#onomastics

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

Women's Names

Amelia - Am(e)y, Emily

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

Bridget - Biddy

Caroline - Car(r)y

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

Charlotte - [see notes]*

Dorothy - Doll(y)

Eleanor - Nell(y)

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)

Louisa/Lucy - Loo/Lou

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)

Rebecca - Becky, Becca

Sarah - Sally

Sophia - Sophy

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

Men's Names

Alexander - Aleck/Alec/Allick/Ellick, Sandy - NOT Alex#

Anthony - Tony

Benjamin - Ben(ny)

Charles - Charley, Charlie (Scotland)

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

Francis - Frank(y)

George - Georgey, Geordie (Northern England/Scotland)

Henry - Harry

James - Jem(my), Jamie (Scotland), Jim(my)$

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

Joseph - Joe(y)

Richard - Dick(y)

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

Samuel - Sam(my)

Thomas - Tom(my)

William - Bill(y), Will(y)

Apologies if you've answered this or something similar before btw, if so I'm unable to find it currently.

Edited and updated!

All of this is based on two things. First, there's the internal history. We know those names came from a much later era than the days of Old Valyria. Part of the reason GRRM created names like Aemond was to demonstrate that time had passed and the language was slowly evolving and changing based on where it traveled (cf. Frankish *Karilaz becoming Latin Carolus, French Charles, Spanish Carlos, German Karl…). Since you only see names like Vaemond and Aemond in the later period and never see them in the older period, it suggests that they may not have existed at an earlier time.

Truly, though, the main issues is the phonology. Valyrian has a particular phonological structure that makes a name like Aemond impossible. It's like asking why Karl (the modern German form) couldn't be a Latin name. It could—as a borrowing. No native Latin word ended with /rl/. It simply couldn't.

A tangential point when it comes to phonology is there are names that are kind of Valyrian, but not, and this kind of reflects a similar phenomenon in Latin. There are (or were) Latin words of Greek origin that retained their Greek endings. To the lay person, if a word ends in -us or -os it's probably Latin, but in fact, the -us ending is Latin; the -os ending is Greek. Latin did allow for Greek words to be borrowed in with the -os ending, but it was understood these were Greek. And sometimes the Greek endings were even replaced with Latin endings.

If you study the names GRRM came up with, it becomes clear that there are specific High Valyrian endings, and then endings that come from elsewhere (either a different language or a later development). The -ios ending, for example, is not Valyrian (and, in fact, is equivalent to -ys in Valyrian), but it kind of looks like it. I essentially have this ending as a separate branch that is, in real life, to be fleshed out when the canon gets around to it (i.e. when there's a show that needs that language).

The upshot is it's easy to look at a name and tell if it's Valyrian or not—and then easy enough to guess if it's modern and descended from Valyrian or older but from a different branch of the language family. It takes a bit of study, but over at the Wiki of Ice and Fire there's plenty of names and history to comb through to give you the idea.

Hi! Here's some common Catalan names and in brackets the translation to English.

Female names:

Alba ("sunrise")

Maria (Mary)

Mariona (diminutive of Mary), can be shortened to Ona (which also means "wave"). Ona nowadays is also a common name by itself.

Núria (it's the name of a valley in the Pyrenees and a Found Virgin)

Aida

Eulàlia

Laia (originally a diminutive of Eulàlia, now it's a common name by itself too)

Marta (Martha)

Martina (female version of Martin)

Clàudia

Aina (same origin as Anna)

Anna (Anne)

Meritxell (Valley in Andorra, where the Virgin of Meritxell was found, patron saint of Andorra), often shortened to Txell

Júlia

Mar ("sea")

Carla or Carlota (Charlotte)

Aurora ("sunrise")

Amèlia

Ester (Esther)

Estel ("star")

Mercè ("mercy" or "thanks", from the Virgin of Mercy, patron saint of Barcelona)

Roser ("rose bush")

Rosa ("rose")

Laura (derivate of the word for laurel tree)

Neus ("snows", from the Virgin of the Snows)

Mireia

Common old fashion names (very common among elderly and middle aged women, not common among young generations: Montserrat (it's the name of a holy mountain in Catalonia and a Found Virgin who is the patron saint of Catalonia), Antònia, Encarna (shortened from Maria de la Encarnació), Dolors ("pains" or "sorrows", from the Virgin of Sorrows), Fina (shortened from Josefina, meaning Josephine), Carme (for the Virgin of Mount Carmel), Maria Rosa (Mary Rose).

Traditional names that went down in use but in the new generation have become popular again (you'll find them either in people from like the late Middle Ages or little children lol): Arlet, Elna (name of a place in Northern Catalonia which became very symbolic for Catalan refugees and exiles after the civil war).

There's lots of women names that are highly specific of the area of Catalonia because it's the local Found Virgin. For example, you'll find lots of women named Tura (in Old Catalan it used to mean "bull", because of the legend of how the Virgin of Tura was found) around Olot but extremely few elsewhere and people might even be unfamiliar with the name. Same with Claustre (meaning "Cloister") around Solsona, Urgell (named after the place) around the Urgell area, Cinta ("ribbon") around Tortosa, Vinyet ("little vineyard") around Sitges... The Found Virgins I included in earlier points (Meritxell, Núria, Montserrat) are widespread everywhere. Queralt (quer alt="tall crag"), though not as widespread as those ones, is also present throughout Catalonia though more present in the area.

