Kinds of surname

Pet form

Also written or known as Hypocorism and Hypocoristic

A familiar short form of a personal name, such as Hob or Dob for Robert.

Rhyming and shortened pet forms were everywhere in medieval England: Hick and Dick for Richard, Hodge for Roger, Wat for Walter. Many became surnames in their own right, such as Hobbs, Dobson, Hickson, Hodgson and Watson.