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��Names and Nicknames.
��NAMES AND NICKNAMES.
By Gilbert Nasii.
��To the antiquarian, the historian, or the general scholar, there are few more interesting studies than that of names. It is a pursuit of rare delight to trace out the derivation of those with which we have been long familiar, and to follow up the associations that have rendered them dear, curious or ridiculous, as the case may be. The names themselves may be of no value, but the spot or circumstance that gave them birth can- not fail to throw around them an atmos- phere of peculiar interest. The sub- ject is a broad one and may be, with time and inclination, extensively culti- vated; and, even in the limits of a short article, many phases of it of gen- eral importance and interest may be satisfactorily treated, and it is proposed in the following paragraphs to present only a few of them.
In the present rage for nicknames, pet names, diminutives and contractions there is fair prospect of an abundant harvest of trouble and perplexity to the genealogist and historian of the future. In fact, the students of the present day are already beginning to realize, in no small degree, the annoyance that arises from the custom. The changes are so many and intricate that to understand them fully requires much valuable time and the patience that could better be employed in more important work.
The difficulty arises, of course, from indifference, inadvertence or carelessness, rather than from set purpose ; yet the result is the same in its evil effects. It is true there are some of these nick- names that ha\'e been so long in use, and have become so common that no one is disturbed by them and. their em-
��ployment, and they are readily under- stood. Many of these, however, have served their turn and are gradually going out of use, and will, in a short time, be only "dead words" to the community.
Of this class are the familiar favorites of our grandparents, such as Sally, for Sarah ; Polly or Molly, for Mary ; Patty, for Martha, and Peggy, for Margaret, representative names of the class. Some of these, with perhaps shght changes, have become legitimatized, and their origin has been nearly, or quite, forgotten. Of such we recognize Betsy, or its modern equivalent, Bettie or Bessie, as a very proper name. Few, perhaps, of our present generation would recognize in " Nancy," the feat- ures of its parent, "Ann" or "Nan."
Some of these old nicknames have al- ready gone nearly or quite out of use, so much so that many of our young people will be surprised to leam that Patty was, not long ago, the vernacular for Martha, and would never imagine that "Margaret" could ever have re- sponded to the call of " Peggy ; " " Hitty " and " Kitty," for the staid and sober " Mehitable," and the volatile Katherine, are more easily recognized, while it might require several guesses to establish the relationship between " Milly " and " Amelia ," or " Emily."
Stranger than either, perhaps because both the proper name and its diminu- tive have become so uncommon, is that transformation which reduced " Tabitha," to " Bertha," with the accent upon the first syllable, and its vowel long. A curious instance of the change in this name, and the further variation
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