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HelpRe: Dolly and Queenie
in reply to a message by Pie
Is there anything in popular culture, or "culture", that might account for it?
I've got a young colleague who's a Dolly; but she's black and from a non-English speaking family, so that could well be (and usually is) just a random choice. It suits her: very pretty and eager and cheerful. I shouldn't think that Dorothy, Dorothea etc would be popular enough to have Dolly as an obvious replacement, like Lisa for Elizabeth. And perhaps it's simply a fresh take on Holly, Molly and Polly and their brothers, Ollie and Wally!
Queenie is a puzzle. Once again, what happens in South Africa isn't evidence, but Queen is sometimes given to black girls; my husband once had a student resoundingly called Queen Elizabeth Lastname! And I've seen a couple of instances of Queeneth, which I took to be a verb (I queen, thou queenest, she queeneth?)until it hit me that it was much more likely to be a local spelling pronunciation of Gwyneth.
I seem to recall reading that Queenie was used in the 19th century as a nickname for girls named Victoria, but then I've also got the impression that Victoria wasn't much used by us plebs at that time. Could Queenie be a replacement for Elizabeth? It seems bizarre, but I suppose it might work.
I've got a young colleague who's a Dolly; but she's black and from a non-English speaking family, so that could well be (and usually is) just a random choice. It suits her: very pretty and eager and cheerful. I shouldn't think that Dorothy, Dorothea etc would be popular enough to have Dolly as an obvious replacement, like Lisa for Elizabeth. And perhaps it's simply a fresh take on Holly, Molly and Polly and their brothers, Ollie and Wally!
Queenie is a puzzle. Once again, what happens in South Africa isn't evidence, but Queen is sometimes given to black girls; my husband once had a student resoundingly called Queen Elizabeth Lastname! And I've seen a couple of instances of Queeneth, which I took to be a verb (I queen, thou queenest, she queeneth?)until it hit me that it was much more likely to be a local spelling pronunciation of Gwyneth.
I seem to recall reading that Queenie was used in the 19th century as a nickname for girls named Victoria, but then I've also got the impression that Victoria wasn't much used by us plebs at that time. Could Queenie be a replacement for Elizabeth? It seems bizarre, but I suppose it might work.
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