A dog inspired C.S. Lewis’s childhood nickname “Jacksie.”
When Lewis was about four years old, his family dog, Jacksie, was killed after being struck by a car. Lewis reportedly decided that he would no longer answer to Clive and began calling himself Jacksie instead. The name later shortened to Jacks and then Jack.
“Jack” remained Lewis’s preferred personal name throughout much of his adult life. Although the public knew him as C.S. Lewis, friends, family, and colleagues generally used Jack. The nickname therefore came from a personal childhood event rather than from his initials.
The story is often linked with Lewis’s strong attachment to animals and imaginative worlds. It should not be confused with the fictional animals in Narnia, which were created decades after the childhood incident.