I guess a big part of this blog has evolved (or devolved) into asking questions that crop up in my random-laden brain and perplex me. One such question involves the name of that notorious Massachusetts Senator. His name is Edward M. Kennedy, but not really. Most people know him as Ted Kennedy, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why that is. Where did “Ted” come from, it being a nickname for “Theodore”? Was it just accepted because it’s close enough to “Ed”? If his name was Albert Kennedy would it be ok to call him “Cal”? I’ve never heard of such a confusing and botched nickname. I’ve considered that it has something to do with his well-known, raging, endearing-to-some alcoholism, but that would be too easy. I think the public is owed an explanation of his nickname etymology.
4 comments:
Here's what I found:
It's best to understand this as part of a much wider practice of "rhyming nicknames".
There was a trend of creating rhyming nicknames (arbitrarily changing the first letter) in the 13th and 14th centuries. That's where we get all these surprising forms like Dick (and Hick!) from Richard, Polly from Molly (for Mary), Bob, Dob and Hob from Rob (from Robert), Bill from Will (from William); and Hodge from Roger.
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdic...
In some cases the substituted letter has some relationship to the original. For example, the "P" of "Polly" and "Peggy" is phonetically akin to the "M" of "Molly" and "Maggie", etc. (Just try saying "Molly" as if you had a cold!) But in many cases the substitution is arbitrary. (Perhaps, though, there were favorite letters to use -- note all the uses of B,D and H as subsitutes for men's name in the list above.)
For other forms of "letter swapping" to create nicknames, and a variety of other methods by which English nicknames developed see:
http://www.geocities.com/edgarbook/names...
Apparently ONE impetus for all this letter swapping was a dislike among the native English for the harsh Norman French "r". (Note how many nicknames made substitions for r's -- not only at the beginning of words [Richard, Robert], but in the middle of them -- Mary > Molly, Sarah > Sally/Sadie, Dorothy > Dolly; Harold/Harry > Hal).
Another reason for rhyming nicknames was the limited number of different personal names at the time. Changing the first letter was one way of distinguishing people who had the same given name. (Consider especially the case of a parent and child with the same first name. Even today it is not unusual for the child to be called by a different nickname to distinguish them from their parent.)
http://www.behindthename.com/bb_gen/arcv...
Given this practice of letter-swapping (especially at the *beginning* of a name), it is not too surprising that the 'Ed' name (Edward, Edgar, Edwin) would end up using a nickname with various arbitrary consonants at the beginning, not only creating "Ned", but borrowing the pre-exising nickname "Ted" (for Theodore).
It is interesting that "Ted" and "Teddy" find their origin in the Kennedy Dynasty itself.
When young Edward was born, being the fourth of five boys, he was considered the 'favorite' son, as most fourth sons are. Edward was thought to be a name of derision, but the matriarch could not avoid using it as it was her paternal grandfather's given name. Da-da Teddy, as she called him, was most successful, both as a family man and in business. Rose Fitzgerald was the apple of her grandfather's eye.
Edward Fitzgerald bore the burden of raising Rose after the tragic accident that took the life of his only daughter and her husband, Burt after they fell into the water-wheel of a large steam-boat as it navigated the mighty Mississippi.
Edward and his wife Narney, raised young Rose until Narney's untimely death in 1876 after being hit by a steam locomotive that derailed near Rose's boarding school.
Da-da Teddy and Rose were inseparable until she married off and began what was soon to become the Kennedy Dynasty.
Joseph Kennedy, the father of Edward (Teddy), JFK, RFK, et al, could only agree to use Rose's maiden name, Fitzgerald, but never Edward, as he despised Rose's grandfather. However, after young Robert was born he promised Rose that if they had another son, she would allow her to name him Edward, after her beloved grandfather.
On February 22nd, 1932, the Kennedy's were blessed with a fourth son, Edward Moore Kennedy, known as 'Ted' or 'Teddy' in memory of Rose's Da-da Teddy.
The Kennedy/Fitzgerald curse continued 12 years later when their first born son, Joseph, was killed in WWII.
Wow, those are really interesting. I guess there really is some order to the naming randomness.
This post from the church seems ludicrous when you read the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Fitzgerald
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