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[Yagoda, Ben]

This seems to be a particularly British thing in nicknames: Prince William is "Wills," David Beckham is "Becks." (There is also "maths" for mathematics, but that's a different phenomenon.) Stateside, here in Philadelphia, in mid-twentieth century, red-haired people were commonly nicknamed "Reds," instead "Red"--e.g., football star Reds Bagnell.
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