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in reply to a message by RoxStar
WilLIAM - how does Liam not make sense?
Liam is a pretty old Irish nickname, and if you say the name quickly, emphasizing the second syllable, you do get WILL-liam.
As for Bill: You realize it's a rhyming nickname? Just like Bob is for Robert? Rob=Bob, Will=Bill. Created because there were too many people named Robert/Wiliam and they needed to differentiate between the two.
Liam is a pretty old Irish nickname, and if you say the name quickly, emphasizing the second syllable, you do get WILL-liam.
As for Bill: You realize it's a rhyming nickname? Just like Bob is for Robert? Rob=Bob, Will=Bill. Created because there were too many people named Robert/Wiliam and they needed to differentiate between the two.
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I think the point was just that you don't necessarily hear that sound in the name. You hear Will in William, but since the emphasis is on the first syllable you don't really hear Liam the same way. And you hear Rob in Robert but not Bob. The nickname makes sense but it's more than just a part cut out of the full name. Even if you pronounce William with 3 syllables, if you said Liam the way it sounds in William it would be awkward (and vice versa, it would also be awkward if you pronounced William as literally "will Liam").
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I can say William while hearing the Liam part. It's a very subtle difference but it's there.
Nicknames come about in many ways. Rhyming (Bob, Bill), from terms of endearment (Mine Edward, Mine Eleanor become Ned & Nell), from being cutout of names (Liam). There is always reasoning behind a nickname. Stating that a nickname doesn't make sense - no matter how odd - is ignoring history.
Nicknames come about in many ways. Rhyming (Bob, Bill), from terms of endearment (Mine Edward, Mine Eleanor become Ned & Nell), from being cutout of names (Liam). There is always reasoning behind a nickname. Stating that a nickname doesn't make sense - no matter how odd - is ignoring history.
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I don't think saying Liam makes as much sense as Bill is implying that they don't make sense, it's sating they make just make as much sense as each other. And I would put Will on a level 'above' Bill and Liam just in the sense that that exact sound is part of the full name. Maybe Will, then Liam, then Bill. They all make sense but they're not equally intuitive.
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