Scotch-Irish-L Archives

Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 1998-11 > 0910676112


From: "David L. Carson" <>
Subject: re: one-last-try-Hamilton & Anne=Nancy
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 00:35:12 -0500


Nancy,

It was common to add a consonant at the beginning of some English names,
presumably because children could pronounce them more easily. Cases in
point are the common nicknames for EDWARD, NED and TED; for ELLEN, HELEN,
and ELEANOR, NELL; for ANN, NAN, ANSY and NANCY,

Cheers!

Kit Carson

>John, I don't know if this hint would help you--and maybe other
>Irish-type people. My legal name is Ann, but I have always been known as
>Nancy; same for my mother--if you look in the name books, Nancy is a
>diminutive of Ann--hard to believe, I know, but there it is. I have a
>Dublin-born friend down the street whose name is Anne; she too has been
>known as Nan and Nancy. My mother used to be astounded when she would hear
>of a family that had an Ann and a Nancy in the same family, as to her (a
>first-generation American), it was in fact the same name. Perhaps you have
>a last name for an Ann that could be your Nancy.
>I am married to a Hamilton whose Hamilton ancestors for the past 3-4
>generations were
>mainly from Ohio. Do any of these names look familiar?:
>g.g.grandfather: Milton Josiah Hamilton m. Katherine Lyons;
>son Joseph Boyd Hamilton m. Mary Alice Morris
>son Abner Morris Hamilton m. Lelia Irene Unger
>son Robert Clyde Hamilton m. Eleanor Cooper
>Other surnames connected with this family: Caldwell, Hill, McWilliams,
>Wilson, Brill, Hilbert, Unger. These Hamiltons are strictly from Scotland
>as far as I know.
>nancy

This thread: