# Names into nicknames **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892 "2023-02-16T13:57:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/81 "2023-02-20T16:33:57Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > I think “Lucy” was a nickname for “Lucinda” Miss Ball and Kenny Rogers would like to have a word with you. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/kulJsH8v0ok/maxresdefault.jpg "Kenny Rogers - Lucille (Audio)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kulJsH8v0ok) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/82 "2023-02-20T20:44:06Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > My aunt was named Myrtle Patricia at birth. Odd coincidence (to me, Myrtle being such a relatively rare name). I had a grandmother named Myrtle that named her youngest daughter Patricia 🙂. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/83 "2023-02-20T21:35:59Z")
I love how you can identify the age of women – to a large extent – by their names. I had a friend/coworker whose mom’s first/middle names were Hazel Gladys. No way she was born after 1940. Although 20 to 30 years ago, “old-fashioned” girls’ names started to be popular again. Abigail. Rose\*. Sophie. Isabel. \*My maternal grandmother’s name was Rose, but I didn’t know a single Rose during my childhood/adolescence. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/84 "2023-02-20T21:45:09Z")
My Daddy had an aunt named ‘America’ She would have been born around 1900. They called her ‘Aunt Merc’. He didn’t know her given name before her death. Way before my time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/85 "2023-02-20T22:17:43Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Although 20 to 30 years ago, “old-fashioned” girls’ names started to be popular again. Abigail. Rose\*. Sophie. Isabel. Oh, lord, so many Sophies. It’s been a decade since I’ve seen any high school classroom without at least one Sophie and one Grace. And one of my colleagues has a class with five Graces. And yes, Abigail and Isabel are pretty common now, too. Though I don’t see many Roses. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/86 "2023-02-20T22:31:06Z")
I see Rose more as a middle name these days. My sister worked in L&D when these names were making a comeback. But the name that was _really_ big was Spenser/Spencer for both boys and girls. She said it felt like very other kid was named Spencer then. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/87 "2023-02-20T22:38:04Z")
Back in high school I tried to learn a little Russian, and began using the Russian spelling of my middle name. A decade later, when I enlisted in the Navy, I showed the recruiter my birth certificate and told him the spelling I normally used. He wrote down the Russian version, and all my ID (except my SS card, which I had already had) now uses that spelling. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2023, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/88 "2023-02-20T23:02:35Z")
My grandmother’s sister was named Thelma Rose and always went by “Rose”. Even back in 1899, because she did not consider Thelma a pretty name. I currently know one Rose and one Rosie, and a boatload of Emilys and Emmas. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/89 "2023-02-21T00:04:01Z")
Everyone calls me Rena, which is a diminutive of my legal name. I remember in middle school a girl named Tina told all to call her Rose, as if it were a nickname of Tina! ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/90 "2023-02-21T01:46:16Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Back in high school I tried to learn a little Russian, and began using the Russian spelling of my middle name. A decade later, when I enlisted in the Navy, I showed the recruiter my birth certificate and told him the spelling I normally used. He wrote down the Russian version, and all my ID (except my SS card, which I had already had) now uses that spelling. Aleksander (or some sort of variation?) ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/91 "2023-02-21T16:11:32Z")
Trudy for Gertrude. It’s not all that surprising in retrospect, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/92 "2023-02-21T17:26:32Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Dorothy can become Dot or Dotty or Dolly Or Doff, as in the case of my dear departed great aunt, which I always thought was rather an off choice for a diminutive of Dorothy. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/93 "2023-02-21T17:53:33Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I had a grandmother named Myrtle that named her youngest daughter Patricia 🙂. I had a great-aunt named Myrtle. Maybe it was popular back then. If I go back a couple more generations, there are a couple of decades when Jerusha was popular. I’ve wondered if there was a popular character named Jerusha. Checked the new baby name wizard and found that Jerusha had another peak around the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/94 "2023-02-21T17:55:05Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Everyone calls me Rena, which is a diminutive of my legal name. My mom’s name was Irene, and she would go ballistic if someone pronounced it as “R-rene.” > [@SanVito](#): > > Or Doff, as in the case of my dear departed great aunt Or Dodie. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/95 "2023-02-21T18:00:49Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I’ve wondered if there was a popular character named Jerusha. Definately. The main protagonist in James Michener’s “Hawaii” novel was Jerusha. I read it in the mid ‘70s. Named my first cat Jerusha because I loved the character so much. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/96 "2023-02-21T18:03:16Z")
Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/97 "2023-02-21T23:03:49Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I had a great-aunt named Myrtle. Maybe it was popular back then. I think it was more that it was less unpopular. Looks like it peaked in 1901 and has been on a steady and fairly precipitous decline since 1905. I believe my grandmother was the youngest of ~13 (or some other ridiculously large number of children), so they were kinda scraping the baby name barrel by the time they got to her 🙂. My other grandmother was an Amelia and as a kid I thought that was a very old-fashioned name. But Amelia has had a very strong surge in my lifetime. Myrtle, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/98 "2023-02-21T23:44:57Z")
Perhaps its time is yet to come. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/99 "2023-02-22T00:30:04Z")
My great grandmother’s first child was a girl born around 1890. We have letters from her to her mother over the next several months where she says she hasn’t named the baby because she hasn’t come up with the most beautiful name. Then she finally decided on Maude. That story got a lot of laughs in our family. The time may never come again for that one. (She was known in the family as Nany and her husband, Harry, was Doody.) > [@](#): > > Maude peaked in the US as number 20 in 1882, and it disappeared from the top 1000 in 1950. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892/100 "2023-02-22T17:03:08Z")
There is a resurgence of old fashioned names. I know little kids sporting names like Dorothy goes by Dottie, Amelia goes by Millie, there’s Hazel and Wallace goes by Wally, [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-into-nicknames/979892.md?page=6)