Josephine “Posy”
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We have a four-year-old Josephine, and her nickname is Posy. It totally suits her. I don’t feel it’s infantile and too cutesy at all. My great grandmother’s name was Josephine, so we named our daughter after her, but I disliked all the “Jo,” “Josie,” “Joey,” etc nicknames since they’re all fairly popular. We’re big on nicknames in my family (I’m Margaret, nn Maggie) so we knew we wanted to find a nickname we would mainly use for her. In my research, when I came across Posy as a nn for Josephine, I fell in love with it. It’s definitely more of a popular nickname in Europe than in the US where we live, and I love that it isn’t heard as often here. It is an adorable name for a little girl, and if ever our Posy decides she wants to be called something else, she has options. This is why we chose Josephine over just Posy as her main name. Also, Josephine at least contains the letters P, O, and S as a start to the nn Posy. In this way, it makes a little bit of sense as a nn to me. I mean, there are all sorts of weird nicknames out there; James nn Jim; Margaret nn Peggy; Richard nn Dick, just to name a few… How is Posy for Josephine so incredibly confusing and far-fetched for people? Everyone who has met our daughter and/or heard her mn and nn has loved it. They could just be being polite, but I feel their reactions have been genuine. Anyway, sorry for the long response. I simply wanted to share our experience with these names, let you know that we’re total fans of the Josephine nn Posy combination, and we’ve only had overwhelmingly positive experiences and responses so far.
I went to elementary school with one, actually. I was surprised to learn that her full name was Josephine since she was only ever called Posy. it's a bit less obvious, but I don't think it's too silly.
It’s really cool to hear a real life example of it being used! :)
Posy is silly, except on a Pony or kitten. But it's too infantile on a human imo.
Adorable! I love the name Posy, as a full name or a nn, but I don’t understand how Posy can be a nn for Josephine. That said, if it means you get to use Posy, then sure!
It’s nice to see another Posy fan!
No, I love Posy. But I like it on its own, as a word name.
Josephine nn Posy doesn't work for me. It is one of those nicknames that made sense hundreds of years ago when there were so many people with the same name that you had to make up more unrelated nicknames. But Josephine "Posy" is like Mary nn "Molly", it is just too far fetched and hasn't been done in way too long so people would get confused.
To me it is different from Elizabeth nn Libby or Katherine nn Kitty because these nicknames have been used over the decades so people get the connection but Josephine nn Posy is too unusual for people to connect them to each other.
Fieke doesn't work in English speaking countries and I dislike the sound.
Josephine is okay, I dislike Jo and Josie so I would avoid it.
Sephie makes more sense to me.
But if you hate all the nicknames I would avoid it. Peers will call her Josie or Jo at some point.
Josephine nn Posy doesn't work for me. It is one of those nicknames that made sense hundreds of years ago when there were so many people with the same name that you had to make up more unrelated nicknames. But Josephine "Posy" is like Mary nn "Molly", it is just too far fetched and hasn't been done in way too long so people would get confused.
To me it is different from Elizabeth nn Libby or Katherine nn Kitty because these nicknames have been used over the decades so people get the connection but Josephine nn Posy is too unusual for people to connect them to each other.
Fieke doesn't work in English speaking countries and I dislike the sound.
Josephine is okay, I dislike Jo and Josie so I would avoid it.
Sephie makes more sense to me.
But if you hate all the nicknames I would avoid it. Peers will call her Josie or Jo at some point.
I don’t hate Josie, I’m just… totally neutral on it, haha. I do dislike Jo though, which is weird since it’s an essential component to the name!
...Fieke wouldn’t be usable here...
It depends entirely on where 'here' is. It would be quite useable in my family.
It depends entirely on where 'here' is. It would be quite useable in my family.
Okay? I was talking about where I live.
This message was edited 9/22/2021, 4:44 AM
Posy might be cute for a kid, but it feels too infantile.
Well nicknames don’t have to be permanent! :)
I feel like I'm about to melt from adorableness.
I do think it’s silly and I know it’s a real nickname for Josephine, but I never understood why.
I think probably because it rhymes with Josie!
It doesn't rhyme with Josie in all accents - in mine Josie is JO-see, whereas Posy is PO-zee. I know that some people say the 's' in Josie as more of a /z/ than an /s/, which would make them rhyme.
I know it doesn’t rhyme perfectly in every accent but I still think PO-zee and JO-see are close enough to explain it.
I like Josephine and the nickname Posy. However Posy might be a little childish for the teen years and older. I think if name a child with a long name (like Josephine), the child eventually gets to pick their nicknames and what they're called. I also think Josephine doesn't necessarily need a nickname.
To sum it up, Josephine and Posy are fine, but your kid may chose some other form of Josephine to go by.
To sum it up, Josephine and Posy are fine, but your kid may chose some other form of Josephine to go by.
Sure, I know that :) Thanks!
Yes, I think Posy is silly, and very childish, even more so than Poppy.
If I was in your shoes I'd just keep Josephine for a mn.
If I was in your shoes I'd just keep Josephine for a mn.