The letter Yod י or Yod Heh יה are names of God, hence, there is a custom among observant Jews to forgo writing them down.
Examples: Yehudit יהודית was Hudes, Yehoshua יהושע was Shaye/Shaya, etc.
That being said, Srul is a common Yiddish nickname for Istael, which led to the famous “Srulik”, the cartoon character representing the State of Israel.
