HIVER ETERNEL

Skyward sword~

I'm so glad you find it useful! It's honestly kind of my magnum opus as far as getting an idea, researching it, and actually presenting it in a format people seem to understand in a timely matter (that last one is my downfall as I am not good at finishing things).

I worked on the nickname followup for about four months after I did the Regency guide, but was (and still am) at a loss with how to both measure and present my findings.

The problem with nicknames is there is hardly any quantifiable data.

With the first name survey I used two pre-existing databases for my info - so my workload was pretty much just making a spreadsheet, eliminating any duplicate records, and counting how many times each name occurred.

I was also working in only one very specific area (7 parishes in London) so I didn't have to worry about regional variations.

Due to the strict formally of the Regency era, nicknames do no not often appear in legal records, and were usually only used privately among families and very close friends.

When they were used publicly it was often only with members of the 'lower' classes - and I don't mean that in the modern economic sense, but rather referring to people who were seen as 'lesser' in social status - this included children, unmarried women, servants (both free and enslaved) and the poor.

Nicknames do sometimes appear in vital (birth/marriage/death) records, but even then it's often impossible to tell what the nickname is actually short for - e.g. is Patty short for Martha or Patience? is this person listed as Eliza because it was their given name or was it short for Elizabeth?

Nicknames also vary heavily by region - to the point that some are specific to only a handful of counties. I considered focusing on only nicknames used in London, but honestly the regional variation is one of the most interesting features of nicknames to me.

All these facts mean that my research process was exceedingly more complicated than with the first name survey.

With a lack of quantifiable data I approached the project with three basic questions:

Was this nickname in use during the Regency era?

Was it common?

Was it regional?

I then had to determine this individually for every single possible nickname used with common Regency names. Do you know how many possible nicknames there are for Catherine? For Elizabeth? (Many. There are so, so many you guys.)

On top of having to research each nickname individually, I also didn't have a single source of information like in my previous project, and ended up using everything from period literature to newspapers to court testimony.

As I keep finding new sources, my info keeps changing and so far all my attempts to do a decent write-up have failed. But here's a bit of what I've found so far...

Nicknames for Common Regency Names

Mary - Polly, Mally (northern England/Scotland), Molly (Lancashire), Pally (Yorkshire)

Elizabeth - Eliza, Bets(e)y, Betty, Lizzy, Bess - NOT Beth

Ann - Nancy, Nanny (northern England), Annie (Scotland)

Sarah - Sally

Jane - Jenny, Jessy/Jessie (Scotland)

Hannah - ??? but likely the same as Ann

Susannah - Susan, Sukey, Susy, Suckey (southern US)

Margaret - Peggy, (Maggy, Meggy, Moggy, Madge (Scotland))

Catherine - Kitty, Kate, Cat(e)y (US), Catty (Ireland), Katie (Scotland)

Martha - Patty, Matty (northern England/Scotland/Ireland/US), Patsy (southern US)

Eleanor - Nelly, Nell

Frances - Fanny, Franny

John - Jack(y), Johnny, Jock(ey) (Scotland)

William - Bill(y), Will(y)

Thomas - Tom(my)

James - Jem(my), Jamie (Scotland) - NOT Jim

George - Georgey, Geordie (Northern England/Scotland)

Joseph - Joe(y)

Richard - Dick(y)

Robert - Bob(by), Robb(y/ie) (Scotland), Robin

Charles - Charley, Charlie (Scotland)

Henry - Harry

Edward - Ned(dy), Ted(dy) (Ireland)

A general rule - Y not IE endings unless you are Scottish

Lizzy not Lizzie, Sophy not Sophie, Charley not Charlie

IE endings were still associated with French names

I think about this kind of thing a lot, anon, and I think my generation (Gen X/xillennial) kind of did folks dirty a bit.

In our defense, we didn't know we were.

I'm an educator by profession, as well as on this hobby blog, and so I spend a lot of time thinking about how people learn things. A lot of learning is social, and a lot of it happens when parents teach their children.

When I was growing up, pre-internet, my parents taught me how to talk to other adults in our community, how to play with other children, how to order food in a restaurant, how to call a business and ask a question. They literally walked me through how to do all of that stuff and more because those were daily skills in the world at that time.

We've spent the last 20+ years talking about how kids today are "digital natives" - but have we spent enough time teaching kids how to keep a conversation going when you're not in the same room as the other person? How to leave a comment on a post by a person you don't know? How to show your appreciation to a content creator? What a content creator even is and how that differs from a fan creator?

I know there are a lot of jokes out there about different things that would kill a Victorian child, but I think what would actually be difficult for them would be the lack of rules and instructions that kids today receive from the adults in their lives.

I don't have kids myself, so maybe this is all just bullshit and I'm talking directly out of my ass. But a LOT of the time when I notice someone doing something 'wrong' it's because no one ever told them how to do it right.

I kind of suspect that might be part of what's happening in fandom these days. Combine the above with the fact that fandom got inundated with new members in 2020 during quarantine and lock downs, and it's not surprising to me that a large percentage of the people in fandom today don't approach things the way that we used to before.

i don't fault them for it. When fandom was smaller and the internet was new, we used to take the time to bring people in. But now, it feels like 'everyone knows XYZ' so why does it need to be taught? And with how fast things move, it's more rare for newcomers to lurk for a while before they dive into everything.

This is a very long answer to a problem that probably just needed a listening ear, but I hope what you take away from this is an understanding that you're not the only one who feels the difference. I see this same experience shared in the notes on my posts all the time.

There is no easy fix for the situation and it certainly won't be fast to change, but maybe if we mentor a bit more when we have the spoons to, we can shift the culture a bit? One fan at a time?

If you managed to get all the way to the end of this, do yourself a favour and leave a comment on a fic or reblog a post with some chatty tags. DM somemeone or tag them or send them an ask just to let them know you see them and you think they're cool.