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For those that are confused by the name change, Jack is an old nickname for John. It was most popular in the 17th century and has been on the decline since, so I don’t think many people today use it that way anymore. Or any people younger than 70, anyway.

Of a similar origin, there’s Jim for James, Dick for Richard (giggity), Harry for Henry, and Sally for Sarah, among others. I think some of these are more popular than others, but it seems to me that they are mostly out of use in general, though some of the nicknames live on as normal names.

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SeabassDan@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Harry and Sally I never understood since they aren’t really nicknames and aren’t even shorter versions, they just sound like different names altogether.

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TIMMAY@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Correct, my uncle is john such and such the second after his pops but has gone by jack his whole life. He’s also a piece of shit but that’s beside the point

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- HootinNHollerin@slrpnk.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  you could even go so far as to say he’s a Jack ass
  
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  - wabafee@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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aulin@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I knew about it because of Jacksfilms. It makes no sense though. It’s got both the same number of syllables and letters. Jim and Dick make sense to me (and are also the only ones of these I feel like people know about in general.)

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