As I had mentioned in my blog post of December 30th, I’m following the program of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks wherein they provide weekly prompts to give ideas for genealogy writing. This week’s prompt is ‘Nickname’. This was a tough one for me as we do have several nicknames in our family tree but some are difficult to determine why they have those nicknames.
The first one that comes to mind is my great-grandfather, Thomas Albert Briggs. Newspaper articles I have found, use the nicknames ‘Dick’ and ‘Dixie’. Having asked a couple of family members if they knew why, they were just as stymied as myself.
All articles are from Newspapers.com: image numbers 63307641, 775512106, 775779796 (missing one)
Other family members I have found to have nicknames are the following:
- Henry Clarendon Briggs: Harry
- Beatrice Aileen Matthew: Lena
- Stella Hartford: Tilla
- Hazel Evelyn Veronica Tillman (wife of Alfred Penner (Pen) Briggs): Minna
- Eliza Gregory (wife of John Thomas Herbert Matthew): Lila
- Helen Frances Jackson (wife of William Irving Briggs): Nell
- Margaret Henry (wife of Albert James Briggs): Mattie
There are several that have a shortened version of their Christian names:
Ernest → Ernie Stanley → Stan Ronald → Ron
We also have some that use their middle names instead of their given first names:
- My Aunt Ev whose given first name is Irene after her mother
- My Uncle Rich whose given first name is Stanley after his father
And finally, there is me! My given Christian name is Veronica and I go by Vicky – to this day, I’m still not sure how I received that nickname.
Nicknames are a part of every family – some you know why and some you just have to scratch your head.
If you know of others in our family, please let us know – bonus if you know why!
We Are Family Briggs 