#regency era

Roller Printed Day Dress

c. 1815

he did not want to be tied down by a loveless union with a prudish girl who'd only serve to make him seem like a villain when he goes out to sate his uncivilized urges. the monotony of spending the rest of his life with one woman didn’t appeal to him as much as enjoying the thrill of chasing skirts would. he even said as much in a drunken stupor the night before his wedding day in a brothel when Lord Price came to retrieve him, which earned a few sniggers and a few mocking apologies for the poor girl who was going to be trapped with him in holy matrimony.

except. all of his reservations come to a screeching halt when he meets you at the altar, this quiet mouse of a lady who seized the raging heart in his chest when you walked down the aisle in pure white. such a bonnie thing who couldn't even look him in the eye after having her mouth ravished by her new husband for the entire church to see.

you kept your head down throughout the entire reception. only spoke when spoken to. shirked away from your husband's touch in a way that made something in him burn with the curiosity of how much he can tease you when your cheeks were flushed so much that you felt hot to the touch. as you and him danced the night away, Johnny suddenly looked forward to the idea of his wedding night.

or rather, he looked forward to ruining you.

only, you didn’t give him the chance. you knew all about the rake long before your father and mother forced you to marry him because he was still from the very powerful and twice as prominent Mactavish clan. you assumed that since he’d made it abundantly clear that he had no intentions of giving up his depraved ways, that he wanted nothing to do with you. so you promptly said goodnight to him when you were finally alone and returned to your chambers without giving him much of a chance to say anything that might disparage you even more than you already were.

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)

BRIDGERTON (2020-)

KATE AND ANTHONY