Nicknames: Past and Present

For many years I was looking for a particular ancestor. At some point someone told me that Polly was a pet name for Mary. I was looking for a Mary but had a Polly -- there right before me for ages. These pet names do still exist but no one seems to know them all. In the past they were very recognizable and were interchanged often. I looked up all the ones I knew from my past searches and they were all there! So I bought it to help me find people in wills and marriage records. If you are not into that -- these are fascinating and not a bad list from which to select a baby name either.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. I had no idea some of the names that are "interpreted" or commonly nicknames at that time. It is a small book so easy to carry. I was so thrilled with it I read through it all in one sitting. I just could not put it down.

I cannot believe how useful this book has become when I work on our family tree! It has been a great resource when I come across certain times and communities that nicknamed everyone! It has also given me information regarding nicknames, that I never knew. Now, I couldn't live without it.

While this book is the "5th Edition Expanded", it seems a little thin as genealogical books go. But it was much cheaper than the usual genealogical book. So, far it has been an excellent book finding or confirming the actual name of a person when only Nickname is know.

We bought this book for our local library's Genealogy department as it is helpful for them to research ancestor;s names. It has been used alot in the past.

I was looking for a handful of specific nicknames, none of which I found in the book. However, it did have good general information otherwise.

This book was smaller than I anticipated but still will help me with the nicknames that I run into in my genealogy research.

good to have on hand.