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Here is the link to today's column. It is remarkable to me how Nancy was way more popular in the United States than in Britain for well over two centuries. A few decades ago the British name expert Leslie Dunkling remarked that it was amazing Nancy had not yet returned to popularity in England despite its being a top ten name in the 1940s and 1950s in the USA Well, it has finally happened -- for the first time in centuries Nancy is more common for babies in the UK now than in the USA, back in the England and Wales top 100 while almost out of the USA top 1000. However, it remains to be seen if Nancy in the UK can reach anywhere near the popularity there it had in the USA during the Baby Boom years.
https://omaha.com/life-entertainment/local/cleveland-evans-its-no-mystery-how-nancy-rose-in-popularity/article_bf68366c-378b-11ee-8d3a-079f77b2858f.html
https://omaha.com/life-entertainment/local/cleveland-evans-its-no-mystery-how-nancy-rose-in-popularity/article_bf68366c-378b-11ee-8d3a-079f77b2858f.html
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Replies
Mine is not dialect for my, rather my is a reduced form of mine. For a while my and mine co-existed like a and an, mine/myn before vowels and my before consonants. Even after my became the standard form in formal speech, mine sometimes returns before vowels, e.g. "mine eyes have seen the glory ...". So Nancy Nell and Ned are examples of rebracketing like adder, apron and newt.
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Thanks for this article Prof. Evans. I enjoyed your coverage of the name from its origin to present day. I love the Nancy Drew franchise but I’m so happy that terrible show is no longer running.
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As interesting as ever; you may be amused to know that the only South African Nancy I've ever known or heard of is a former colleague named, yes, Nancy Ann. She signs her emails NAnn. I'm delighted that Nancy is gaining popularity anywhere at all; it's been a favourite of mine for ages.
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