how is bill short for william and how is bobby short for robert?

According to the report, back in the days of Old and Middle English,

everything was written by hand; “it was therefore common and easier to

use agreed-upon abbreviations.” An example of an abbreviation was

“Ric.” for “Richard”.

The abbreviations led to diminutives, such as “Rick”.

Rhyming nicknames were fairly common in the 12th and 13th centuries,

such as “Hick” and “Dick” from “Rick”. “Dick and Hick were among the

earliest of the rhyming nicknames, first appearing in writing around

1220. Other rhyming nicknames include Polly from Molly, Bob from Rob

(from Robert), Bill from Will (from William); and Hodge from Roger.”

Dick has remained a nickname for Richard. “‘Hick’ has thankfully

become obsolete, except when tied to ‘Dick’ in rhymes such as

‘Hickory, Dickory, Dock.'”

A web site on the etymology and history of first names in English

agrees that “Bob” is a medieval “rhyming nickname” for Robert. This

site also suggests that the change in the initial consonant from

“Rick” to “Dick” may have been caused by “the way the trilled Norman R

was pronounced by the English.”

As in Chet is short for Chester and Chuck is short for Charles and Joe is short for Joseph and Jake is short for Jacob. Same way Ian is John and so is Juan and so is Jean.

Jno. is an abbreviation for Jonah, Jos. is an abbreviation for Joseph, Wm. is an abbreviation for William, Robt. is an abbreviation for Robert.

I think these all were devised to save space in an assigned area given for writing.

I don`t know, but they always called my grandpa “Will” and his name was William. I think it is because William=Will=Bill. I think they just shorten the name and then change a letter. But who knows??

Probably the same way Jack is short (haha) for John.

By making no sense whatsoever.

its slang because they rhyme

will=bill

rob=bob

and other sayings like

dogs eye=pie

to hit the frog and toad= hit the road.

noahs ark=shark

its all cause they rhyme stupid really.

🙂

uh…. yea whatever Jan Stolz said lol

“How”?

Interesting indeed.