An Abundance of Nicknames

There are a few girls' that have arguably remained popular because of the wide variety of nicknames (or have they gotten so many nicknames because they're so popular? Hmmm...chicken or egg...). You can kind of guess the age of someone with one of those names based on which nickname she uses--Ellie is probably a small child, but Betty? She's the grandma.
It occurred to me that since there will always be a percentage of parents who prefer to just use the nickname as a full name, you could probably track when each diminutive was most popular simply with the SSA data.
So, that's what I did, for three classic, nickname-abundant girls' names. Some of the nicknames are now considered full names in their own rights, but I still threw them in because it's interesting.

First up is Margaret (the x-axis is year, obviously; the y-axis is % of girls born that year):

With the exception of Megan for a couple decades, Margaret has remained more popular than any of its nicknames or variants alone. However, it's pretty hard to see how the less-common forms have moved around! So here are the top 5 forms (minus Margaret herself):

And here're only the more "nicknamey" forms (that is, the ones generally not thought of as 'full names'):

Next up is Katherine. More than either of the others, Katherine probably has the most spelling variants, both for itself and its nicknames. However, I only used the most popular spelling for each form.

Whoa, Karen got really popular! So did Kathy! Again, the top 5 forms, excluding Katherine herself:

I'm actually surprised Katie is still so close to Kate in popularity. It seems so '80s to me.
Here are only the more "nicknamey" forms:

Kathy had quite the peak, didn't it? And Kate is now the most common nickname form, and second most common, after Katherine. 

Oh, deep breath. Here's comes the big one. Elizabeth. 

That's a lot of data. I'll think I'll break this one up into a few charts. 

Here are the top 5 forms overall, minus Elizabeth:

These are the top five "nicknamey" forms:

And the bottom 5:

Aw, poor Libby. Way down there where you can barely see her. 

And finally, just for fun, really, here are the less-common "full-name" forms:

Now, I'm guessing that my hypothesis doesn't always work out: for names less connected to their full forms (in English, anyway), the charts probably don't accurately reflect their usage as nicknames in the US--Kaia and Megan for example. But for the really "nicknamey" forms, I bet it comes pretty close. ;)

Old-Fashioned Fun with Modern Names

While reading on another board about "name-stealing"--a subject I have mixed feelings about--I began to wonder if part of the problem was that we've become severely limited in the ways we create nicknames. The naming pool was significantly smaller in previous generations, and yet no one seemed to really care about sharing their name with others, or about close friends/family "stealing" their baby name (or maybe no one bothered to record it if they did).
Perhaps part of the problem is how most of our current popular names have only one "go-to" nickname (maybe two)? If you look at historically-common names, they can have several, even dozens! Whether the nickname-creativity was spurred by the over-abundances of Marys, Margarets, Richards, & Johns, or just a by-product of flexible archaic English, I'm not sure, but either way, we're missing some opportunity for fun. ;)

While today's nicknames tend to be made in one way (shortening it, and maybe adding 'ee' or 'ah'), in older times, nicknames could be made in several ways:

• Shortening to main syllable, just like today
• Rhyming: Ed --> Ted
• Adding N to vowel-names (a result of affectionately saying 'Mine ____'): Ann --> Nan
• Contraction: Florence --> Floss
• Adding 'ee' (for either gender), 'see', -in, or -kin: Adam --> Addy, Beth--> Betsy, John --> Jonkin
• Slight vowel-shift: Simon --> Sim
• Using a regional pronunciation as a nickname: Mary --> Molly

Often these changes combined & built upon each other, for instance: Margaret --> Mag --> Meg --> Peg; Mary --> Molly --> Polly; John --> Jan --> Jankin --> Jack

Now imagine the fun if we applied some of these methods to today's popular names. Hmmm.....

• Sophia --> Sophie --> Sosie
• Isabella --> Nissie; Isabella --> Ibbie --> Tibbie
• Olivia --> Nol, Nollie; Olivia --> Olia
• Emma --> Emsie
• Abigail --> Allie; Abigail --> Aggie
• Madison --> Missy

• Aiden --> Aikin; Aiden --> Nay
• Jacob --> Jobe; Jacob --> Cobin
• Mason --> Mase --> Tase; Mason --> Maykin
• Michael --> Mel; Michael --> Mykin; Michael --> Kel --> Kellin
• William --> Wilkin --> Wilk; William --> Wim
• Ethan --> Ean --> Dean
• Noah --> Noey; Noah --> Koah; Noah --> Joah --> Joe

Yes, I purposely left out the names that I couldn't come up with non-silly nicknames for (of course, I can see many of these being considered silly). But imagine the possibilities! Who says that all Isabellas must go by Izzy or Bella? Having "such a common name" wouldn't really matter if you come up with your own new nickname for her. :)

Usual Name, Unexpected Nickname--Margaret

As the centuries have passed, so have our nickname conventions. Most of the historical nicknames for Margaret seem fusty or nonsensical now--Madge, Peggy, Marge, Midge. Even many foreign nicknames have come and gone, or are now considered independent names--Megan, Rita, Greta, Gretel, Gretchen, Margot.
Of course, the "is it mature enough for a grown woman?" Maggie is still popular, and Maisie is definitely hip.
Sheesh, are there even any "new" nicknames for Margaret left?

