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Romy, Britta, Thora & Maret: Contracted Names

October 5, 2012 By appellationmountain 19 Comments

English: Originally for the article Contractio...

Photo credit: Wikipedia

I love an unexpected nickname.

My daughter has one.  Many of the names on my shortlists for possible baby #3 have them, too.  My son almost had one, but he’s decided it isn’t for him, thanks very much.

Yes, they can be inconvenient – there can be confusion on school rosters and at the pediatrician’s office.  There may be gossip and eye-rolling.  (They named her what – but they’re calling her that?)  And if you’re not a nickname person, well, there’s no way you’re going to go for this idea.

But even if nicknames aren’t your thing, this makes for a fun exercise: take a more elaborate name, drop a few letters to arrive at another possible given name, while retaining the same first and last letter.

They can solve problems, too – if you prefer your names short and sweet, but are trying to honor a loved one with a lengthy appellation, this technique could work.  And if you hate, hate, hate your name and all of the obvious nicknames, well … maybe this will help you think out of the box about options.

One possible hurdle: a few of these contract to some great possibilities, if you’re willing to completely forget spelling.  Those are marked with a *, and could possibly create more headaches than those that remain faithful to the original spelling.  Or not.  Our daughter has the least intuitive of nicknames ever, and it hasn’t posed a (significant) problem in four years.

So whether you’re a nickname fan or not, try your hand at inventing new contracted names!

Anastasia – Asia

Arcadia – Adia, Aria

Barrett – Bett, Bette*

Beatrix – Bix

Brigitta – Britta

Brooklyn – Bryn

Calisto – Clio

Carolina – Calla, Cara, Cora

Elodie – Edie

Estella – Ella

Galina – Gala

Giovanna – Gia, Gianna

Josephine – Jean*, Joan*

Juliet – Jet, Jett

Julietta – Jetta

Lenora – Lena, Lora

Margaret – Maret

Marianna – Mara, Mia, Mina

Mariette – Maret, Marit, Miette

Matilda – Mila, Milla

Monica – Mica, Mona

Nicola – Nica

Noella – Nola

Penelope – Polly*, Poppy*

Rebecca – Reba

Romilly – Romy

Rosemary – Romy, Rory

Serena – Sera

Tatiana – Tania

Teresa – Tera, Tessa, Tressa

Theodora – Thea, Theda, Thora

Valencia – Via

Veronica, Victoria – Vica

Veronika, Viktoria – Vika

Victoria – Vira

Victoria – Vita

What do you think of contracted names?  Can you come up with others to add to this list?

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Comments

  1. Yasmine says

    October 9, 2012 at 12:51 PM

    Here’s a bunch!

    Scarlett – Lottie, Carly, Callie*
    Selena – Elle, Lena, Selah*
    Evangeline – Eve, Angie, Angel, Angela, Lena, Elle, Annie
    Penelope – Penny, Peppy*, Nell*, Ellie, Lo*
    Victoria – Vicky, Tori, Ria*, Vika
    Abigail – Abby, Gail, Ali
    Lorelei – Lori, Lola, Elle, Rory*
    Temperance – Tempy, Em, Peri*, Annie
    Georgina – Georgie, Gigi*, Gina, Ginny
    Alexandra – Alex, Alexa, Lexi, Lexia, Andi, Annie, Ally
    Matilda – Mattie, Mia, Millie, Milda, Mila*
    Isabella – Isla*, Izzie, Bella, Abi
    Elis(/z)abeth – Elle, Lisa, Liza, Beth, Elsie, Libi, Eliza, Bessie, Bethel, Lizzie
    Susannah – Sue, Suzie, Anna, Sookie*, Hanna
    Amelia – Amy, Millie, Mia, Lia, Mel, Elle
    Brittany – Brie, Britta*, Tania, Annie
    Miriam – Miri, Mara*, Minnie, Mia, Amie
    Lorraine – Lore, Lori, Raine*
    Alana – Ally, Lana, Lainey, Ana
    Katherine – Kate, Kathy, Erin, Thea, Ria, Rina, Kat, Kitty, Hero*?
    Charlotte – Charly, Ari, Lottie, Carly, Cara
    Gabrielle – Gabby, Abi, Brie, Brielle, Ellie
    Margaret – Marie, Marg, Ari, Mara, Mia, Maya*
    Louisa – Lou, Lisa, Lulu, Lia
    Eleanor – Ellie, Len, Lea, Nora, Ellen, Nelly*
    Ophelia – Elle, Lia, Fifi, Fay*
    Madeleine – Maddie, Addie, Adele, Dell*, Elle, Elaine, Lainey

    Obviously some of these aren’t very unusual!

