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ArchivesWhy is Daisy a nn used for Margaret?
Okay, it's not that common, but I know of at least 2 instances where someone with the given name Margaret has been called Daisy:
1) In 'Little Women' - this is more of an assumption than cold, hard fact, but Meg & John's daughter is called Daisy, and I assumed it was a nn for Margaret, after Meg. The other twin is named after John, and given the nn Demijohn, or Demi (little John).
2) I was just reading in the paper about this new diary that's been published, about an Australian schoolgirl sent away to finishing school by her stepmother. Her name was Margaret, but she was also called Daisy.
For the longest time, I thought Margaret meant Daisy, and have been very confused about this whole issue, ever since I found out that Margaret actually means "pearl".
Please explain!
1) In 'Little Women' - this is more of an assumption than cold, hard fact, but Meg & John's daughter is called Daisy, and I assumed it was a nn for Margaret, after Meg. The other twin is named after John, and given the nn Demijohn, or Demi (little John).
2) I was just reading in the paper about this new diary that's been published, about an Australian schoolgirl sent away to finishing school by her stepmother. Her name was Margaret, but she was also called Daisy.
For the longest time, I thought Margaret meant Daisy, and have been very confused about this whole issue, ever since I found out that Margaret actually means "pearl".
Please explain!
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Replies
I always thought it was too - ever since Little Women :o)
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Aha!
At last it all makes sense. Thanks for the help, guys!
At last it all makes sense. Thanks for the help, guys!
1
Sorry, it's a Scots/English nicknaming habit - terribly important here, nicknames show love, affection, acceptance and were traditionally used by your inner circle of friends and family. My husband (5'4", former runner, rugby winger and Formula 1 driver) was dubbed 'Mini' for the Mini car - small but fast, get it? LOL He's nearing 50 and still called 'Min' by everyone we know intimately. I call him 'M' because he'd slowed down by the time I met him ;o)
You have Margaret but she's a wee thing and the name's too big. So you start playing with sounds and letters. So there's Maggie then Meggie then Meg. Or there's Margie and Margarie and Margerie and stew it a while and you get Marjorie. And since in Scots Gaelic Margaret is Maighread you get Maighrie and Maisie and Maisy and whoa, hold up, Daisy!
Margaret was in use as an northern qqqqqEnglish dialect word for the daisy even before the French adopted Marguerite in the 19th C. to refer to the large, cultivated variety of daisy. The French equivalent, Marguerite, was imported into English just in time to catch that turn-of-the-century (late 1800's, early 1900's) vogue for girls named for flowers.
So Daisy was a pun, from the English margaret daisy and the French marguerite daisy and the similarity with traditional Scottish/northern English nn Maisie for Margaret. And in the late 1800's it became a 'cute' way to honour a relative named Margaret without repeating the name which seems to have a love/hate response in the general public.
Devon
You have Margaret but she's a wee thing and the name's too big. So you start playing with sounds and letters. So there's Maggie then Meggie then Meg. Or there's Margie and Margarie and Margerie and stew it a while and you get Marjorie. And since in Scots Gaelic Margaret is Maighread you get Maighrie and Maisie and Maisy and whoa, hold up, Daisy!
Margaret was in use as an northern qqqqqEnglish dialect word for the daisy even before the French adopted Marguerite in the 19th C. to refer to the large, cultivated variety of daisy. The French equivalent, Marguerite, was imported into English just in time to catch that turn-of-the-century (late 1800's, early 1900's) vogue for girls named for flowers.
So Daisy was a pun, from the English margaret daisy and the French marguerite daisy and the similarity with traditional Scottish/northern English nn Maisie for Margaret. And in the late 1800's it became a 'cute' way to honour a relative named Margaret without repeating the name which seems to have a love/hate response in the general public.
Devon
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