Sorry. This was meant to be a response to the original question.
in reply to a message by Ivayla
In medieval times there wern't that many first names and few if any surnames. A village could have dozens of Marys, Margarets, Johns, and Roberts. Nns became the only way to tell people apart so they got pretty loose with the derivations.
Robert --> Rob --> Hob --> Dob
Margaret --> Meg --> Peg --> Peggy
Mary --> Molly --> Polly
Edward --> Ed --> Ted --> Ned
John --> Jack or Jenkin ("-kin" means little)
Walter --> Wat
Anne --> Nan --> Nancy
This doesn't explain exactly how Mary turns into Molly. Just put it down to creativity and illiteracy. :-)
Robert --> Rob --> Hob --> Dob
Margaret --> Meg --> Peg --> Peggy
Mary --> Molly --> Polly
Edward --> Ed --> Ted --> Ned
John --> Jack or Jenkin ("-kin" means little)
Walter --> Wat
Anne --> Nan --> Nancy
This doesn't explain exactly how Mary turns into Molly. Just put it down to creativity and illiteracy. :-)
This message was edited 3/24/2008, 1:49 PM