This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

Re: How is Hitchcock a nickname for Isaac?
Ok, so -cock is not actually from Isaac. -cock was added on to names as a term of familiarity for men who had the "pertness of lusty and swaggering youth" (if you click the link below, scroll up a few pages to the beginning of the -cock section for this exact quote). From the same time period, there'd be nicknames like Johncock, Wilcock (William), Peacock (Peter). Here's the source cited on Hitchcock: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Curiosities_of_Puritan_Nomenclature/DiJAAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA16&printsec=frontcover
How exactly they get to Hitch from Isaac is a bit mysterious to me (maybe Issac -> Yitzhak -> Hitch?), but Hitchcock could have also been a nickname for Richard at the same time and that's more obvious (rhyming nicknames were common; Richard -> Rich -> Hitch -> Hitchcock).
Isadora Evander Larkin
Pax Symphorian Grey
www.behindthename.com/pnl/59411
vote up2vote down

Replies

Thanks

This message was edited 2/21/2021, 8:48 PM

vote up1vote down