The East Coast Nomenclature: Preppy Nicknames

What's a preppy name without an equally preppy nickname?

Preps across the East Coast are known for their interesting naming style of lastname-first names, but in reality, most preps only give an influential family member's name as a middle name. Most of your stereotypical preppy parents will name their child a conservative name – Thomas, William, Matthew, and David are good examples for baby boys, and on the pink side of things, Daphne, Sarah, Meredith, and Eleanor. These names are so well-used and loved, that families began to distinguish each member with a beautiful, seemingly unrelated nickname. 

Yes, John was nicknamed Jack, and Margaret was nicknamed Peggy, but preps are notorious for nicknames like Bunny, Skipper, Topsy, etc. So, without further ado, here is a list of preppy nicknames with some plausible full name suggestions for related preppy names if making the jump from Kathleen to Bunny is a bit difficult. (Also, in prepland, nothing is exclusive to males or females.)

Babe / Baby - Barbara, Beatrice, Roberta
Babs - Barbara
Bamie
Bay - Bailey, Bainbridge, Bayard, Baylor
Bif / Biff / Biffy - Balfour, Bancroft, Banfield, Bedford, Beresford, Bickford, Bradford, Buford
Bink / Binky
Birdie - Beatrice, Bridget, Roberta
Bissy - Elizabeth
Bitsy -  Bryan, Elizabeth, Tabitha
Bizzy - Elizabeth
Bonnie - Veronica
Boots / Bootsy
Briggs - Brigham, Brighton
Buck
Bud / Buddy
Buffy
Bumper
Bunny
Buzzie
Cap - Captain, Charles
Cece - Cassandra, Cecilia, Drusilla, Priscilla
Chad - Charles
Champ - Beauchamp
Chasey
Check
Chip - Charles, Christopher
Cookie - Cornelia, Cornelius
Chuck - Charles
Coco - Colleen, Concord, Constance, Consuelo, Cordelia, Corinne, Cornelia, Courtney
Cookie - Cornelia
Cork / Corky - Charles, Cornelius, Cornell
Cricket
Cuffy
Daisy
Dede
Del - Delano
Dibby
Duffy
Easy
Ellie
Espy - Stephanie
Fifi - Daphne, Felicity, Josephine, Ophelia, Seraphina, Sophia
Finn
Fitz - Fitzgeorge, Fitzhugh, Fitzjames, Fitzpatrick, Fitzsimmons, Fitzwilliam
Flopsy
Fodd - Forrest
Ford - anything that ends with '-ford'
Gay - Grace
Gib
Gig
Gigi - Eugenia, Gabrielle, Genevieve, Gertrude, Virginia
Hal - Hamilton, Henry
Ham - Hamilton
Harry - Harris, Harrison, Henry
Happy
Hays
Hilly - Hilary
Holtie
Hud - Hudson, Hugh
Izzy - Elizabeth, Isabella
Jack - John, Jonathan, Joseph
Jay - John
Jeb
Jock - John, Jonathan, Joseph
Kick
Kiki - Catherine, Kelly
Kim - Kermit, Kimberley
Kip - Catherine, Christopher, Kipling, Kipper, Kittredge
Kit - Catherine, Christian, Christine, Christopher, Kester, Kittredge
Knoxie - Knox
Lady
Liddy - Elizabeth, Lydia
Lilly - Elizabeth, Lillian
Linc - Lincoln
Liv
Liz
Lock
Lola
Lolly
Lucky
Lulu
Mac - anything that starts with '-mac'
Meg - Margaret, Megan, Morgan
Miffy
Mimi - Marion, Mary, Miriam
Mimsy - Marion, Mary, Miriam
Minnie
Missy - Melissa, Millicent
Misty
Mittie - Martha
Mitzie - Mariam, Martha, Mary
Molly - Mary, Muriel
Mopsy
Muffy - Martha, Mary, Matilda
Nan / Nanna - Anna
Ned - Edmond, Edward, Edwin, Theodore
Oatsie
Ollie
Peachy
Penn - Pendleton, Penelope, Peniloe, Penna, Penrose, Penleigh, Pennington, Peregrine, Prentice
Pinky - Pinkney, Pinxton
Pony
Pookie
Posy
Pussy
Quad - used for 'The Fourth'
Quint - used for 'The Fifth'
Rae - Rachel
Rex - Reginald, Ronald
Rip
Rocky - Veronica
Rosey - Roosevelt
Ruly - Ruliph
Rusty
Salt
Sarge
Scooter
Scout
Seb
Shep - Shepherd, Stephen
Sissy
Sistie
Skip / Skipp / Skipper
Slim
Sloppie
Sonny
Sperry - Spencer
Spooky
Sport
Tad / Tadd - Thaddeus, Theodore
Taff / Taffy - Andrew, Daphne, Taft, Tafton
Tag - Agatha, Agnes, Montague, Taggart
Tate - Elizabeth, Natalie, Tatum
Taze - Tazewell
Ted - Edward, Theodore
Tib / Tibby - Elizabeth, Tabitha
Tiff - Tiffany
Tig - Matilda
Tip / Tippy / Tipper  - Edward, Thomas, Thomasina, Tipton
Tiz
Todd - Talmadge, Thaddeus, Theodore, Todhunter
Topher - Christopher
Topper - Christopher
Topsy - Tiffany
Trip - typically used for 'The Third'
Tuck / Tucky - Nantucket, Patrick, Thackeray, Theodore, Thomas, Timothy, Tucker
Tuffy
Tug - Arthur, Augustus, Brutus, Tugman, Tugwell
Van - any name that includes "van", as in Vanderbilt or Van Rensselaer
Wash - Washington
Web - Webster
Wells - Wellesley, Wellington
Win - Winifred, Winslet, Winslow, Winston, Winthrop
Wog
Zippy - Elizabeth, Seraphina, Stephanie

The Great Migration - Puritan Ships

Halsall, William F. Arrival of the Winthrop’s Ships in Boston Harbor. 1880. N.p.

