How come the nickname for "Robert" is "Bob" and the nickname for "William" is "Bill"? Where is the logic?

Answer 1

Hypocoristism
A nickname may be a hypocoristic form of a person's first name. This is often a simple abbreviation of the name. For most English names the shortened form is taken from the first syllable e.g. Walt for Walter. However in many other languages it is much more common to use the last syllable of the whole name e.g. Italian Nino for Giovanni (via Giovannino, which is a diminutive form of Giovanni). Some abbreviations can use the middle of a word e.g. Liz for Elizabeth. There are a few names for which an archaic pronunciation of the full name is preserved in the short name e.g. Rick for Richard indicates that the -ch- was originally pronounced as -ck-. Some other nicknames were created by rhyming the shortened form of the full name, such as Ted or Ned for Edward (Ed), Bill for William (Will), and Bob or Nob for Robert (Rob).



Personally, I think nicknames like Will, Bill, etc simply evolve from family preference and tradition. It'd be neat to meet the very first guy that said "Hey, my name is William but, by golly, from now on call me Bill!" I doubt a search would find the very first guy and but it's be fun to ask why lol

Good question!!

Answer 2

In Middle English there was a trend of creating rhyming nicknames (arbitrarily changing the first letter). Hick and Dick (appearing in wriring around 1220) were at the beginning of a great 13th-14th century trend That's where we get all these surprising forms like Polly from Molly, Bob from Rob (from Robert), Bill from Will (from William); and Hodge from Roger.
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdick.html

Apparently ONE impetus in the letter swapping at that particular time was a dislike amongst 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).
http://www.geocities.com/edgarbook/names/other/nicknames.html

Answer 3

nickname - invented call: an invented call for someone or some thing, used humorously or affectionately instead of the actual call and often in preserving with a conspicuous function of the man or aspect in contact - short call: a shortened or altered form of a popularity, e.g. "Billy" for "William" or "Peggy" for... Translations for "nickname" English-Italian* Translations for "nickname" English-German* Translations for "nickname" English-Spanish*

Answer 4

Rob, Bob
Will, Bill

Answer 5

people like the letter B. although other nicknames are:
robert= rob
william= will

Answer 6

You think that's bad, I want to know where "Pancho" comes from "Frank"!

Answer 7

i always wondered the same thing...