Google gives quite a few results, but none associated with the Boer War (beyond a couple saying that Winston Churchill's participation in it went some way to explain his subsequent topsy-turvy career). A present-day result is the Topsy Foundation, a charity concerned with assistance to AIDS victims and their families. Otherwise, zilch. The name is variously said to mean the girl is "tops", or to be a diminutive of "topsail", though why on earth (or on the water!) anyone should want to call a girl after a sail is beyond me -- perhaps a sailing expert can elucidate this. Perhaps there is something in it, two different entries say "topsail" and only one says "tops". I can think of no reason why a town in South Africa -- on either side of the Boer War -- would be called that. Topsy, as I suppose everyone of my age knows but youngsters may not, is a character in the US author Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" -- a little black slave girl who says she wasn't born, she "just growed". On 7 Oct 2011, at 5:40 PM, bruce wrote: > Hi Steve, > > I just might be wrong but I've never heard of town called Topsy in SA > > Regards > > Bruce > > -----Original Message----- > From: south-africa-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:south-africa-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Ezzy > Sent: 07 October 2011 08:21 > To: SOUTH-AFRICA@rootsweb.com > Subject: [SOUTH-AFRICA] Topsy > > Hello > > I had a Great Aunty whose nick name was Topsy, and I have heard > this was the > name of a South African town prominent around the time of the Boer > War. > Can anyone tell me if anything about the origin of Topsy > Thanks > Steve > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SOUTH-AFRICA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SOUTH-AFRICA- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > Andrew Rodger rodgera@audioio.com