I just assumed Dick was used as a name before being slang for male genitalia.

this ******* site

My ex was called Teddy and his name was Theodore???

I always thought Teddy was a nickname for Theodore because of 90210

You've never heard of Topher Dimaggio?

Mess. Theodore Roosevelt impact I guess

Richard = Dick?

Yes. Bill is short for William.

I don't think they used dick back then like we use it now...

Here's a graph that shows that as the word dick became more and more used to describe the male genitalia, the use of it as a name decreased

Richard and Dick for short has probably been around since 18/1900s whilst I imagine Dick=penis didn't come until the 1940s/50s

I was close!

Dick is a name in The Netherlands aswell but it basically has no meaning in my language
Dik also is used as name and that means 'fat'

Wait this means almost exactly the same thing in afrikaans

I am confused with how you go from Richard to Dick? is it because of "hard" to people made Dick into a nickname?

I believe Richard has always been shortened to Rich, and then over time Rich was pronounced and spelt as Rick.

Then in the 1800s, it became popular to give rhyming nicknames of shortened versions of names. Dick was the most popular nickname for Richard, and stuck. Similar to how Bill stuck for William.

Americans.........