Why is the name 'Peggy' short for the name of 'Margaret'?

Answer 1

yep

A short way to explain is by the following poem:

In search from A to Z they passed,
And "Marguerita" chose at last;
But thought it sound far more sweet
To call the baby "Marguerite."
When grandma saw the little pet,
She called her "darling Margaret."
Next uncle Jack and cousin Aggie
Sent cup and spoon to "little Maggie."
And grandpapa the right must beg
To call the lassie "bonnie Meg."
From "Marguerita" down to "Meg,"
And now she's simply "little Peg."

I also found this .......

A: “Margaret” has spawned a bewildering variety of nicknames, from “Margot” to “Daisy.”

The name itself is a variant of the obsolete word “margarite,” meaning “pearl” or “precious stone.” It is apparently of ancient Asian origin, filtered through Greek, Latin, Teutonic and Old French.

It became a very popular given name in medieval England and Scotland, where it was conventionally taken to mean “pearl.”

Since “Margaret” is quite a mouthful, nicknames soon spun off from it. Perhaps the strangest is “Daisy.” It’s a pun dating to a time when “margaret” was also an English slang term for the ox-eye daisy. It became an independent first name during the 1900s fad for flower-based names.

More common were such shortenings and diminutions as “Maggie,” “Meggie” and “Meg.” Some etymologists say that the diminutive “Maggie” form came first, with “Meg” following as a shortened form; others say the shortened form “Meg” came first, with “Maggie” and “Meggie” following as diminutive forms. Nobody really knows.

What we do know is that “Peg” is an altered form of “Meg,” and “Peggy” is an altered form of “Meggie.”

“Meggie” and “Meg” were distinctively Scottish nicknames, so “Peg” and “Peggy” probably were, too.

But no one knows why the “M” was changed to a “P.” (A theory about Celtic-language influence has proven fruitless.) They are similar consonant sounds; maybe the change was inspired by a nonsense-rhyme nickname like “Meggy-Peggy.”

Interestingly, the same morphology can be seen in nicknames for “Mary.” “Molly” is a pet form of “Mary”; “Polly” is a variant form of “Molly,” with the “M” also mysteriously changed to a “P.”

It’s unusual for a nickname to become an independent first name by itself. But “Peg” and “Peggy” have done so (apparently first occurring in the U.S.), no doubt aided by their lack of clear connection to “Margaret.”

Answer 2

Margaret Nicknames

Answer 3

What Is Peggy Short For

Answer 4

most ladies in the early 1900 s who sold clothes pegs round the doors where called Margaret hence the name peggy

Answer 5

I don't know but would also like to find out. i remember a lot of older margarets being called Peggy but never knew why. I have even seen Margaret (Peggy) written on gravestones. I'll check back later to see if you've got any answers

Answer 6

peggy short margaret

Answer 7

Cos Meg (Meggy) is the diminuitive of Margaret, and Peg (Peggy) was also used.

Answer 8

Probably a derivation of the shortened name Meg.
Incidentally, answerer Barbara R, there is a short name for George. A few I know are known as Dod (maybe this is only in Scotland).

Answer 9

I think that some of the name variations might have resulted from people naming their children after themselves... Thus, the father, William, was called Will and his son, William Jr., was called Bill for short. Women were also named after their mothers in our recent past.

William=Will (the father)=Bill (the son)
Richard=Rick=Dick
Robert=Rob=Bob
Edward=Ed=Ted
Elizabeth=Lizzie (the mother)=Libby (the daughter)

At least, this is what I have observed researching my family's genealogy.

Answer 10

It's actually from the Gaelic Peigi, which I think arose from using Meg as a contraction for Margaret. Gaelic has this odd thing called mutation that goes on with initial letters, especially in the feminine, so that they change their sounds according to case. I can't see that that alone is the reason for M changing to P, but they are both labial consonants (that is, formed with the lips) and so are related (at least to a Scots or Irish speaker).

I haven't researched it as fully as I would have wished (and I don't speak Gaelic) but I am wondering if 'Meg' sounded like another word with bad associations, so it became 'Peg'.

The Gaelic/Celtic name Meg is actually much older than Christianity and is not related to the Greek name 'Margarita' which means 'pearl'. In placenames one sometimes encounters a change from a name derived from a Celtic god, originally 'Meg-' or 'Mag-', to St. Margaret. There is a hill near here called, on the map, St Margaret's Mount but locally known as Meg's Mount. We also have the Gog Magog Hills with a large Iron Age (Celtic) ring fort on it. The name probably just means 'Mother Goddess'.

Answer 11

Not always. I have a friend name Margaret yet everyone in school calls her ' Maggie ' .