In a message dated 6/30/2004 2:10:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time, CrimsonLies78@aol.com writes: I have noticed that almost every woman in the 1800s who was named Mary is nicknamed Polly No, you're not crazy, although I have no idea why. Perhaps there was more than one Mary and they nicknamed the other one Polly? With the Scots, they had a naming pattern, with the first son being named for the fathers father, the second for the mother's father etc. Their middle names were usually the maiden names of the mother and her family, then close friends. Most of them were called by their middle names instead of the first just to tell them apart. JO