Male names:

Pau (Paul, also happens to mean "peace"). Pau can also be a female name if it's short for Maria de la Pau (shortened to Maripau or Pau) but over like 95% of the time if it's Pau alone it's a male name.

Marc (Mark)

Joan (John)

Jaume (James)

Oriol (after Saint Joseph Oriol, a saint from Barcelona. It's also the name of the golden oriole bird)

Jordi (George, patron saint of Catalonia)

Martí (Martin)

Arnau (Arnold)

Josep (Joseph), can be shortened to Pep

Pol (another version of Paul)

Lluís (Louis)

Gerard

Carles (Charles)

Albert

Xavier

Andreu (Andrew)

Francesc (Francis), can be shortened to Cesc, Cisco or Xisco

Antoni (Anthony), shortened to Toni (not very common among young people but it has been one of the most common names for centuries)

Jesús (Jesus)

And same for Josep Maria (Joseph Mary), by far one of the most common boomer names to the point that it's kind of a stereotypical boomer name nowadays lol

Joan Carles (John Charles)

Gender neutral name: Aran (after the Aran Valley).

After harassing my coworkers, I found a lot of them don't know any of their name information, even like "nationality" level stuff. So I'm wondering if this is common or not. I'm also interested to know if, even if you do know the history of your, if you found most people around do or don't. I also wonder if not knowing has a universal ratio.

SOCIETY — 165/262 — Names and surnames

The period up to the 13th century was characterized by Slavonic names, mostly of pagan origin. Common people would keep names short and simple like Odolen (the robust), Dobroš (the good), Chval (the praised). Names were also given according to social status. Compound names like Drahomíra (values peace), Boleslav (more famed, more fabled) and Ludmila (dear to the people) were reserved for royalty and nobility. Christian names were derived from Latin (Paul, Silvester, Florian), Hebrew (James, Daniel, John) and Greek (Andrew, Nicholas, Peter). In the late Middle Ages, only names belonging to Christian martyrs were permitted. In the towns and the countryside names like John, Peter, Margaret, Catherine and Anna were common, while the nobility retained the privilege of using names like Sophia, Elizabeth, Jacob, Ulrich or Hermann. Additional bynames added information about the location of the family seat, social or religious standing, or about relationships with relatives, for example Diviš z Talmberka (in KCD Divish of Talmberg), Jan Ptáček z Pirkštejna (Hans Capon of Pirkstein), Hanuš z Pirkštejna, syn Jindřicha (Hanush of Pirkstein, son of Henry). In addition, sometimes an epithet would be used, for example Jan Zajíc (Hanekin Hare) of Valdek, Jan the Younger of Hradec etc. The growing population and limited number of first names led to the creation of modern surnames. The surname was derived from the place where the person lived (like in English, for example Hill, Woods, Forest), from their occupation (Carter, Miller, Smith), from their physiognomy or appearance (Ruddy, Little, Brown), or were patronymics - derived from the father’s forename (Davis, Littlejohn) or matronymics - derived from the mother’s forename (Marriott, Beaton).

TRIVIA

— When in the early Middle Ages the concept of original sin developed, the demand for infant baptism evolved with it, and thus also the call for sponsors that would look after the child in the parents' stead, if needed. These sponsors or godparents were usually two people of the child's sex, sometimes together with one or two members of the opposite sex, frequently close friends or family of the parents. As baptismal guardians they would hold and speak for the child during the baptism, would vow to protect it from natural disasters, and provide for its religious education by teaching it the central prayers. This spiritual connection was so tight that the patrinus and matrina were considered compaternitas, or co-parents, of the child, and marriage to the child's family was forbidden by canon law. In a feudal system, such a union could create a strong social bond, reinforce existing alliances or extend the child's family in a beneficial way. Another reason for the careful selection of a godparent was that they were also the ones to name the child, and often after themselves. Out of the 302 children mentioned in records of the Proof of Age – an English court procedure developing in the 13th century to determine the legal age of a potential heir –, 261 bore the same name as their godparent. Only occasionally would a child be named after the Saint on whose day they were born, or after a parent or grandparent – the latter either as a compromise when the two godparents couldn't decide on whose name to take (if they didn't before settle the dispute with bribery), or because the godparent was a grandparent themselves. As was the case with Henry Conan, grand- and godfather of Henry Conan, who couldn't appear at the baptism in person due to his old age, and thus sent a messenger, demanding that “they should give the heir his name, whether male or female”.

Finally got round to the first in a transfer of material from TikTok to YouTube. I didn't eliminate them from TikTok, but I'm going to start on a series about Hephaistion (and Krateros) at Alexander's court. This is the first. It's longer than average by about 10 minutes. I do genuinely try to keep these under 30 minutes. But the storytelling nature of this one got away from me. I still think it works, so I'm keeping it.

If you are a student, especially one possibly thinking about a grad career, I discuss here how a random question while outlining my dissertation led down a very deep rabbit hole that resulted in a rather surprising (and now generally accepted) correction to who Hephaistion was and where he came from. Even overly long as it is, there are important things left out here (including Waldemar Heckel's article, "Hephaistion: the Athenian?").

But it tells the story of how I came to realize Hephaistion (and his family) were not ethnic Macedonians, but likely Athenian, or at least of Attic-Ionic extraction.

So if you've read this before and not heard me tell the story, and where my research finally led me (with the final 2020 publication, "Becoming Macedonian"), here you go.