Playing Card Nicknames: Jacks

Last time, this series presented the history of face cards. Let’s begin with a discussion of jacks.

Jack of Clubs

In the English deck, the figure faces forward, tilted to the right. He holds in his left hand an unrecognizable object that was originally an arrow. A feather sticks out of his hat.

In the French deck, the figure faces forward, tilted very slightly to the left and holds in his left hand something that looks like a shield attached to a string. The index is V, for valet. The jack of clubs is known in the French deck as Lancelot. The name comes from the famed knight of King Arthur’s Round Table.

The jack of clubs is also known as Ogier. The name possibly comes from Ogier the Dane (known in French as Ogier de Danemarche and Danish as Holger Danske), a legendary character who first appears in an Old French chanson de geste, in the 11th century cycle of poems Geste de Doon de Mayence.

Jack of Diamonds

In the English deck, the figure faces forward, tilted to the left. He holds in his left hand a sword.

In the French deck, the figure appears in profile, facing to the right. The index is V. The jack of diamonds is known in the French deck as Hector. This is probably a classical reference, perhaps to the hero of the Iliad, although some card historians say it might represent a brother of Lancelot.

The jack of diamonds has another nickname unrelated to the preceding, Bryce Anderson, named for a South African novelist who also held Australian citizenship, whose last novel, announced in 2012, the year of his death, was Jack of Diamonds.

Jack of Hearts

In the English deck, the figure appears in profile, facing to the left, and holding an axe behind his head. He has a mustache. This is one of the one-eyed jacks. (The other is the jack of spades. There is also a one-eyed king, the king of diamonds. These three cards are sometimes called the one-eyes, one-eyed royals, and profiles.)

In the French deck, the figure faces forward, tilted very slightly to the left. The index is V, for valet. The jack of hearts is known in the French deck as La Hire. The name may have come from a knight of the court of King Charles VII of France, Étienne “La Hire” de Vignolles (1390-1443), companion of arms to Joan of Arc. (We’ll see later that Charles is one of the nicknames for the king of hearts.)

Jack of Spades

In the English deck, the figure appears in profile, facing to the right. He holds in his left hand an unrecognizable object that was originally a spear. He has a mustache. This is the second of the one-eyed jacks.

In the French deck, the figure faces forward, tilted very slightly to the right, and has a feather in his hat. The index is V. The jack of spades is known in the French deck as Hogier, who may have been a cousin of Charlemagne (more on him when we get to the king of hearts), or perhaps of Ogier the Dane from the Song of Roland, the oldest surviving major work of French literature, usually dated to the middle of the 12th century.

Next: queen nicknames ♠

Michael Wiesenberg has been a columnist for Card Player since 1988. He has written or edited many books about poker, and has also written extensively about computers, computer languages, and puzzles. Wiesenberg constructs crosswords for newspapers, magazines, books, and smartphone apps. Send adoration, attacks, and applications for assistance to [email protected].