How To Update Old Nickname Names

How To Update Old Nickname Names

In 1963, there were 23,900 baby girls named Lori, the same year that there were 21,191 little Tammys and 11,000 Cindys, not to mention all the Mindys, Mandys, Marcys, and Marnies with the then modern-sounding nicknamey, quasi-unisex, names popular from the mid-fifties and into the next couple of decades.

So is it any wonder that so many of today’s parents have moms and sometimes grandmothers with these vintage nickname names?

But as much as we love those family members, and would like to make them namesakes, would we really want to name our own little girls Mindy or Cindy?  Probably would be  better to seek a related substitute that would still serve to honor them.

Here are a few random update ideas, some that relate fairly directly to the mother name, others that are a bit more of a stretch.

  • Candy

  •                  More obvious: Candace

                     Less obvious: Candida (and yes, we do know its downside) or Dulcie (means sweet)

  • Carrie

  •                 More obvious: Caroline

                     Less obvious: Carys

  • Cindy

  •                  More obvious: Lucinda

                     Less obvious: Signy/Signe

  • Darci

  •                  More obvious: Daria

                     Less obvious: Dorothy

  • Jamie

  •                  More obvious: Jamison

                     Less obvious: Jamaica or Jane

  • Jody/Jodie

  •                  More obvious: Josie

                     Less obvious: Josephine

  • Joni

  •                  More obvious: Jolie

                     Less obvious: Joanna

  • Kerry

  •                  More obvious: Keira

                     Less obvious: Kerensa

  • Lori

  •                  More obvious: Laurel or Laura

                     Less obvious: Lorelei

  • Mandy

  •                  More obvious: Amanda

                     Less obvious: Manon

  • Marcy

  •                  More obvious: Marcella

                     Less obvious: Maribel

  • Marnie

  •                 More obvious: Marlo/Marlowe

                     Less obvious: Marin

  • Mindy

  •                  More obvious: Minnie

                     Less obvious: Minta

  • Randi

  •                More obvious: Miranda

                   Less obvious: Thandie

  • Ricki

  •                  More obvious: Erica

                     Less obvious: Frederica

  • Sandy

  •                  More obvious: Alessandra

                     Less obvious: Sandrine

  • Shari

  •                  More obvious: Sharai/Sarai

                     Less obvious: Charlotte

  • Shelly

  •                  More obvious: Rochelle

                     Less obvious: Nellie

  • Sherri

  •                  More obvious: Sheridan

                     Less obvious: Sinead

  • Stacey/Stacy

  •                  More obvious: Anastasia

                     Less obvious: Acacia

  • Tammy

  •                  More obvious: Tamara

                     Less obvious: Tamar, Tamsin

  • Terri

  •                  More obvious: Teresa

                     Less obvious: Tertia

  • Toni

  •                  More obvious: Antonia

                     Less obvious: Antonella

  • Tori

  •                  More obvious: Victoria

                     Less  obvious: Vittoria

  • Traci/Tracy

  •                  More obvious:  Gracie

                     Less obvious: Trixie

    About the Author

    Linda Rosenkrantz

    Linda Rosenkrantz

    Linda Rosenkrantz is the co-founder of Nameberry, and co-author with Pamela Redmond of the ten baby naming books acknowledged to have revolutionized American baby naming. You can follow her personally at InstagramTwitter and Facebook. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed New York Review Books Classics novel Talk and a number of other books.