Why are people named William - called Bill ?

Why are people named Richard called ****? Same principle applies. ;P

Not sure if this is accurate: "When William of Orange ruled England, Ireland and Scotland, he was noted for leaving massive debts wherever he went. The proprietors all across the land, knew of his reputation and while they couldn’t refuse the ruler of the land, they knew that after he left they would be laden with many bills to pay…and wherever he went the people would say, “Here comes bills.”

That is a great question. I am a William who is called Bill and never tried to find an answer as to why. The dictionary also indicates " Bill " as a nick name for William. Let's leave it at that.

Someone was high and drunk and instead of saying Will they said Bill. And it stuck every since. And as far as Richard being called D!ck a long time ago a guy by the name of Richard was being a D!ck head so they said Dude stop being a D!ck. And that name stuck ever since!!! Thank you. Question answered

In some other languages, the equivalent for "William" begins with a "V" sound. (In still others, it begins with a "G".) Over time, in those languages, and in certain regions of Europe, "B" replaced "V" as a simpler, more casual way to pronounce the various nicknames for "William": "Billy," instead of "Villy".

That sort of thing is very common in vernacular -- informal -- language. Languages evolve and change over time.

When you learn to speak, you learn the hard consonants first, such as "B". Little boys named William throughout history have more than likely started out calling themselves "Bill" and the smaller name stuck.

Peace,

Jenn

Mod

Brillant

Where I am we have a **** Turpin. Robin Hood and William Tell

its not everyone called William is shortened to Bill. My name is William but everyone calls me Will. Which is better than Bill if you ask me.

There are several nicknames that are not simply shortened version of the original. Hank and Harry for Henry, D|ck for Richard, Jack for John, Chuck for Charles, Ted for Edward, Jim for James - and less common for girl's names: Peg for Margaret, and Sally for Sarah.

If you think about it, there are no firm guidelines about where words came from. Even the writers of dictionaries have to make educated guesses, as the words are much older than dictionaries. But in the middle ages, many many people often had the same name. It does appear that people would substitute in a different letter at times to tell people apart. Substituting a B for a W is an easy change.

The nickname shows up more often after the 19th century. The Irish brogue is more likely to say B instead of W. The nickname is more popular in the USA where many Irish descendants live than in Britain.

Since the German variant is Vilhelm it is also an easy to go from "V" to "B".

In the USA Bill as the given name instead of William peaked in the 1920's.

If you have any doubt that names can change, look at the following variants:

Wilhelm (German, Polish)

Willem, Wilhelmus, Wim, Pim, Jelle (Dutch, Frisian, Low German)

Wiremu (Maori)

Willelm (Old English)

Wellëm (Luxembourgish)

Gilen (Basque)

Gulielmus (Latin)

Guglielmo (Italian)

Guillaume (French)

Guildhelm (Old Dutch)

Guilhem (Occitan)

Guillem, Guim (Catalan)

Guillén (Aragonese)

Guillermo (Spanish)

Guilherme (Portuguese)

Guillerme (Galician)

Gwilym (Welsh)

Finally consider that most people were illiterate. My grandfather didn't know the spelling of the name he wanted to give to his daughter. It was his grandmother's name. As a result my aunt grew up with a misspelled name which she had to correct as an adult. Because it was a Spanish name, most people she grew up with didn't realize it was misspelled since they didn't recognize the name (in the 1940's).

William Hague goes ballistic if anybody calls him Bill or Billy,so remember next time you speak to Billy Hague not to call him by his NICKNAME.

Yeah, it's a nickname. My name is Strawberry but my friends call me Berrie.