• Gita (GEE-tah)--Czech
• Gosia (GAWSH-ah)--Polish
• Greetje (KRAYT-yeh)--Dutch
• Mamie/Mayme (MAY-mee)--English
• Manci (MAWN-tsee)--Hungarian
• Märta (MEHR-tah)--Swedish
• Marzena (mahr-ZHEH-nah)--Polish
• Meta (MEH-tah)--Scandinavian
• Molly (MOL-lee)--English

Usual Name, Unexpected Nickname--Alexander

For such a long time, Alex was the favored nickname for Alexander, but in recent years, you're just as likely to hear Xander. Thanks to Alexander the Great, his name spread throughout Europe and the Middle East, and while the variants of Alexander all bear strong resemblance to the original (Eskandar, Alistair, Oleksander, to name a few), the nicknames have surprising variety.

• Ace (AYS)--English
• Ace/Atse (ATS-eh)--Macedonian
• Aleš (AH-lesh)--Czech & Slovak
• Lekso (LEK-so)--Serbian
• Sandy (SAN-dee)--English
• Santeri (SAHN-teh-ree)--Finnish
• Sasha (SAH-shah)--Russian
• Sawney (SAW-nee)--Scottish
• Shurik (SHOOR-eek)--Russian
• Skender (SKEN-der)--Albanian

Although it's technically a full name in its own right, the related Alexis and variant forms are sometimes used as a nickname for Alexander and company. While Alexander means "defender of man", Alexis is simply "defender". 

• Aleix (ah-LAYSH)--Catalan
• Alejo (ah-LEH-hoh)--Spanish
• Aleksei (ah-lyek-SAY)--Russian
• Alessio (ah-LES-syoh)--Italian

If you saw this post when it first went up, I apologize! I'm not sure how I managed to only publish part of it, but I've added in the missing Alexis segment. :)

Usual Name, Unexpected Nickname--Elizabeth/Isabella

Elizabeth remains one of our enduring classics. Despite the fact that everyone is almost guaranteed to know at least one (probably more like 2 or 3), Elizabeth shows no sign of falling out of favor anytime soon. In fact, many of its spin-offs are also on the rise (Elsa, Elise, Eliza), and one has even overtaken the original--Isabella. Considering that girls' names tend to rise & fall with fashion, while boys' names tend to be stable and enduring, Elizabeth's permanence is pretty darned impressive.
I wonder which came first--the widespread use, or the wide variety of nicknames?

• Bess (BES)--English
• Bethan (BETH-an)--Welsh
• Bettina (bet-TEEN-ah)--German
• Buffy (BUF-fee)--English
• Bizzy/Busy (BIZ-ee)--English
• Els (ELS)--Dutch
• Elsje (ELS-yeh)--Dutch
• Erzsi (EHR-zhee)--Hungarian
• Ibbie (IB-bee)--English
• Ilsa (IL-sah)--German
• Isa (EE-sah)--Scandinavian, Spanish
• Libby (LIB-bee)--English
• Liddy (LID-dee)--English
• Lies (LEES)--Dutch, German
• Liesel (LEE-zel)--German
• Liisu (LEE-soo)--Estonian
• Lili (LIL-ee)--French, German
• Lisa (LEE-sah)--English
• Lison (lee-ZOHN)--French
• Špela (SHPEL-ah)--Slovene
• Tetty (TET-tee)--English

Usual Name, Unexpected Nickname--Katherine

There are about as many different ways to form nicknames as there are cultures. While many nicknames for our most enduring classics seem out of date or boring, an imported diminutive can be fresh & fun.
The first name I'm tackling in this new series is Katherine. Kate & Katie are just as popular as ever, Kathy is so 30 years ago, Kitty is somewhere between cobwebs and vintage-cute, while Kat is indie-cool.
That's about it for the usual English nicknames, I think, so how about....

• Cadi (KAH-dee)--Welsh
• Caja/Kaia/Kaia (KYE-ah)--Scandinavian
• Cato (kah-TOH)--Dutch
• Kadri (KAH-dree)--Estonian
• Kai (KYE)--Scandinavian
• Kaisa (KYE-sah)--Finnish, Estonian
• Kari (KAHR-ee)--Norwegian
• Kasia (KAH-shah)--Polish
• Kata (KAH-tah)--Croatian, Finnish, Hungarian
• Katenka (kah-TEN-kah)--Russian
• Käthe (KET-eh)--German
• Katia/Katja/Katya (KAHT-yah)--Dutch, German, Russian, Scandinavian
• Kay (KAY)--English
• Nienke (NEEN-keh)--Frisian
• Nine (NEE-nah)--Frisian
• Rina (REE-nah)--Dutch, Italian
• Trine (TREE-neh)--Danish