Besides the famous (or should I say infamous?) Mayflower carrying Separatist passengers, there was a series of ships that brought Puritans to America in the seventeenth century.

The Recovery

In the Spring of 1633 (31 March to be exact), the Recovery set sail from Weymouth, Dorsetshire for New England, captained by Master Gabriel Cornish. Among its passengers were six Thomases, six Johns, two Roberts, a David, a Jonathan, a Daniel, a Joseph, a William, an Anthony, an Elizabeth, a Mary, and a Sarah. The oddeset name on board this ship was Ezechia, which was a variant of the name Hezekiah. 

The Elizabeth

The ship left port in mid-April 1634 from Ipswich, Suffolk, bound for New England. It took the ship six months to reach its destination, and the ship was captained by Master William Andrewes. It's not surprising that the most popular names on board were John (x15) and Elizabeth (x11), followed by eight occurrences of Thomas and eight occurences of Mary. Other classics included Henry (x5), Richard (x4), Isaac (x3) [includes variation Isaacke], Robert (x3), William (x3), Samuel (x3), Joseph (x2), George (x2), Sarah (x5), Susan (x4), Martha (x4), Anne (x5) [includes variantion Anna], and Abigail (x2). Less common occurrences of one passenger were Edmond, Martin, Daniel, Edward, Philip, Rose, Elinor, Bridget, Katherine, Rebecca, and Lydia. The most eccentric names on board were Thurston, which occured twice in father and son, Humphry, Abraham, Ursula, and Phebe. 

Other passengers on Puritan ships:

Just (Houlding, 23), Darcas (Rose, 2), Ffayth (Newell, 14), Wilbroe (Cooper, 42), Barbarie (Ruggels, 30), Augustine (Clement, --), Hercules (Woodman, --), Zacheus (Courtis, --), Etenetus (Olney, --), Isbell (Tuttell, 70), Sycillie (Clark, 16), Palmer (Tingley, 21), Eglin (Hanford, 46), Randolphus (Elmes, 15), Clement (Bates, 40), Jervice (Gold, 30), Jersula (Greenoway, 32), Hopestill (Ffoster, 14), Philemon (Dalton, 45), Abram (Ffleming, 40), Aymes (Gladwell, 16), Josias (Cobbett, 21), Hilary (Carter, 27), Gamaliel (Bewmont, 21), Caleb (Carr, 11), Bennett (Morecock, 16), Merriall (Saltonstall, 22), Tomazin (Carpenter, 35), Dyonis (Taylor, 48), Constant (Wood, 12), Michelaliel (Monnings, 3), Cesara (Covell, 15), Annis (Almy, 8), Geo (Cocke, 25), Theophilus (Jones, 3), Thomaxin (Manson, 14), Remembrance (Tybott, 28), Salomon (Martin, 16), Ephraim (Howe, 9), Obediah (Hawes, 6mo)

Any of these names peak your interest? I'll do a follow up post for other passengers on other Puritan/Pilgrim ships and the origins of some of these names. 

Pious Puritan Pilgrims of the Mayflower

Good afternoon, name hunters! This is Mandy Dee in her first blog post about names. Today's post is about Pilgrim and Purtian names along with some history behind the whole ordeal. Hope you enjoy and find names just as fascinating as I do!

To start out, in the early seventeenth century, many English citizens (as well as a few Dutch) left their Anglican world to escape persecution. They were puritans and separatists, or those who wanted to "purify" or "separate" from the Church of England for it's Catholic similitude. Over a hundred passengers boarded the Mayflower, sailing off to the New World and landing on the noteworthy Plymouth Colony in Cape Cod, off the coast of modern-day Massachusettes. Over the next hundred years (and many more years to come), English settlers came to Colonies in hope of a better life– which is basically what our country is founded on. These people were very conservative and believed in the Puritan or Protestant work ethic, which is to work hard, save your money, and invest in a quality education. Also, these people were highly religious and belived in virtues, hence the virtuous names. A list below are names from those passangers as well as many settlers in the New World.
Side Note: Some of the names below come from a genealogy book my grandfather received, detailing the lives of my ancestors in the 13 Colonies, so some of the names cannot be found on the passenger list for the Mayflower. 

Boys:
Aaron
Ambrose
Amos
Bartholomew
Christopher
Degory
Edmund
Edward
Elias
Francis
George
Gilbert
Giles
Henry
Isaac
James
Jasper
John
Jonas
Jonathan
Joseph
Matthew
Myles
Nathaniel
Oceanus
Peregrine
Peter
Resolved
Richard
Robert
Rodger
Samuel
Solomon
Stephen
Thomas
William
Wrestling
Zedekiah

Girls:
Abigail
Alice
Ann
Catherine
Constance
Damaris
Desire
Dorothy
Elinor
Elizabeth
Ellen
Hannah
Hepzibah
Humility
Jemima
Joan
Love
Lydia
Maria
Mary
Priscilla
Remember
Ruth
Rose
Sarah
Susanna
Truelove

Along with these names, last names are quite possible for naming your child, including Bradford, Brester, Carver (as opposed to the ever-popular Carter), Fletcher, Gardiner, and Ely. I recommend last names as boy names if you are planning to go this route, although one last name, Story, could be possible for a little girl. In all, many of these names can still be heard today and some are even new gems just waiting to be discovered!