    Reply
  2. Fran says

    October 6, 2012 at 2:34 PM

    All my girls have shortened versions of their three syllable names that we use on a daily basis, the youngest of which was born on Tuesday. She’s Romy for the moment, full name Hermione but it’s possible that her shortened name may change as she grows up.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      October 7, 2012 at 1:50 PM

      Congratulations on little Romy!

      Reply
    • appellationmountain says

      October 7, 2012 at 7:44 PM

      Hermione! Oh, I love it – congratulations! And Romy is a great short form …

      Reply
  3. Kristin says

    October 6, 2012 at 10:07 AM

    Margareta nn Meta.

    Reply
    • appellationmountain says

      October 7, 2012 at 7:46 PM

      Love it!

      Reply
  4. elisabeth says

    October 6, 2012 at 9:43 AM

    One of the names high on my shortlist of #2 had been a girl was Rosemary, with a nickname of Romy or Rory. I love cute contractions.

    Reply
  5. Emily says

    October 5, 2012 at 6:44 PM

    On my and my husband’s list is
    Minerva- Mina

    Reply
  6. Julie says

    October 5, 2012 at 5:57 PM

    Wilhelmina> Mina, Willa
    Amelia > Milly
    Adriane > Rayna
    Margaret > Marta
    Conrad > Cord
    Nicholas > Nils
    Noelle > Nell
    And one in honor of yesterday’s NOTD John > Hans.

    Reply
  7. Bernadette says

    October 5, 2012 at 5:32 PM

    I remember in the movie _Practical Magic_, one of the characters’ names was “Bridget” but went by the nickname “Jet” which I always loved.

    Reply
  8. Megalady says

    October 5, 2012 at 2:04 PM

    Theresa “Tessa” and Penelope “Poppy” are both among my top three names for a girl. I think they are gorgeous. I also liked Penelope “Peppy” for a while (and Pepita).

    Others I like:
    Rosalie “Rosie”
    Cassidy “Cady”
    Aurora “Aura”
    Esperanza “Enza”
    Bertram “Bram”
    Durante “Dante”
    Hawthorn “Han”

    Persephone “Penny” also works, though I might prefer Ephie/Effie.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      October 5, 2012 at 5:41 PM

      Abraham “Bram” is one of my favorites, but Bertram is pretty awesome as well!

      Reply
  9. Awkward Turtle says

    October 5, 2012 at 11:58 AM

    Ginny for Giovanna, Georgina or Georgiana.
    Garret for Margaret (kind of???)
    Opal for Ophelia (also kind of???)

    Reply
  10. Margaret says

    October 5, 2012 at 11:09 AM

    Asia as a nickname for Anastasia is kind of fantastic! One you didn’t mention is Vera for Veronica, which I adore. I’ve also recently become a fan of Rory for Gregory. (Although it doesn’t start with a G, I think it still counts as a contracted name.

    Reply
  11. nmp233 says

    October 5, 2012 at 10:42 AM

    I have a Rosemarie who goes by Romy and a Genevieve who goes by Neve. We also just met a little girl named Miriam who goes by Miki.

    Reply
  12. Averella says

    October 5, 2012 at 9:48 AM

    I’v wondered recently if you could get away with Cal as a nn for Charles. For the girls I’v thought Mara for Margaret would be awesome, along with Eve for Genevieve, and possibly Jewel for Jemimiah (jem=gem=jewel) but that might be to much of a stretch

    Reply
  13. British American says

    October 5, 2012 at 8:00 AM

    I know a baby Victoria with the nickname Vita. 🙂 I like it so much better than Vicky or Tori.

    Reply
  14. annamaria says

    October 5, 2012 at 2:50 AM

    Georgiana = Gina, Gia

    Reply

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