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I ran across an unusual name and would like to know its etymology. The girl's name "Gatsy" appears in the early and mid-1800s, pretty much restricted to the Old South: the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, with later instances following migration patterns westward. There was an expecially heavy concentration in east-central North Carolina, around Lenoir and Pitt Counties. I know of at least three descandants of Isaiah Johnson and Mary Oxley who bore this name, plus a cousin or two. There are still a few around. I just turned up 22 hits for Gatsy and another 14 for Gatsey on the Social Security Death Index.
There was a fad for literary names beginnng around 1800 (Araminta, Lucinda, Pamelia, Statira, etc.). Was Gatsy a character in some now-forgotten romantic novel? The regional distribution suggests otherwise. Was it the stage name of a popular actress or singer?
Some of the nickname sites on the Web offer Gatsy as a nickname for Augusta/Augustina but without evidence. I doubt it. At least one family used Gatsy as a nicknme for Gathasa, but the latter name appears only once or twice and is itself of unknown origin, so that doesn't help much either.
Any leads? Thanks.
NAB