Surnames from nicknames nobody has any more
Patronymics and surname origins
- Extensive discussion of patronymic systems: Icelandic (-son / -dóttir), historical Scandinavian practice, Welsh “ap/ab
” (Upjohn, Powell, Pritchard, Pugh, Bowen), Irish/Scottish “Mac/Mc” and “O’…”, Norman “Fitz…”, Spanish/Portuguese -ez/-es, Ukrainian -enko, Persian -zadeh, Arabic bin/ibn and abu, Japanese -rō, etc. - Several commenters describe how patronymics “froze” into fixed family surnames in Scandinavia and elsewhere, often due to 19th–20th c. legislation or administrative needs (tax, conscription).
- Some note issues when patronymics coexist with fixed surnames (siblings with different -son/-dóttir names, confusion in non-patronymic societies).
What counts as a “family name”?
- Debate over whether Icelandic -son/-dóttir are truly “family names” since they’re not inherited across generations, vs. the pragmatic view (whatever sits in the “surname” field on a passport or form).
- Examples from passports and phonebooks: Iceland sorts by given name; surnames there function mainly for disambiguation, as elsewhere.
- Separate discussion of Slavic gendered surnames (-ski/-ska, -ov/-ova) and Lithuanian endings differing by gender and marital status.
Nicknames turning into surnames
- Many English surnames are shown to derive from rhyming or shortened nicknames: Richard → Rick → Dick → Dixon; Robert → Rob/Bob → Robinson, Dobson; Simon → Simme → Simpson; Bartholomew → Bat/Bate → Bates/Beattie; Roger → Hodge/Dodge → Hodgson/Dodgson; Theobald → Tibb → Tibbs; Hugh → Hud → Hudson, etc.
- Realizations that Nixon = Nick’s son, Robinson ≈ Robertson, Dawson = David’s son, Harris/Harrison from Harry/Henry, etc.
- Long digression on traditional English nicknames: William → Will/Bill, Margaret → Meg/Peg, Mary → Molly/Polly, John → Jack, Henry → Harry/Hank/Hal, Elizabeth’s many variants, etc.
Letters, diacritics, and spelling drift
- Argument over whether characters like ö, é are “separate letters” or base letters with diacritics; examples from Icelandic, French, German, Hungarian, etc., including sorting conventions.
- Discussion of how diacritics are treated when keyboards or systems can’t easily produce them, and of alternate spellings (e.g. Hülsbeck/Huelsbeck).
- Note that “nickname” itself comes from rebracketing “an ekename” → “a nekename”.
Marriage, gender, and surname transmission
- Historical English usage of “Mrs John Smith” and analogues, still visible in wedding invitations and older etiquette; some find this offensive or obsolete.
- Anecdotes of banking and paperwork problems when checks are written to non-existent “Mrs Husband’s Name”.
- Comparisons to Spanish dual-surname systems, Norwegian two-surname children, hyphenated or merged surnames, and proposals for “union names” or random inheritance of one surname from each parent.
- Descriptions of culturally specific systems: Lithuanian gendered and marital suffixes, Hungarian women historically adopting husbands’ full names, Japanese terms like 奥さん (okusan).
Diminutives and augmentatives in English
- Historical English diminutive -kin noted (napkin, pumpkin, munchkin, bodkin, firkin, catkin), but essentially no longer productive in everyday speech.
- Modern productive diminutives are mostly -y/-ie (Johnny, kitty, tummy), plus -let (applet, hamlet), -ling (duckling), -ette (cigarette), occasionally -o (kiddo, doggo); mostly used for children, informality, or specialized jargon.
- Thread compares this to very productive diminutives/augmentatives in Romance languages (-inho/-inha, -ito/-ita, -ón/-ona), which English lacks.
Immigration, transcription, and myth-busting
- Multiple family anecdotes of surnames changing spelling (e.g., -sen to -son, farm names altered, Slavic diacritics lost) through bureaucratic error, low literacy, or later voluntary “Americanization”.
- Others stress historians’ consensus that Ellis Island officials did not routinely rename immigrants; changes mostly came from immigrants themselves or later generations.
- Transliteration from non-Latin scripts (Russian, Arabic, Greek) shown to be inconsistent across languages and time.
Other notable curiosities
- Occupational surnames and roles: Peterman linked to saltpeter work; Baxter as female Baker; King/Lord/Virgin as actor roles in medieval mystery plays.
- Examples of culture-specific kinship or ordinal naming (Roman numerals in praenomina, Japanese numbered sons, English Junior/Chip/Trip/Skip patterns).
- Several commenters express surprise at how many “ordinary” English surnames encode forgotten nicknames or family relationships once you know the patterns.