Chinglish names???

[Pagan]

Are you sure it's not just his nickname? I've never heard of "Guy" being a nickname for "William" in general, but it is a given name.

Actually, it's on my list of thing I might name my children.

No, I have seen it as a nickname for "William" before. Just not that common. A lot of the "Guys" on that list are French or French-Canadian. And "Guy" (pronounced "gee" with a hard g) is a nickname for "Guillaume".

"Liam" is also a nickname for "William" that used as a given name, i.e. Liam Neeson.

I think it probably started as a nickname and, like Liam, had evolved into a given name. And probably came from the French name.

Not like my cousin whose name is Ollen and his nickname is Pete?

[greek_jester]

"Liam" is also a nickname for "William" that used as a given name, i.e. Liam Neeson.

Liam is the Irish version of William. It's one of those names that crops up in various forms across Europe & other land-linked countries such as Russia, in much the same way as Catherine, Peter, Hannah & other names that have been around a long time. Bible names are particularly prone to this.

From what I (very vaguely) recall from a history teacher I used to chat to, it has something to do with local accents & linguistic drift. I know that after WW2, a lot of the people my Greek nan settled near had problems pronouncing her name (Aspasia) so they called her Bessie. Similar sort of thing, only stretched over centuries.

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Edited due to my complete inability to spell or use grammar this morning.

[Ironclad Alibi]

No, I have seen it as a nickname for "William" before. Just not that common. A lot of the "Guys" on that list are French or French-Canadian. And "Guy" (pronounced "gee" with a hard g) is a nickname for "Guillaume".

And Guillaume is the French equivalent of William, as in the opera Guillaume Tell, better known in the English speaking world as Wiliam Tell. A list of the variants of William is given by Wikipedia.

[d962831]

I had a customer a few weeks ago whose full name on their ID read: Taco Kid.

[EricKei]

My Dad's name was Arlen, but he was known most of his life as Billy. Figure that one out -- he never did >_< He even got mail addressed to "William Lastname" from time to time.

[Pagan]

And Guillaume is the French equivalent of William, as in the opera Guillaume Tell, better known in the English speaking world as Wiliam Tell. A list of the variants of William is given by Wikipedia.

I think that's what I said?

And "Guy" (pronounced "gee" with a hard g) is a nickname for "Guillaume".

And William Tell was supposedly Swiss anyway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tell

[42_42_42]

My FIL's name is Alonza, but he goes by "Mack".

Never could figure that one out.

[lobo94]

My mother always called me by the English variant of my first name, mainly to distinguish me from my father. Oddly enough, everyone called him by his middle name. And even more oddly, most of my relatives still use a separate childhood nickname.

Grandma, I'm told, liked unusual names. My aunts were named Lucille, Ione, and Justine. My mother was named Juanita. And my uncle was named Gail. Bear in mind, Grandma started birthing babies during the Prohibition era in a little town in the Midwestern United States.

[Dentarthurdent]

I've worked with Taiwanese people who went by Hewitt, Candy, Doris, Renata, and Infanta, to name a few...

[Beckduer]

I used to teach a 1st-grader named "Steamboat". That was his given name.
My associate and I never quite figured out WHY that was his name, as his brother and sister were named Bobby and Jenny. Frankly, we were kinda' scared to ask. His parents might have told us and it may not have been something we wanted to really know!

[EricKei]

I used to teach a 1st-grader named "Steamboat". That was his given name.

Was his last name Willy?

[Beckduer]

No, but his older sister once volunteered that their parents had vacationed in Colorado "once when I was really small, before Steamboat was born and Grandma said they were celebrating."

That was why we didn't ask. We're pretty sure we already knew!

[Jay 2K Winger]

My junior and senior year of high school, my Spanish teacher gave everyone a Spanish name. Usually it was the Spanish equivalent of their first name, but in the case of repetitions, she "Spanish'd" their last name, and would also do this if their first name had no easy equivalent but their last name did.

There was a John Byrd in the class, but as there was already another John whose last name came alphabetically before his, John Byrd became "Pájaro." ("Bird") I didn't particularly want a Spanish name, since my given name doesn't have an easy equivalent, nor did I really want to go by the Spanish word for my last name, but my teacher insisted anyway.

Oh, and my teacher was known as Bruja. And that was because there was another teacher in the school with the same last name as her (no relation), and her students one year dubbed her "La Bruja," so she kept it. ("La Bruja" = "The Witch")

[Arwyn Q]

My real name is unusual and most people mispronounce it. They use a long A sound instead of a short A sound, or turn the I into a double E. While I don't mind the former, the latter really does annoy me.

And yay for you for calling her Arwen - I feel faintly honored.

[infinitemonkies]

I had a friend in highschool who was chinese. Her given name was Su-Shi-La, but she went by Simone instead of the more obvious Sheila (Sushi to her friends)

I've got a japanese guest in the hotel tonight who's first name is Meow.