Posted by Robert Hill on August 29, 2002 at 16:43:02 from 195.92.168.164 user eclrh.
In Reply to: Molly Turner's names posted by John Wilson on August 29, 2002 at 08:08:04:
Molly is a recognised diminutive of Mary (listed as such, for example, in
the section on personal names at the back of Chambers Dictionary).
Mops is clearly a highly familiar variant of Molly, possibly used only
by her brother. Thus both the Swallows and the Amazons seem to have
had mothers called Mary. With Mary Swainson and Maria Turner in the
stories too, AR seems not to have been very imaginative with his names.
Is Tom Dudgeon's mother's first name mentioned anywhere?
As I've mentioned before in these discussions, there seems to be a very
pronounced tendency for personal names which start out as shortened or
diminutive or informal or familiar variants of others, to come to be
regarded, and given by parents to their children, as if they were separate
names. Look at any list of names and their origins and you'll see examples.