The name 'Nappy'

[JiNXX]

Hi, I was wondering if the name Nappy is short for anything ? As I have found it on a Irish 1911 census researching ancestors and can't seem to find a birth record in that name.

Many thanks

 

[davidft]

You don't say whether you found it as a first name or a surname. Also did you see it on an original or just a transcription.

IN any event nappy is a proper surname in its own right


Previously edited by poster 6 Sept.2011

[JiNXX]

Sorry, it's a first name  I saw it on both original and transciption and it was spelt 'Nappie' sorry

[Jeuel]

I haven't come across this before and can only think of "Napoleon" which isn't as rare as you might think as a first name.

[Redroger]

Napoleon, I am sure. Perhaps the parents had designs for the child's future; e.g. emperor of the world perhaps? On the subject of mappy or nappie I have come across the surname Diaper. Perhaps one of them invented the sanitary product?

[aghadowey]

Sorry, but in the 1911 Irish census it appears to be mainly a female name and occurs in certain areas such as Donegal and Galway.

[JiNXX]

hmmm, napoleon is a boy's name, this is listed as a farmer's daughter   and I have never come across it before in Co. Mayo 

[eadaoin]

I THINK it's Penelope!

But I'll see if I can unearth my name-book


edit ... yes, it's a short form of Penelope, or also an anglicised version of Nuala/Fionnuala
according to "Irish Names for Children" Patrick Woulfe ..1923

eadaoin

[Redroger]

Not a female Napoleon I hope. Thought they were extinct!