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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Kate-Birchtree on Friday 30 June 23 06:51 BST (UK)
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Hi everyone
I'm sleuthing a stubborn ghost from the late 1790s, and I have a strong suspicion that she used an alias that may have been (with some luck!) a diminutive/nickname of her birth name.
Question: what names (in the genealogy world/in the late 18th century) would/could Emma be a nickname for?
The obvious ones seem to be:
Could any of these reasonably apply too?
- Amy
- Mary/Mary Ann
- Elizabeth
- Margaret
- Margot
Are there any others (even left-field/one-off ones that you might know about!) that aren't listed here?
Thanks for your help!
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Emma Lyon who later became Lady Emma Hamilton was baptized at Neston, Cheshire in 1765 as Emy dtr of Henry Lyon, Smith of Ness, and Mary his wife. Was it meant to be Amy or Emma? Maybe interchangable.
Ray
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My gt.grandmother Elizabeth sometimes appears as Polly on census records.
Margaret is often Meg or Peggy.
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Could Jemima be a possibility?
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Hi everyone
I'm sleuthing a stubborn ghost from the late 1790s, and I have a strong suspicion that she used an alias that may have been (with some luck!) a diminutive/nickname of her birth name.
Why not post her details on here in case someone is able to help you find the details you need
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Some other variants given here www.whatsinaname.net/php/search.php?action=search2&search_name=emma
If you click on some of the names, it will give you further options.
Monica
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I have seen ancestors and relatives of mine named Amy be referred to as Emma on some records.
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Maybe Emma was her middle name and the one she preferred to use.
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Is there a possibility that Emma was her middle name?
I have a number of relatives and ancestors who exclusively use/used just their middle names. I think 98% of my brother’s friends don’t even know that “John” isn’t his first name.
Could Emma have been a Mary Emma, Jane Emma, Louisa Emma, etc.
Also, perhaps she used Emma (middle name) to distinguish herself from her mother?
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Though its not the exact Subject matter -its worth a mention. My mother was called Emma and it was going to be my nieces (Mum Emma's grand-daughter) first daughter's name to be called Emma but a slight problem arose as my niece had all boys---so one boy was called Em(ma)erson and to keep things tidy she called the other 2 boys Ayrton & Mika after racing drivers ;D ;D ;D
The racing drivers were
Emerson Fittipaldi
Ayrton Senna
Mika Häkkinen
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Emma itself,
Emmaline /Emmiline as in Pankhurst
Emily
Emelda.
Viktoria.
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Thanks everybody for your ideas!
It's a great idea to look for Emma as a middle name! Honestly, it baffles me that I didn't think of searching for Emma as a middle name - it's probably the only search combination I didn't try (after 486 obscure attempts! ;D)
I'll post about the specific person in a new thread and will link here soon - I think I'm at the point where I'll need to admit defeat and send for proper help! ???
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I recently came across a Jemima in a Census who was referred to as Emma elsewhere.
Good luck with your search.
Susan
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I have a Naomi who was married as Amy - a nickname or just recorded incorrectly?
Emma of course is a very old name, think it originated in Medieval France and made its way across the Channel.
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just on the off chance....she may have come from Germany and. have. been a Marie or Maria and tried to spell her name ....the. first two. letters would have sounded like m..aah...and that could have been enough.
ive got a case like this, where the real name was Edith and in German this sounds like ay d...and this. was registered as ada in the first couple of English records.
if she was connected to. German immigrants at this time, they dominated English sugar bakery...ie cake and. biscuit bakers
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I had ancestor with name Anne Mackintosh and in marriage cert (London 1835) was written in brackets 'Henney' and this later was recorded as Emmi in census entries. We suspect the Mackintosh was Scottish background where Henney was a common petname or so said my mother.
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I had ancestor with name Anne Mackintosh and in marriage cert (London 1835) was written in brackets 'Henney' and this later was recorded as Emmi in census entries. We suspect the Mackintosh was Scottish background where Henney was a common petname or so said my mother.
"Hen" was often used as a pet name for any woman, as it also refers to a female chicken, and then made into Henny and likely Honey came out of that too, for women who did not want to be referred to as poultry!
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Thanks for that - so nothing 'Scottish' about it :( . And similar to calling a child 'chicken'.....
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Thanks for that - so nothing 'Scottish' about it :( . And similar to calling a child 'chicken'.....
Or a young female "chick".