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ArchivesRe: Names in their diminutive form (Bo)
in reply to a message by Sabertooth
That justification sounds extremely far fetched (pseudolingustic, even) and inconsistent with the patterns of English nickname formation.
It's simply more likely that Bo/Beau ("handsome") simply evolved as a oet name for children that's independent from their actual given name (see also: Ace, Buster, Skipper, Happy, Buddy). Just browsing the Wikipedia list of people named Bo, you find full names as varied as Harold, Vincent, Mary, Beauregard, Ellas, Mark, and, yes, William. Your perceived predominance of William "Bo" is probably explained by a) the high frequency of the name William and b) the fact that Bo and Bill/Billy have the same initial.
In short: Bo does not derive from William, though many Williams may be called Bo.
It's simply more likely that Bo/Beau ("handsome") simply evolved as a oet name for children that's independent from their actual given name (see also: Ace, Buster, Skipper, Happy, Buddy). Just browsing the Wikipedia list of people named Bo, you find full names as varied as Harold, Vincent, Mary, Beauregard, Ellas, Mark, and, yes, William. Your perceived predominance of William "Bo" is probably explained by a) the high frequency of the name William and b) the fact that Bo and Bill/Billy have the same initial.
In short: Bo does not derive from William, though many Williams may be called Bo.
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