Quote:
Originally Posted by dragons
According to a popular etymology derives from the nickname "Old Hickory" for Andrew Jackson, one of the first Presidents of the United States to come from rural hard-scrabble roots. This nickname suggested that Jackson was tough and enduring like an old Hickory tree. Jackson was particularly admired by the residents of remote and mountainous areas of the United States, people who would come to be known as "hicks."
According to Wikipedia......Sounds reasonable.
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Key word "popular", not necessarily actual.
Hick Name Meaning and History
1. English: from the medieval personal name Hicke, a pet form of
Richard. The substitution of H- as the initial resulted from the inability of the English to cope with the velar Norman R-.
2. Dutch: from a pet form of a Germanic personal name, such as Icco or Hikke (a Frisian derivative of a compound name with the first element hild ‘strife’, ‘battle’).
3. East German: from a derivative of a Slavic pet form of Heinrich.
4. South German: from Hiko, a pet form of any of the Germanic personal names formed with hild ‘strife’, ‘battle’ as the first element.
According to Ancestry . .
Richard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Czech, Dutch, Ancient Germanic
Pronounced: RICH-ərd (English), ree-SHAR (French), RIKH-ahrt (German) [key]
Means "brave power", derived from the Germanic elements ric "power, rule" and hard "brave, hardy". The
Normans introduced this name to Britain, and it has been very common there since that time.
The
Normans were Vikings who began to settle in northern France in the late 9th century. They soon adopted the French language and Christianity. In the year 1066 an army of Normans under Duke William (later called "the Conqueror") crossed the English Channel and defeated the English king Harold at the Battle of Hastings.
This had many profound effects. The aristocracy of England became Norman (the British monarchy of today is descended from William the Conqueror). The Norman-French language of the aristocracy influenced the Old English of the common people, with the result that the vocabulary of Modern English includes many words of French origin.
Another result of the conquest was a change in names. Many Old English given names were replaced by Norman names, like
Richard, William and Henry. In other instances native Old English names were replaced by continental Germanic cognates (such as Robert and Roger).
According to Behind the Names . .
