[ETL]

I recall in Jr High teachers calling attendance last name first. Got sorta embarrassing when she came to a classmate of mine named Richard Small. Richard preferred to be called by a common nickname for Richard.

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Why is “Dick” a nickname for “Richard”?

There was a common practice of using rhyming nicknames in Medieval England. I’m not sure precisely why, but one reason I’ve seen is that there were a relatively small number of first names commonly used, so a variety of nicknames arose to differentiate people.

Thus, you have:

Richard -> Rick -> Dick
William -> Will -> Bill
Robert -> Rob -> Bob
Edward -> Ed -> Ted
Margaret -> Maggie -> Peggy (more of a stretch, but same principle)

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Bill-a-nickname-for-William

[Sans-Culotte]

I recall in Jr High teachers calling attendance last name first. Got sorta embarrassing when she came to a classmate of mine named Richard Small. Richard preferred to be called by a common nickname for Richard.

There used to be a guy where I work named Richard Head. He always went by Richard.