My boyfriend’s name is [name_m]Isaac[/name_m], and he recently told me that his parents almost named him [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] instead. He actually quite likes [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m], which got me thinking about whether [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] could work as a nickname for someone named [name_m]Isaac[/name_m].
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Obviously, [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] and [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] don’t have much in common letter-wise, but I actually think there are enough overlapping sounds/rhythm/vibe-wise that it could work as one of those nicknames that isn’t an obvious shortening of the given name. Nicknames don’t necessarily have to make perfect linguistic sense anyway.
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Does [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] → [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] feel completely random to you, or do you think there’s enough of a phonetic/personality connection for it to feel natural?
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Maybe [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] + a G middle name could make [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] feel even more plausible? [name_m]The[/name_m] G sound is really the main sound in [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] that isn’t represented in [name_m]Isaac[/name_m], so I wonder if something like [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] [name_m]Gabriel[/name_m], [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] [name_m]George[/name_m], [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] [name_m]Gideon[/name_m], etc. makes the connection feel a little more intuitive.
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I’d also love to hear examples of other nicknames that don’t have an obvious letter-for-letter connection to a given name but somehow feel somewhat natural. I’ve had random thoughts like [name_m]Harvey[/name_m] → [name_m]Harry[/name_m], [name_m]Nolan[/name_m] → [name_m]Noah[/name_m], [name_m]Griffin[/name_m] → [name_m]Finn[/name_m], etc. over the years and always wondered whether other people could “see” the connection too, or whether it’s just something that makes sense in my own head.
I actually think its pretty intuitive. Maybe its just my accent but isaac is pronounced almost ‘eye-zik’ which is almost identical to ‘eye-zig’ so ‘eye-zig’ nn [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] isnt a stretch really at all.
I’m not a fan personally, but it works
I think it could work. [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] does feel like it could be a nickname for a lot of things but [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] ‘Ziggy’ makes particular sense – my brain also goes [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] → [name_f]Izzy[/name_f] / [name_m]Zac[/name_m] - > Zizzy → Zakky → [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m].
I do think [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] [name_m]Gideon[/name_m] or [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] [name_m]Gryffin[/name_m] ‘Ziggy’ would work well too.
[name_m]The[/name_m] other ones you list make sense 
Some more examples…
[name_m]Barnaby[/name_m] “Beau” or “Bo”
[name_m]Endymion[/name_m] “Teddy”
[name_m]Amadeus[/name_m] “Dash”
[name_m]Taliesin[/name_m] “Taz”
[name_m]Arthur[/name_m] “Arlo”
[name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] “Tate”
[name_m]Ambrose[/name_m] “Bram”
[name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] “Sasha”
[name_m]Frederick[/name_m] “Rex” or “Fox”
[name_m]Hamish[/name_m] “Misha”
[name_m]Ignatius[/name_m] “Nash”
[name_m]Leander[/name_m] “Landry”
[name_m]Pascal[/name_m] “Pash” “Pasha”
I think it works, and I think it makes a lot of sense! In my accent, the C sound at the end is very close to the G sound in [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m]. Pronunciating just the “saac” part does sound a bit like “zig” to me. I don’t think it needs a G middle name, it sounds quite choppy to me because of the two hard sounds, I have to stop between saying [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] and [name_m]Gabriel[/name_m] rather than the names flowing together? But that’s probably accent and preference dependent. I think [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] is intuitive enough for [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] with any middle name!
I also think [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] is one of those nicknames that sort of works for any name, like something like [name_f]Honey[/name_f] or [name_m]Buddy[/name_m]. So I don’t think it’s one that has to be super intuitive anyway!
I think [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] nn [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m] is so cute! I’ve always liked [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] nn [name_m]Zeke[/name_m], which barely makes sense either.
[name_f]Barely[/name_f] making sense nns are really fun. What do you think of…
Basically any ‘A’ name nn [name_m]Ace[/name_m]
[name_m]Ambrose[/name_m] nn [name_m]Abe[/name_m]
[name_m]Atticus[/name_m] nn [name_m]Kit[/name_m] or [name_m]Gus[/name_m]
[name_m]Caleb[/name_m] nn [name_m]Cab[/name_m]
[name_m]Charles[/name_m] nn [name_m]Cal[/name_m], [name_m]Chase[/name_m], [name_m]Chance[/name_m], [name_m]Cab[/name_m]
[name_m]Crispin[/name_m] nn [name_m]Kit[/name_m]
[name_m]Daniel[/name_m] nn [name_m]Dash[/name_m]
[name_m]Frederic[/name_m] nn [name_m]Flip[/name_m]
[name_m]Gabriel[/name_m] nn [name_m]Gib[/name_m], [name_m]Gibby[/name_m], [name_m]Gil[/name_m] or [name_f]Gilly[/name_f]
[name_m]Gideon[/name_m] nn [name_m]Gio[/name_m]
[name_m]Harrison[/name_m] nn [name_m]Hank[/name_m]
[name_m]Henry[/name_m] nn [name_m]Hank[/name_m]
[name_m]Ignatius[/name_m] nn [name_m]Gus[/name_m]
[name_m]Laurence[/name_m] nn [name_m]Lad[/name_m]
[name_m]Luciano[/name_m] nn [name_m]Leo[/name_m] or [name_m]Louie[/name_m]
[name_m]Magnus[/name_m] nn [name_m]Gus[/name_m]
[name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] nn [name_m]Nils[/name_m]
[name_m]Nehemiah[/name_m] nn [name_m]Nico[/name_m]
[name_m]Niall[/name_m] nn [name_m]Nils[/name_m]
[name_m]Nicolas[/name_m] nn [name_m]Nils[/name_m]
[name_m]Paul[/name_m] nn [name_m]Patch[/name_m]
[name_m]Percival[/name_m] nn [name_m]Pip[/name_m]
[name_m]Peregrine[/name_m] nn [name_m]Penn[/name_m] or [name_m]Pip[/name_m]
[name_m]Peter[/name_m] nn [name_m]Pip[/name_m] or [name_m]Patch[/name_m]
[name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] nn [name_m]Satch[/name_m] or [name_m]Bash[/name_m]
[name_m]Theodore[/name_m] nn [name_m]Thatch[/name_m], Thax, [name_m]Thad[/name_m] or [name_m]Tad[/name_m]
[name_m]Thomas[/name_m] nn [name_m]Tuck[/name_m], [name_m]Tucker[/name_m] or [name_m]Teddy[/name_m]
[name_m]William[/name_m] nn [name_m]Win[/name_m], [name_m]Witt[/name_m] or [name_m]Wiley[/name_m]
[name_m]Zachary[/name_m], Zaccues or [name_m]Zaccai[/name_m] nn [name_m]Zeke[/name_m], [name_m]Zeki[/name_m] or [name_f]Zooey[/name_f]
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] this helps.
I think it works really well, if I knew someone named [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] had the nickname [name_m]Ziggy[/name_m], it wouldn’t be a crazy stretch.