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Help[Facts] "Rit" as a pet name for Richard
I have been asked on another board by a man who grew up in central Connecticut in the United States about the use of "Rit" as a pet form for Richard. I have never heard of this before, but he says that his father, whose official name was Richard, has always been called Rit, and he knows at least six other Richards who grew up around Hartford, Connecticut who go by "Rit" in everyday life.
Does anyone know of another part of the world where Rit is used as a short form of Richard, or how the custom in Connecticut may have started?
Does anyone know of another part of the world where Rit is used as a short form of Richard, or how the custom in Connecticut may have started?
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I imagine that Rit as a short form of Richard might have originated from forms (or variant spellings) like Ritchard and Ritchie.
Alternatively, if central Connecticut happens to have a significant concentration of Dutch Americans, then this phenomenon might possibly be due to a distant Dutch ancestor of theirs. His given name might have been Ritsaert (an old-fashioned Dutch form of Richard), but he had people call him Rit because Ritsaert is too difficult to pronounce and spell for native English speakers. This was subsequently passed down to his descendants in his honour, even though they were eventually named Richard rather than Ritsaert.
Ritsaert is pronounced as RIT-sa:rt in Dutch. A more modern spelling of the name is Ritsaart, which has the exact same pronunciation. Here is information about the prevalence of these names (and related names) in the Netherlands in 2014:
• Ritsaart: https://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/naam/is/Ritsaart (in Dutch)
• Ritsaerd: https://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/naam/is/Ritsaerd (in Dutch)
• Ritsaert: https://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/naam/is/Ritsaert (in Dutch)
• Ritsart: https://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/naam/is/Ritsart (in Dutch)
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