Indeed! And a good poem to prove it ... here in South
Africa I've only ever heard
Theodore shortened to
Theo, never Ted(dy).
My family tree contains an English working-class man in the mid-19th century who was named
Edward Albert and always known as
Ted. I have been told, how accurately I don't know, that in the UK nicknames like
Ted for
Edward,
Dick for
Richard,
Bob for
Robert etc were typically working class and
Teddy, Dickie,
Bobby etc were upper class. This doesn't work in South
Africa either, for want of an upper class I suppose.