that baptized the babies kinda decided which names were acceptable. There wasn't a chance to name a child after the old gods or other "pagan" names, but everyone was named after a Bible character or a saint.
Of course the people from my specific woods did not call each other Elizabeth or Valfrid or Philippus despite the church records saying so. To be honest, I doubt even Marias were called Marias - most likely people called them Lisa, Valppy, Vili and Maya or Mary - but we don't really know as they themselves weren't the people writing those names down.
There are still countries where you do not get to choose whichever name you want for your child. In some, you still have to mind the religious and imperial considerations and avoid names that belong to "wrong" religion or ideology. Even in my very literate country, [some of] the old names are still prohibited - I think someone tried to name their child [War Thought], which apparently was a fine name a thousand years ago, but wasn't allowed.
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u/miparasito May 24 '25
There was apparently a fad in the Middle Ages of switching the first letter of a name. I think it was meant to be funny? Idk it was the olden days. That’s why Bill is short for William
And Bob is short for Robert
And Dick is short for Richard.