Comments for DICK (1):

Why would you do that to your child?

-- Anonymous User  11/2/2005

Dick York and Dick Sargent both played Darrin Stephens in the T.V. show "Bewitched."

-- breakofday  12/30/2005

The first Robin's given name was Dick Grayson.

-- HarpieSiren  3/6/2006

I used to have an neighbor named Dick. When I got older and learned what his name meant in slang, I felt bad for him.

-- Anonymous User  3/10/2006

Dick is a short name for Richard but has been called Dickey since the day he was born. It was his uncle's name too.

-- Pettals  5/17/2006

My cousin's class has a Dick in it. They all know what it means, but only call him Dick when they're angry with him. Otherwise, they use his Chinese name. When my cousin and I somehow get to that topic, we don't say Dick straight out. We use Dick's Chinese name. It's hilarious, but who could do that to a child?

-- Anonymous User  5/25/2006

Famous actor Dick Van Dyke.

-- Tudor  6/14/2006

Association with the male organ will make things a misery for people named Richard. Same goes for William.

-- Anonymous User  6/30/2006

Seeing as you said that as anonymous and I can't message you, how is William associated in the same way as Dick?

-- sarinvae  7/28/2006

Because Willy is short for William.

-- Anonymous User  8/13/2006

Dear Richards of the world, I really feel sorry when you are called Dick by others. It is really stupid of them to associate your name with a male organ.

-- Anonymous User  8/22/2006

Don't. Just don't. Your child will thank you.

-- Anonymous User  11/23/2006

I'd rather call him Rick if his name was Richard. And I feel sorry for Dick Van Dyke. Dyke means gay woman or something to that extent.

-- Anonymous User  1/7/2007

On the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Dick Van Dyke bore the backstage nickname of "Penis Van Lesbian". I suspect that Richard Nixon contributed to the meaning that "Dick" has now. It's sad how an ordinary name picks up an infamous (or famous) meaning and is forever befouled. And let's not even start on the obscene jokes that whirl around the phrase "Tom, Dick, and Harry" (which simply means "everyone").

Go with Rick, instead, as a pet name.

Oh, and I don't associate William with any filthy terms; I stay with either the full name or "Will"/"Billy", and I simply avoid the nickname "Willy".

-- gaelruadh19  1/16/2007

What about Dick Cheney? (or however it's spelt) I'm sure you don't think of a male organ when you hear his whole name.

-- 7up  2/8/2007

My Grandpa's name is Richard and goes by Dick. He's been called that since he was a boy. It's not really a big deal or anything and nobody ever laughs or makes comments about it. Most guys called Dick seem to be older so it doesn't really get made fun of like that because most people are mature enough (I hope) to treat a man called Dick with respect.

-- Anonymous User  3/2/2007

I feel sorry for anyone who has the name Dick.

-- complexedperson  6/12/2007

I hope every single one of you who has defiled the name Dick, Richard or Dickey get humiliated and degraded in the worse possible ways. You all say, "how could you do this to a child?" Well, you know what, I ask all of you how could YOU do this to a child? How do you think it feels when people can't respect your name and embarrass you from childhood to adulthood. Also by the way, pick up a PROPER dictionary once in a while or ask a doctor to find out what the correct word for the male organ really is. So maybe this teenage game will end? Anyway, My father's name is Dickie and he has always been a very honest, fair and compassionate person. If you are considering naming your child this name then I think that is great but remember that there will always be these kinds of people in the world like the ones on this comment list. Never let them run over you.

-- Cyneburga  6/17/2007

Wow, Cyneburga, that first line can't possibly be serious. All because of our opinion on a name? How ridiculous, calm down.

While I don't like the name Dick, I've always found Dicky / Dickie to be really cute for a little boy. But of course that'd be for a little boy from back in the '40s or '50s. Not now.

-- silly_rabbit  10/5/2008

I'd probably use Dick if it didn't mean penis. It's a nice nickname for Richard.

-- LilaMayaNeve  6/24/2007

That name is the same thing as a male organ. When your kid gets older kids at school will make fun of him to the point he is miserable. I feel sorry for anybody named Dick. What an awful name to name your child. That would be just flat out torture to do that to a poor innocent boy. :(

-- Anonymous User  7/28/2007

Not bad. As long as your last name isn't "Head" ;). Because seriously, who'd want to go through life being called Dick Head?

-- DontDissMadison  10/6/2007

Never have the name Dick and its alternate meaning been so appropriately intertwined as with the United States' megalomaniacal VP.

-- Midgard666  11/10/2007

I don't quite understand exactly how one gets Dick out of Richard. They don't sound at all the same to me. Apparently it's a linguistic thing that I don't understand.

-- Pippin  3/20/2008

1. Chiefly British A fellow; a guy.
2. Vulgar A penis.
3. Vulgar A person, especially a man, regarded as mean or contemptible.
tr. V. Dicked, Dick·ing, dicks Vulgar
1. To take advantage of; cheat.
2. To have sexual intercourse with.
Phrasal Verbs:
Dick around Vulgar

Personally, I think the name Dick is awful.
1. To spend time idly; fool around.
2. To be sexually promiscuous.
Dick up Vulgar
To botch or bungle.

