Callie

My name is Callie, and it was my great-grandmother's name. As with her name, mine isn't short for anything. I have never heard of it being derived from Caroline. I have always seen and heard, from various sources, that it most likely stems from Greek and means some variation of "beautiful". The only other meaning I've come across was "lark", though I can't remember what language that was or where I saw it. It might have even been on this site but years ago, and has since been disproven. But the overwhelming consensus seems to be the Greek origin.

---

As such, it seems strange to claim it comes from Caroline. It's a big leap to go from "Karl" to "Karla" to "Kalla" to "Calla" to "Callie". Whereas in Greek it could have been "Kallos" to "Kali" to "Callie". Broadly speaking of course.

---

There is even the name "Kali" on this site, which I believe is a Hindu goddess. I think that one stems from "Kala", meaning time. While probably only phonetically similar, it still seems closer to Callie than Caroline.

---

What's more, as a diminutive, the name could come from numerous other sources. As others have already stated, it is known to be a diminutive of Callista and Calliope, among others (most with the Greek root). Caroline, meanwhile, has always had other diminutives that were favored over Callie (Carol, Lina, Linnie, Carrie etc.), though it is certainly true that in the English language diminutives often have nothing to do with original spelling (e.g. "Harry" for "Henry", or "Kit" for "Christopher").

---

TL/DR: Caroline is a beautiful name, but this seems a stretch to claim it as the definitive origin of Callie. Caroline comes from Charles, which ultimately comes from Karl, I believe, which I think is of Nordic or Germanic origin. It seems entirely removed from Callie, which has other, more straightforward possible origins at hand. Perhaps there truly is a connection to Caroline, but the other known connections and possible origins should be noted too.

---

Disclaimer: Not a linguist but have studied linguistics and have been a long-time follower of this site. Certainly not a professional, but I love learning about languages and etymologies so I'll just leave my two cents here for what it's worth.

My name is actually Callie, and it's not a diminutive of Caroline. I was always told that it was derived from the Greek word for beauty.

I have read in other books that this name comes from Callandra or Callista. Really happy to see it categorized here under Caroline instead. There is a danger with this nickname, and that is it's similarity to the word callipigean.

Callie can also be used as a nickname for Calanthe, a Greek name meaning ''most beautiful.''

Callie might also be a nickname for either Calypso or Calypsa. I love this name. I think it can also be used for males, even though less common.

It can also be spelled Calie like mine, though people are always misspelling or mispronunicating it. It's supposed to go that the people who moved from northern Ireland to southern Ireland were called calies by the original southern Irish.

My daughter is named Catherine Louise and we call her Callie.

I know that it is a Celtic name and it means of the forest. Other forms of it in Celtic and Irish are Calli and Callee. It is also used extensively in Hellas (Greece) as a short form of Calliope along with Callia.

Actually, the Irish and Scots Gaelic word for forest is "coille" (KUH-la) and I don't know of any word in the other Celtic languages (Manx, Welsh, Breton, or Cornish) that resemble the name. The old Irish form would be "caill" and the old Celtic word would be "kaldet".