I’m probably the only crazy person that is bothered by some of the nicknames that people are given that don’t seem to make any sense, but the good folks over at Mental Floss have enlightened me. I can now die a happy man. Almost, I’m still waiting for that Baja Bug.
4. Why is Jack from John?
The name Jack dates back to about 1,200 and was originally used as a generic name for peasants. Over time, Jack worked his way into words such as lumberjack and steeplejack. Even jackass, the commonly used term for a donkey, retains its generic essence in the word Jack. Of course, John was once used as a generic name for English commoners and peasants, (John Doe) which could be why Jack came became his nickname. But the more likely explanation is that Normans added -kin when they wanted to make a diminutive. And Jen was their way of saying John. So little John became Jenkin and time turned that into Jakin, which ultimately became Jack