Hypocorisms

A hypocorism (/haɪˈpɒkərɪzəm/; from Ancient Greek ὑποκόρισμα (hypokorisma), from ὑποκορίζεσθαι (hypokorizesthai), meaning 'to use child-talk') is a diminutive form of a name. Hypocorisms include pet names or calling names, often a, diminutive or augmentative form of a word or given name when used as a nickname or term of endearment.

Hypocorisms are often generated as:

As evident from the above-mentioned examples, hypocorisms frequently demonstrate (indirectly) a phonological linguistic universal (or tendency) for high-pitched sounds to be used for smaller creatures and objects (here as more "cute" or less imposing names). Higher-pitched sounds are associated with smaller creatures because smaller creatures can only make such high frequency sounds given their smaller larynxes.

The word "" is the noun form in English; "" is the adjective form.

The traditional hypocoristic forms of Bulgarian masculine names end with "-cho", for example: Ivan - Ivancho - Vancho, Stoyan - Stoyancho, Petur - Peturcho, Angel - Angelcho. The traditional hypocoristic forms of Bulgarian feminine names end with "-ka", for example: Ivana - Ivanka, Snezhana - Snezhanka, Bozhana - Bozhanka. In recent times, however, the hypocoristic forms of many Bulgarian names receive English and Russian endings, for example:

Male

Female

Male one syllable names are sometimes lengthened

Female names are sometimes shortened to the last two syllables

Increasingly, the official form of Dutch given names as registered at birth is one that originally was hypocoristic. For many of the hypocorisms listed below, a diminutive may be used (e.g. Jan → Jantje, Lotte → Lotje), in particular for children and women. The English forms Johnny or Johnnie and Bobby or Bobbie are quite common in the Netherlands.

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