Posted by John Richardson on 12/09/99 from 195.44.201.214 via proxy proxy.mcmail.com:
In Reply to: Re: The Walker Family Home Address posted by Robert Hill on December 07, 1999 at 12:51:27:
Reading Robert's comment:
I remember seeingthat some people didn't realise that Molly was a variant of Mary.(I think there's a tendency for names which were originally contractionsor familiar versions of others to come to be regarded as separatenames, and given to children as such.)Peggy is well-known to be a version of Margaret (presumably it arose via Meg) and its use by our Peggy requires no explanation
...I was amused to recall an embarassing experience of mine as a child. A school teacher was commenting on the Margaret/Peggy variant, and I piped up saying that Nancy was a variant of Ruth. "I don't think so", he told me. He didn't spot why I might have made this link, or what had prompted this...
I think even then I abandoned my mistake (already four years old!) only slowly - believing us TARS (avant la lettre) were possessed of superior knowledge (and AR had certainly enriched my vocabulary to the frequent bewilderment of my peers).