Sorry. This was meant to be a response to the original question.
In medieval times there wern't that many first names and few if any surnames. A village could have dozens of Marys, Margarets, Johns, and Roberts. Nns became the only way to tell people apart so they got pretty loose with the derivations. Robert --> Rob --> Hob --> DobMargaret --> Meg --> Peg --> PeggyMary --> Molly --> PollyEdward --> Ed --> Ted --> NedJohn --> Jack or Jenkin ("-kin" means little)Walter --> WatAnne --> Nan --> NancyThis doesn't explain exactly how Mary turns into Molly. Just put it down to creativity and illiteracy. :-)

This message was edited 3/24/2008, 1:49 PM

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Molly and Mary??  ·  Abbye (Logan)  ·  3/20/2008, 12:21 PM
Re: Molly and Mary??  ·  Ivayla  ·  3/20/2008, 1:54 PM
Sorry. This was meant to be a response to the original question.  ·  Bear  ·  3/24/2008, 1:48 PM