Probably for the same reason John F Kennedy was called Jack. Those two names seem to be interchangeable. My name is Stanislaus and I’m known as Stan. Some people call me Stanley - a completely different name.
After I met my fiancé’s family, I noticed that some them talked about another family member that my fiancé had never mentioned before.
I had worked out that my fiancé, Ken, had 1 brother and 1 sister and I had met them and knew their names but his Parents sometimes talked about their son Malcom. I was intrigued by this and wondered why Ken had never mentioned this other brother called Malcolm and why I had never met him.
Eventually, curiosity got the better of me and I asked Ken who this mysterious Malcom was - he explained that he was Malcolm but he wasn’t really!
Apparently, his Dad had wanted to name their first born child Malcolm but when his Mum registered his birth, she decided to name him Kenneth instead.
When his Dad found out, he was annoyed and insisted that they call the baby Malcolm, so they did.
He grew up being called Malcom and that was the name he was registered with at the doctor’s and school and everywhere.
He didn’t particularly like the name but he didn’t know he had any other.
When he grew up, he joined the Army and gave his name as Malcolm - as part of their ID checks, they asked for his birth certificate for their records. He wrote and asked his Dad to send his certificate into the Army Records Office and he got a bit of a shock when an Officer called him in to explain why his birth certificate had been tampered with.
Apparently, after his birth had been registered, his Dad had altered his birth certificate - he had neatly crossed out the name Kenneth and inserted the name Malcolm on his birth certificate!
When the Army realised his birth certificate didn’t match the National Records, they weren’t best pleased and they said he would have to be registered in the Army Records as Kenneth, so all his Army pals only knew him under that name and used to call him Ken - as he preferred that name, he started using it.
It took his old friends and family a while to get used to his “new” name and they sometimes forgot and called him Malcolm, especially his parents and older relations.
His Mum sometimes called him Ken or Kenneth but sometimes called him Malcolm - his Dad never changed and he always insisted on calling him Malcolm.
No wonder I was confused about who this “other son” was when I first got to know them!
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My dad was named “Seumas” but called either " Hamish" or “Hamie”
I’m called by my middle name of “Roxanne”
My dad’s brother was named “Philip” but called “Pip”
My oldest grandson is “John” but he’s called “JJ”
My daughter is named “Regan” but called “Rags”
Wow Boot seems to be more common than I imagined.
My Aunt May passed away we went the funeral sat there the Vicar said “Evlelyn” My sister and I looked at each other and quickly had to visually search the church from our seats to check we were in the right funeral relieved to see Mom and Dad there apparently, she was Evelyn christened the family called her May not a reason her birthday was December. Her husband called here Lynn (equally confusing had we realised) her work colleagues called her Pat (don’t ask me why).
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My family had a lot of people with nicknames, like childhood nicknames. I can’t write them here because they’re super specific. For instance, some were about hair (or lack thereof) or height or stuff like that. Most were a little embarrassing, but since everyone had one, it just became another name.
My mother-in-law was always known as Flo, but on her birth certificate her first name was Elisabeth & Florence her second name. We gave my Daughter Elisabeth as her second name.
My Dad always called me Pickle. 