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Nicknames?

Posted: Sat August 3rd, 2013, 11:08 pm
by Misfit
I am scratching my head at the nicknames PG is giving characters in The White Princess. Wondering if there's any basis in reality.

Elizabeth = Lizzie to her sisters.

Clarence's two children:

Edward = Teddy
Margaret = Maggie

Posted: Sat August 3rd, 2013, 11:51 pm
by Nefret
I thought Teddy was a nickname for boys named Theodore?

Posted: Sun August 4th, 2013, 12:17 am
by Misfit
I thought the same, isn't Ned the usual for Edward back then? This book is just dire.I don't know why I picked it up again, but I'm skimming like mad.

Posted: Sun August 4th, 2013, 12:30 am
by Nefret
Ned could maybe be an accent/ dialect pronunciation for 'Ed', which is already a nickname for Edward. No idea when it came into usage. Isn't Edward the most common name for English kings?

Posted: Sun August 4th, 2013, 2:27 am
by annis
Ted is also an old nickname for Edward. My grandfather was an Edward and he was always known as Ted. I think both the Ned and Ted variants date from the Middle Ages.

Posted: Sun August 4th, 2013, 7:18 am
by sweetpotatoboy
Richard is almost invariably called "Dickon" by other members of his family in the novels that I've read about this period (though I don't know if Philippa Gregory does that). Would've been nice to see that here.

Posted: Sun August 4th, 2013, 8:27 am
by annis
Just found this handy list some Christian names commonly used in the Middle Ages with their medieval diminutives alongside modern variants.
http://www.namenerds.com/uucn/advice/nickhistory.html

Posted: Sun August 4th, 2013, 12:21 pm
by Misfit
[quote=""annis""]Just found this handy list some Christian names commonly used in the Middle Ages with their medieval diminutives alongside modern variants.
http://www.namenerds.com/uucn/advice/nickhistory.html[/quote]

Awesome find! It seems Lizzie is a possibility,although I thought her' s was Bess.

Posted: Mon August 5th, 2013, 9:20 pm
by Michy
Ted Kennedy is a modern example of an Edward nicknamed Ted -- I've never understood how Edward could morph into "Ted." I liked the list -- it explains how "Ned" became a nickname for Edward, which I never could figure out, either.

Posted: Tue August 6th, 2013, 11:39 am
by Lisa
At least no-one has tried yet to morph two siblings' (or a couple's) names together, like with Jedward.

Sorry for the deviation, but all the mentions of Edward/Ned/Ted/Nedward/Tedward just had me thinking of Jedward. If you're in a country that hasn't come across these guys yet, you are fortunate indeed.