A Guide to Common Regency-Era Nicknames
These nicknames are the result of a three month survey I conducted using hundreds of primary sources ranging from newspapers to period literature to murder trial testimony. I have been sitting on this research for two years due to several names I was stuck on, but when I mentioned to project in a response to an ask recently I had several people encourage me to just post it as is - so here you go...
Due to the strict social rules of the Regency era, nicknames were very rarely used in the upper classes outside of family and very close friends.
Young, unmarried women would sometimes go by a nickname publicly, but even then the rules of formal address still applied. A young woman of status would be introduced as Miss Betsey Lastname, not just Betsey. The eldest daughter would be introduced as Miss Lastname, whether or not she went by a nickname.
The same rules applied to children of a certain status that went by nicknames. Servants would refer to their young charges as Miss Sally and Master Jemmy - not just Sally and Jemmy.
Adults who went by nicknames outside of close family/friends tended to be servants (free, indentured and enslaved) or members of the lower class. A scullery maid was more likely to be a Fanny than a Frances and a stable boy was more likely to be a Jack than a John.
You do also see men in positions of authority referred to by nicknames in a "man of the people" type way - hence Ben Franklin, Sam Adams, etc.
However, this was also often used in a sarcastic manner by political opposition.
A few notes on the lists below...
Nicknames were often very regionally specific. Names with locations in parentheses were used primarily in those areas, those without locations I've found evidence of use throughout the English-speaking world.
Nicknames are listed in very rough order of popularity, starting with the most popular - (I did not actually count the hundreds of occurrences of each nickname as the sources I used were very hard to quantify, so these are based on my general observations during the project and should not be taken as academic fact.)
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
Ann - Nancy, Nan, Nanny (northern England), Annie (Scotland)
Catherine - Kitty, Kate, Cat(e)y (US), Catty (Ireland), Katty (Scotland/Ireland), Katie (Scotland)
Elizabeth - Bets(e)y, Eliza, Betty, Lizzy, Bess(y), Els(e)y/Elsie (Scotland/US) - NOT Beth
Frances - Fanny, Fan, Franny
Henrietta - Harriet, Hetty, Henny
Isabella - Bell(a), Tibby (Northern England/Scotland)
Jane - Jenny, Jessy/Jessie (Scotland)
Margaret - Peggy, Peg, (Maggy, Meggy, Moggy, Madge (Scotland))
Martha - Patty, Matty (northern England/Scotland/Ireland/US), Patsy (southern US)
Mary - Polly, Mally (northern England/Scotland), Molly (Lancashire), Pally (Yorkshire)
Susannah - Susan, Sukey, Susy, Suckey (southern US)
Alexander - Aleck/Alec/Allick/Ellick, Sandy - NOT Alex#
Charles - Charley, Charlie (Scotland)
Edward - Ned(dy), Ted(dy) (Ireland)
George - Georgey, Geordie (Northern England/Scotland)
James - Jem(my), Jamie (Scotland), Jim(my)$
John - Jack(y), Johnny, Jock(ey) (Scotland)
Robert - Bob(by), Robb(y/ie) (Scotland), Robin
William - Bill(y), Will(y)
* I have found a single instance of both Lotty (in a dictionary from 1725) and Charley (a murder trial from 1735) being used as a nickname for Charlotte in the early 18th century, but none from the Regency period itself. So both nicknames pre-date the Regency era, but I, as of yet, cannot prove whether they were in use during the early 19th century or not.
# "Alex." was used in the Regency era as an abbreviation for Alexander, but I have never seen it used in a period source as stand-alone nickname. Alexander Hamilton would occasionally sign his name "Alex Hamilton" without the period, but he also didn't use a period when he signed it "A Hamilton". It is possible it was also a spoken nickname at the time, however I have not come across any hard evidence of this pre-dating the 20th Century.
$ Jim/Jimmy did exist as a nickname in the early 19th century, but was far, FAR, less common than Jem/Jemmy. It would not overtake Jem/Jemmy in popularity until the mid-19th century.
