During lockdown, we have been going on walks around an old graveyard near us, and ever since I spotted an [name_f]Agnes[/name_f] nicknamed Nantie, I’ve been intrigued by nicknames recorded on gravestones in [name_u]Scotland[/name_u].
Originally, I was only going to look up names in a couple of major cities (Edinburgh, [name_u]Glasgow[/name_u], [name_u]Aberdeen[/name_u]…) to make it less time consuming, but once I started, I got so into it I ended up collecting data from all of [name_u]Scotland[/name_u]. 
I was mostly interested in 19th century nicknames, and I limited my search to people who passed away between 1855-1915. I used the https://www.findagrave.com/ database as it has a fairly robust search engine, and the records seem mostly accurate.
First, I searched for names that I have spotted at our local graveyard and/or names that were generally popular around that time. I made a list of all the nicknames recorded for these names, and then, I searched the database for the nicknames themselves to get an idea of how widespread they were. Finally, I used MindNodes to create a mind map of all the nicknames for each name. (This has been my entire [name_m]Saturday[/name_m], and it’s been wonderful.)
To organise the chaos somehow, I’ve split the nicknames into categories:
- Popular (40+ people have the nickname)
- Common (10+)
- Rare (under 10)
- [name_u]Unique[/name_u] (only 1)
- Seemingly random (the nickname doesn’t seem to be derived from the person’s given name)
- Gaelic (sometimes Gaelic versions of people’s names have been listed as a nickname - my guess is that these people had an “[name_f]English[/name_f]” name for official records and actually went by their Gaelic name)
- Nicknames from middle names (any nicknames that have been derived from the middle name rather than the first name)
Note on wee (tw: death) - Sadly, most of the nicknames that start with wee, the Scots word for small, are children. I was surprised by how touched I was by them, even though they passed away 100+ years ago.
Nicknames for [name_f]Margaret[/name_f]
It was exciting to find a couple of [name_f]Margaret[/name_f]'s actually nicknamed [name_f]Pearl[/name_f] or [name_f]Daisy[/name_f]. [name_f]My[/name_f] other favourites are [name_f]Retta[/name_f] and [name_u]Mattie[/name_u] / [name_u]Matty[/name_u].
Nicknames for [name_f]Agnes[/name_f]
*I forgot to add [name_f]Nessie[/name_f] (28)
[name_f]Nessie[/name_f] is by far the cutest nickname for [name_f]Agnes[/name_f], I think. The others sound a little too childish or harsh.
Nicknames for [name_f]Helen[/name_f]
Wee [name_f]Bunny[/name_f] made me kind of teary eyed (she died at the age of 2). [name_f]Helen[/name_f] [name_f]Amy[/name_f] “[name_f]Joy[/name_f]” is also really cute.
Nicknames for [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f]/Eleanore/Eleanora
I’m in love with [name_f]Lena[/name_f]! I’m not sure if “[name_f]Helenora[/name_f]” was an actual nickname or just an alternate spelling. Historical records can be messy like that.
Nicknames for [name_f]Mary[/name_f]
*I forgot to add [name_f]Mollie[/name_f] (2)
I had no idea that [name_f]Polly[/name_f] was a pretty usual nickname for [name_f]Mary[/name_f] back in the day. (According to Wikipedia, it started out as a variation of [name_f]Molly[/name_f].)
I couldn’t find out why [name_f]Mary[/name_f] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] was nicknamed “[name_f]Isabella[/name_f] Inches”. It’s strange. Maybe there’s a story behind that, or it could be an inaccuracy in the database again.
Nicknames for [name_u]Marion[/name_u]
[name_u]Marion[/name_u] [name_m]Bowman[/name_m] “[name_f]Blossom[/name_f]” is beautiful ([name_m]Bowman[/name_m] was probably [name_u]Marion[/name_u]'s mother’s maiden name - you see that a lot with Scottish names. The mother’s maiden name is often added as a middle name). [name_u]Marion[/name_u] “Mousie” is beyond cute.
Not sure what the deal is with [name_u]Marion[/name_u] nn “[name_f]Sarah[/name_f]”. It might be a middle name that was accidentally recorded as a nickname in the database.
Nicknames for [name_f]Catherine[/name_f]
[name_f]Tottie[/name_f], [name_f]Ettie[/name_f], and [name_u]Kit[/name_u] are the sweetest. [name_f]Catherine[/name_f] nn [name_f]Rena[/name_f] is cool and would work as a nickname today.
I don’t know what’s going on with [name_f]Flora[/name_f], [name_f]Christine[/name_f], or [name_f]Lena[/name_f].
[name_f]Isabel/name_f
[name_u]Isa[/name_u]'s popularity took me by surprise! Also, I’m happy to have discovered [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] “La [name_f]Belle[/name_f] [name_f]Electra[/name_f]” [name_m]Henry[/name_m] - she was a magician who would electrocute herself (???) on stage. This website has a really beautiful picture of her. Apparently, she was “[name_f]Lib[/name_f]” to her sister.
Nicknames for [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]
This graph is, unsurprisingly, giant. There have always been a ridiculous amount of nicknames for [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f].
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] nn “Elbie” is the winnder for me. Elbie sounds like such an intriguing, fresh nickname. “Betz” and “[name_f]Betsy[/name_f]-[name_f]Betty[/name_f]” also made me smile.
[name_f]Elspeth[/name_f] came up a couple of times as a nickname for [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], but it was more common as a separate, full name. [name_f]Elspeth[/name_f] also has some nicknames of its own, including:
Nicknames for [name_f]Jane[/name_f]
[name_f]Jane[/name_f] is almost nickname proof these days, so it was interesting to discover many options here. However, [name_u]Jean[/name_u] and [name_f]Jeannie[/name_f] / [name_f]Jeanie[/name_f] were often used as full given names in [name_u]Scotland[/name_u] as well.
While looking up [name_f]Jane[/name_f], I also came across some cool nicknames for [name_f]Janet[/name_f]:
- “Nita”
- “Jane”
- “Jessie”
- “Jennie”
- Jessie nn “Janet”
- “Jeannette”
- “Jessy”
- Janet Elsie “Jessie”
- Hannah nn “Janet” ??
Other treasures:
[name_f]Lillias[/name_f] nicknames
(This wasn’t a Scottish record - but I accidentally searched for Aberdeen, US, and came across a Lillias “Lillibelle” 
).
[name_f]Wilhelmina[/name_f]
[name_f]Harriet[/name_f]
[name_f]Georgina[/name_f]
[name_f]Martha[/name_f]
Full names for “Nettie”
Cool nuns
Summary
Sister Isabella “Ambrose”
Sister Elizabeth “Mary de Sales”
Sister Margaret “Mary Juliana”
Sister Margaret “Joannes”
Sister Margaret “Edburga”
Sister Mary “Scholastica”
Sister Catherine “Mechtilde”
Sister Catherine “Mary Pacifica”
I hope you enjoyed going down this rabbit hole with me. I had so much fun compiling these that I might end up doing the same with boy names. 
Elbie is cool - sounds like a variation of [name_m]Albie[/name_m].
It really got to me.
