For those of you who may have these troublesome Pollys (Marys). Betty Pace --------- Forwarded message ---------- From: SPENCETOP@aol.com To: ROWANROOTS-L@rootsweb.com Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 07:56:14 EST Subject: [RowanRoots] Mary Polly Message-ID: <d.10e28131.27cfa0ee@aol.com> Hi List, While I am no expert to be sure, years ago I was given the explanation that being nicknamed Polly was due to the fact that one's mother or mother-in-law also had the same given name, and until the elder Mary ( or whomever ) was deceased, the younger lady was known as "Polly" to distinguish between the two. In one of my families, the mother Mary had 2 sons who married Marys. The elder son's wife became Polly and the younger's spouse became Pollie in all documents I have found. This proved true in many of my lines, especially with the name Mary. ( Probably the reason so many women were named Mary, was the favored Biblical name of Jesus' mother, Mary.) I do not remember where I first learned of that. I do not know if it is true, but you may want to look at the names of the mothers and mothers-in-law, even a favored Aunt being the same given name for clues. If anyone else has an explanation, I would love to see it. The use of Polly for Mary seems to go back hundreds of years and in different locales for people of different ethnic backgrounds. Carolyn in NC ==== ROWANROOTS Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe from RowanRoots-L send a message from the address you subscribed from to RowanRoots-L-Request@Rootsweb.com with the word unsubscribe in the message body. ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

Betty: My 2-cents'-worth: The Oxford Companion to the English Language lists "Polly" as the common nickname for "Mary" AND "Peggy" for "Margaret". Martha Washington was called "Patsy" by her close friends, according to family correspondence, so I think we can assume, unless we learn otherwise, that girls with names beginning with "M" had common nicknames beginning with "P", probably from the 15th Century, and that they were used under the circumstances your friend has described. Has anyone ever heard what "Pansy" is the common nickname for? I am out of "M" names. At 07:57 AM 3/2/2001 +0000, you wrote: >For those of you who may have these troublesome Pollys (Marys). >Betty Pace > >--------- Forwarded message ---------- >From: SPENCETOP@aol.com >To: ROWANROOTS-L@rootsweb.com >Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 07:56:14 EST >Subject: [RowanRoots] Mary Polly >Message-ID: <d.10e28131.27cfa0ee@aol.com> > >Hi List, > While I am no expert to be sure, years ago I was given the explanation >that >being nicknamed Polly was due to the fact that one's mother or >mother-in-law >also had the same given name, and until the elder Mary ( or whomever ) >was >deceased, the younger lady was known as "Polly" to distinguish between >the >two. In one of my families, the mother Mary had 2 sons who married Marys. >The >elder son's wife became Polly and the younger's spouse became Pollie in >all >documents I have found. > >This proved true in many of my lines, especially with the name Mary. ( >Probably the reason so many women were named Mary, was the favored >Biblical >name of Jesus' mother, Mary.) > >I do not remember where I first learned of that. I do not know if it is >true, >but you may want to look at the names of the mothers and mothers-in-law, >even >a favored Aunt being the same given name for clues. > >If anyone else has an explanation, I would love to see it. The use of >Polly >for Mary seems to go back hundreds of years and in different locales for >people of different ethnic backgrounds. > >Carolyn in NC > >