-- Anonymous User  3/20/2008

I'm quite surprised nobody's said anything about Moby Dick.

-- Pippin  4/17/2008

The slang use of "dick" for "penis" had nothing to do with Richard Nixon. There are written references to it as early as 1891, and since vulgar slang for sexual organs didn't make it into print often back in the 19th century, it's probably really a bit older than that.

It's amazing to me how quickly historical memory about the use of names is lost. Almost every American man named Richard who was born before 1950 would have been called Dick as his main nickname as a matter of course. No one would have thought it was "cruel" to use the name just because it had a slang meaning any more than most people today would think it cruel to name a child John even though that name has the slang meanings of "toilet" and "prostitute's customer". As long as almost everyone heard the name many more times a day than they heard the slang meaning, the name seemed perfectly OK. It's only after Richard became less common as a given name, and people started using sexual slang more openly as part of their everyday conversation, that people in younger generations were able to start thinking of using the name Dick as being "cruel" or "odd".

-- clevelandkentevans  5/12/2008

By now, this nickname sounds terribly old-fashioned, and a Richard that goes by Dick is most likely middle-aged or old. Even if the name wasn't a colloquial word for 'penis', it would sound rather dimwitted to me. I sort of imagine a guy called Dick to be a fat, balding or bald, ugly guy.

-- slight night shiver  5/21/2008

You are cruel if you name your child 'Dick'.

-- diamondberries  7/26/2008

Oh, come on, people. Get your minds out of the gutter. I, for one, think this is a good name. It was my grandpa's name, and I like it.

-- welovejamesarness  7/29/2008

My mom who's 82 years old told me that the name Dick became used as another name for a male organ because there were so many men named Dick when the whole slang term started. I think it's a nice name, but unfortunately it's taken on this connotation. Why give your child a name that will brand him with painful experiences? I must say, my mom's male friend is named Dick and I had a difficult time calling him by his name. It was just uncomfortable. Also, this name can create embarrassing situations. Both my mom and my aunt have men named Dick. When my uncle's brother threw a party, we were all asked whether we'd like to say something nice about him. Well, I said, that following my uncles death my aunt was very lonely, but that my uncle's brother had found Dick for her now she's happy. Later, I was very embarrassed as I thought about what I had said.

-- Anonymous User  8/11/2008

I don't think the vulgar association will be gotten rid of for a long time. I feel bad for anyone with Dick as a legal name, which is far worse than having Dick as a nickname.

-- bananarama  8/16/2008

Growing up in the 50s and 60s, I thought Dick was a perfectly acceptable nickname for Richard. I didn't understand the origin, but later read that it follows a "rhyming" pattern "Will/Bill" "Meg/Peg" etc. This website suggests that it had something to do with the Norman French pronunciation, which seems possible.

I only heard the slang term in my mid- to late teens. I interpreted it as a variation of "dink" (which was common slang in my region to refer to male genitalia). However, given other "name" terminology for body parts, it does seem likely that Dick's relative popularity contributed to its slang use for male genitalia.

I know of one aging Richard who has switched from Dick to Rich/Rick (yes, he can't seem to make up his mind). Some time ago, I also knew an American born Richard whose German born wife HATED the nickname, but not for the reasons you might think. "Dick" means "fat" auf deutsch, and this Richard was a little on the heavy side. She refused to use his nickname for that reason. I'm not sure if she was ever even aware of the slang American association.

-- gbcallahan  7/9/2009

No. Just no. DO NOT name your child this!

-- -Julia-  7/26/2009

Alright, I'm honestly afraid of being gored by hungry pangolins (or worse, commenters), but Dick has really grown on me! It might have to do something with Batman, because while it's nowhere near my favorites, I'm becoming fond of it. I know, I know- you all can laugh. I'd never inflict this on someone, but it's a decent name in my eyes.

-- Wilted  9/21/2009

Wrong, just wrong!

-- nicole_10107  9/23/2009

A favorite gag of students filling out cards for class seating charts used to be (and perhaps still is) to make out an extra one with the name "Dick Hertz." When the unsuspecting teacher did not get a response to the name, s/he would be likely to ask, "Who's Dick Hertz?"

-- Kosta  10/7/2009

Comments for DICK (2):

This name will be associated with the male organ forever.

-- Mama1  7/26/2006

Actually, this is a Dutch name and we don't use the word Dick the way you use it. I personally associate the name with the Dutch word "dik" which means "fat". On the whole, I don't really like this name.

-- renee06  9/15/2007

A famous bearer is Dick Bruna, the creator of Nijntje, a very populair series of children's books in the Netherlands. Nijntje is known as Miffy in the US.

-- renee06  9/15/2007

I actually used to like this name a lot. However, when talking to my friends one day about names we liked, I mentioned this, and they started to laugh hard.

-- _clippit_  6/23/2008

Key: Meaning/History Usage Pronunciation Famous Bearer Personal Impression Other

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