French Nicknames

I think Quentin would be Tintin, repeating the last syllabe twice is quite used for pet names, like Albert: Berbert...

^^ d'accord

Here is a page for Quentin:
http://www.un-prenom.com/prenom-tou...in/signification-prenom-quentin-r0pr8681.html

Some of them have nicknames listed - "diminutifs"

You can search for the other names in the box on the right:
Recherche prénom

Rechercher les prénoms en fonction :
- du sexe : FémininMasculinMixte [gender: F/M/mix
...
- syllabes ou lettres
suivantes : Quentin [etc]


And this article may be helpful on making your own (but note that some of it is apparently modern):

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004419.html

"How far back does this go? Where does it come from? Does everyone in France have a secret two-syllable nickname in -/o/? Is this related to the informal quasi-abbreviations like "bachot" for "baccalauréat"?

Suffixation is very old in proper names. It goes back to the Middle Ages, and is actually one of the major mechanism for patronyms. Typically, people would keep the last syllable of a name, and add –o (-eau, -aud, -ault), - in, -eu(x), -et, -ou (x, d…), -ard (or –art) (-/o/ is only one mechanism). Raymond would become Mondet, Mondon, Thibauld would become Baudet, baudin, Baudon, Baudart, etc. These are still common family names.

Suffixation to form nicknames is still very common these days, although it seems that people tend to keep the whole orginal name instead of truncting to the last syllable :

Jean → Jeannot
Paul → Paulo
Marc → Marco
Jacques → Jacquot

Funny to realize that what we call "diminutifs" (the French word for nick name) sometimes lengthen the word (as in Jeannot, Paulo, Marco).

It is only one of the mechanisms. I've seen

* Duplication of one of the name syllables :

André → Dédé
Gérard → Gégé
Monique → Momo
Lucien → Lulu
Louis → Loulou
Gisèle → Gigi
Joël → Jojo

* Truncation (possibly with change of vowel)

Marguerite → Margot
Marjorie → Marjo
Raphaelle → Raphie
Danielle → Dany
Véronique → Véro

Obviously, there is a strong tendancy to aim at two-syllable nicknames, ending with a vowel. However, I think that there is a recent growing trend for one-syllable nicknames, ending with a consonnant :

Sébastien → Seb
Delphine → Delph
Fabrice → Fab
Camille → Cam
Xavier → Xav

I don't think that we were doing these when we were kids. Influence of English though movies, celebrities, etc.?"

backslashbaby said:

^^ d'accord
And this article may be helpful on making your own (but note that some of it is apparently modern):
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004419.html

"How far back does this go? Where does it come from? Does everyone in France have a secret two-syllable nickname in -/o/?

Click to expand...

Haha. Yeah, pretty much--either -o or -ou.
Didier > Didou
Laurent > Lolo
Philippe > Filou (or Philou)

Endings in -a exist too. I knew a French Arab whose nickname was Bala--I can't remember what his real name was, but I mention it because it suggests that nicknames aren't gendered; you might expect an -a nickname in a romance language to be feminine, but it's not necessarily.

But speaking of gender, it always seemed like nicknames were much more common for men than for women.

Pepe, at least in the Spanish sense, comes from St. Joseph, who is Putative Parent of Jesus, P.P., Pepe. I don't know if this is the same case with Pepé...

By the way, big Tintin fan over here!

"Baltha" and "Baltho" are the only diminutifs I've ever seen for Balthasar in French.

Except for the painter Balthus, but I think that reflects the sound of his first name in his native Polish.