"Tristan" now feminine given name

[Sally Donlon]

As far as Grandpa Jack [Griffin] was concerned, my mother (whose name
is Margaret)  was always "Fritz" and her sister (whose name is Helen)
was "Mickey."  I've never called the latter anything but "Aunt Mickey."

On the other hand, there's all those masculine nicknames from the
Hoboken neighborhood my mom grew up in: Christy [Christopher]; Paddy
or Patty [Patrick]; Julie [Julian]; Sally [Salvador]; Pauly [Paul];
Angie [Angelo and Angus].

sally



On Feb 24, 2006, at 11:15 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> In the late '70s I also knew a "Marla" whose preferred nickname was
> "Mickey."
>
>   JL
>
> "Joanne M. Despres" <jdespres at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Joanne M. Despres"
> Subject: Re: "Tristan" now feminine given name
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> Of course, plenty of female names end up being cut back to male
> names in their nickname form. For example, I've heard women
> named "Georgette" referred to as "George." There's also "Sam" for
> "Samantha," "Bert" for "Bertha" or "Roberta," "Marty" for "Martha,"
> "Jo" for "Joanne," etc., etc.
>
> Joanne
>
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