IGNACHO

The word nacho is named after a Mexican cook called Ignacio Anaya, who invented the dish in 1943. That might seem like a weird way to shorten the name, but the Spanish language is actually full of really unusual nickname developments! Here are a few more:

• Diego is a shortening of Santiago
• Lola comes from Dolores, and Lalo from Eduardo
• Concha is a nickname for Concepción
• Pepe sort of comes from Jose, because a traditional way of writing San Jose's name was to follow it with the letters P. P. (for pater putativus), which are pronounced that way.
• Similarly, Paco comes from Francisco, because he was known as the "community father", or pater comunitatis. The nickname just borrows the first two letters of each word.

And we think English nicknames are sometimes strange!