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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!zehntel!dual!ptsfa!rob
From: rob@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: where did the 'B' come from?
Message-ID: <636@ptsfa.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-May-85 02:45:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: ptsfa.636
Posted: Sun May 12 02:45:14 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 14-May-85 23:50:17 EDT
References: <419@cvl.UUCP>
Reply-To: rob@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo)
Distribution: net
Organization: Pacific Bell, San Francisco
Lines: 27
Summary: New names from rhymes with old names

In article <419@cvl.UUCP> liang@cvl.UUCP (Eli Liang) writes:
>I've been wondering for a while what the entymology of the name "Bill" is.
>I can see Will deriving from William, but where'd the 'B' come from?

Apparently (at least in English) it used to be common to base new names,
especially pet names, on rhymes with existing names. The following
examples are taken from Dunkling & Gosling's "The Facts on File Dictionary
of First Names":
	Ted from Ed(ward) (beside from Theodore)
	Ned from Ed(ward)
	Bob from Rob(ert)
	Polly from Molly (which is a pet form of Mary via Mally)
	Dick from Rick (which is a pet form of Richard, Frederick, etc.)
-- 


Rob Bernardo, San Francisco, California
{nsc,ucbvax,decwrl,amd,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob

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