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. :-)
This message was edited 3/24/2008, 1:49 PM