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Re: the name molly -origins
by Llewella (penguiny7)
9/15/2009, 11:56 AM
in reply to a message by mikheala
Molly is a nickname for Mary because in the Middle Ages some names that had Rs were changed to another consonant for nicknames because the Anglo-Saxons couldn't pronounce Rs very well.This is how we get Molly from Mary, as well as Sally from Sarah, Hal from Harry, Dolly from Dorothy, Bob from Robert, Dick from Richard, etc.
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- Lumia   +3
9/15/2009, 12:52 PM
Yes, that. The similarity of some letters/sounds between Molly and maol/mael is a pure coincidence. This type of coincidences is what originated a lot of wrong equivalences between English names and Irish names (Sara/Sorcha, Charles/Cathal...).
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- mikheala (guest)   +2
9/15/2009, 2:34 PM
ok. that makes sense. molly is an english name then. i thought it was irish. it's really confusing. there is alot of confusion about the name molly out there on the web. thanks again for all of the help.
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- Lumia   +1
9/15/2009, 3:46 PM
Molly is an English name, but it is also the anglicisation of the Irish Mailti and Mallaidh, nicknames for Máire.
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- Llewella (penguiny7)
9/15/2009, 4:36 PM
Which still bring it back to Mary etymologically anyway.Man, this thread is really long!
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