Moggy, Meggy, Poggy, Peggy
Posted by terrepruitt on June 4, 2018
At our latest visit after Nia and stretch class the ladies and I were talking about names. We were wondering how certain names adopted certain nicknames. I think it is interesting because some names just seem to have logical nicknames. In fact they are just shortened versions of the names. The names that come to mind that are like that are Sam for Samantha or Samuel, John/Jon for Jonathan, Rich for Richard, Barb for Barbara, Bea for Bertha, Steve for Steven. Shortenings like that. But some names seem to have nicknames that have nothing to do with the names or so I thought. Since we had the conversation I looked up one that had always puzzled me. I never had understood why Peggy was a nickname for Margaret.
Well, the internet confused me even more upon the first glance as it said “Daisy and Peggy = Margaret.” That was even more puzzling. What? I have never heard of Daisy for Margaret. Although I can’t think of any Daisys. But it could be that if I have met some their real names were Margaret and I just didn’t know. The explanation though made complete sense. This information coming from BuzzFeed. Apparently in French “marguerite” is daisy . . . so it makes sense that someone name Margaret might be called Daisy. Reddit confirms the Margaret to Daisy theory, but also credits the Dutch.
I guess that at one time Margaret was shorted to Meg or Meggy and the “Meggy” got turned into Peggy. That explanation is not as clear-cut as Margaret to Daisy, but . . . it is plausible. Another idea is that Mog and Meg were nicknames for Margaret and they actually turned into Pog/Poggy and Peg/Peggy. That information is from Mental Floss.
Almost all the information claims that many nicknames rose out of the “rhyming nicknames”. I guess that just means that people like to use nicknames that rhyme with the actual name.
Another name that I grew up with wondering about was Jack. We had a neighbor named Jack, but I believe it turned out — and I say that because I didn’t know for a long time . . . I am sure he and his family knew — that his name was actually John. And that one I don’t get at all because to me, nicknames are often short but Jack and John are the same. And the explanation for that makes even less sense to me in that they are LENGTHEN the name when making it a nickname. The explanation is that the Normans added -kin to the names and Jen was Jack. So Jen was Jenkin which eventually turned into Jack.
In addition to Peggy the name we were talking about at coffee was Dick. How did Richard become Dick. Well again, rhyming is to blame. Richard was Rich which turned into Dick.
There are many names that have nicknames I didn’t even know about. Clicking the links above will get you to articles written about nicknames and you will see that apparently rhyming is big thing and is the reason for many nicknames – at least according to those articles.
Did any of these surprise you? What is your nickname?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
indianeskitchen said
My Uncles name is John and the entire family calls him Jack…except his wife!
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terrepruitt said
Yeah, see. I grew up thinking John’s name was Jack. I think that is one of the funny nicknames. Do people call you Di?
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indianeskitchen said
They did my entire childhood but my Grandpa called me DeDe until I finally asked him to stop. My mom said it really hurt his feelings but I hated it! Lol
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terrepruitt said
I don’t think I have ever heard DeDe for Diane. My mom was Diane but did have a nickname. Well, actually that was her middle name, but she NEVER went by her first name.
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indianeskitchen said
That’s why I didn’t like it, it made no sense. I love Di when I was young.
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terrepruitt said
Awww. Perhaps he was hurt because it didn’t make sense and it was just something “special” he made up just for you. But . . . if you hated it, at least you let him know. My mom HATED Di, and made sure no one called her that.
It seems kind of funny the emotions caused by names, but they are real. And strong, huh?
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