That, or some version of it, was in a book of nursery rhymes I had as a kid – something well over 60 years ago now. I don’t remember whether it was the version linked to, though. I think the rhyme may be a good bit older than that – I think “Elspeth” was already old fashioned at the time.
I love ‘Lilibet’ as a diminutive of Elizabeth.
It will come into more fashion since Harry and Meghan named their baby that.
Throughout history, names have been derived from other names, made up out of thin air, and former nicknames have been given as birth names. An old boyfriend loved that his given name was Randy “because I sure am” he’d say proudly. However, it is a nickname for Randolph, Randall, Bertrand, Ranulf, and Andrew amongst others.
I’ve always found names fascinating.
I have a close friend with the given name “Reene”. While it’s generally a nickname for Maureen (which is a family name for her), her actual name is Reene.
Just to add a note, it’s pronounced Reenie (rhymes with weenie). Despite people constantly correcting her for mispronouncing or misspelling her own name, it’s not pronounced Rene/Renee or spelled that way.
I feel obligated to post this XKCD:
A woman I know has a first name of K. Just K. I met her when she was a kid, and always wondered how she’d do if she got a corporate job: I can see IT rejecting her paperwork, “We need a full name”. (Just last week, I had a website reject an initial for a first name) Fortunately for her, she’s in a very non-corporate field.
Or Henry
WAG, she’d go by “Kay” either on all her employment work or eventually legally change her name.
My ex-BIL has no given middle name. At some point he legally changed (added?) the letter “J” as his middle name because he was tired of running into problems where he couldn’t just leave the “middle initial” part blank. Even now he still uses “Jay” when the form wants a “middle name” and won’t let continue with just a single letter in the spot.
Come to think of it, I don’t know if K is someone you still know, but in the age of the internet, I’ll bet she uses Kay any time an online form won’t accept K, which is probably fairly often.
Yep, I had that thought about “Kay”. Though I’d be inclined to dig in my heels whenever possible, if twere me!
In HS Business Law class (late 1960s) I was told that Indiana lets you change your name without going to court, as long as it’s not for fraud. Real ID laws complicated all that, making it necessary to use (and, if necessary, change) your birth certificate to get a driver’s license and vote. As far as I know, you can still “go by,” and do business as, any name you choose.
My mom and her 3 sisters were given no middle names at birth. Their parents assumed they would all get married and use their maiden name as a middle name. They all did.
And then there’s Harry S Truman
Molly and Polly are both from Mary.
Marita is a Swedish/Finnish diminuitve of the Finnish form of Margaret: Maarit. Marita is my legal first name.
I know a Polly that is from Paulina.
I read somewhere that he actually used Harry S. Truman even though it didn’t stand for anything.
I have no middle name and that has never caused any problem. But the last name on my birth certificate is not the name I have used all my life. My father changed it informally around when I was born as he was looking for a job and wanted a name that didn’t sound Jewish. (Incidentally, it didn’t help. He finally got hired by my mother’s uncle.) By the time I started school we were using the new name for everything. When I applied for a passport, I had to get a notarized letter from someone who knew me under both names. Fortunately, my parents were still alive as no other person in the world knew me under both names. Since then, a passport has sufficed for nearly every purpose. The one exception was that when I retired they wanted a birth certificate as proof of age. With some trepidation I wrote to Harrisburg, asking for a birth certificate. To my surprise they wrote back immediately, saying that, as the name on the certificate was not the one I was using, did I want it in latter name. Of course, I did. This was well post 9/11 BTW.
Natasha is a Russian diminutive form of Natalie or Natalia.
I have met a couple of American women whose parents officially named them Natasha.
I always heard/believed the S was from both his grand fathers names.
There are American women who bear the German name Gretchen, I assume typically as a stand-alone name. Originally, however, it was a diminutive of Grete / Greta, which itself is a diminutive of Margarete, that is, German for Margaret.
Ditto for “Heidi” - in the USA it should typically be a stand-alone name. However, in German-speaking countries, it may be a diminutive of other names, such as Adelheid (“nobility” - this was the full name of the title character of the novel of the same name. The English form of the name is “Adelaide”).
Also Harry - my understanding is that that’s how the name was pronounced in English in the past. So the king we know as Henry VIII - in his time, people would reportedly have referred to him as King Harry (for example, during the ecclesiastical trial by which Henry VIII attempted to annul his marriage to Queen Katherine of Aragon, the court crier reportedly summoned him as follows: “King Harry of England, come into the court.”) And in Welsh, even today, the name is “Hari”. So Today, Harry may be a diminutive of Henry (as in Prince Harry), a stand-alone name, or a diminutive/nickname for Harold.
My younger brother is ‘Harry’ just Harry. Not from Harold, Henry, or Harrison.
My Mother’s father was Harry.
He also got my paternal grandfathers name as a middle name.
Poor boy.
Sally was short for Sarah, but has been a “real” name for quite a while
Drew - not just short for Andrew any more
This website NameGrapher : Namerology is quite handy for looking into name histories.
Peggy is a nickname for Margaret (but not for my cousin Peggy), and Jack for John (except for my cousin Jack, whose older brother is named John).
Hey, I just realized all my Sister’s name are their 1st names as seen on the birth certificate. Except me. I’m the only one with a shortened form of my given name or called by my middle name.
That troubling.
For some reason.
Hmm?