Patsy

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Patsy
Patsy Cline publicity photo.jpg
Country western singer Patsy Cline (1932-1963).
Pronunciation /ˈpætsi/ PAT-see
GenderUnisex
Origin
Word/nameLatin Patricius
Meaning"Noble" (i.e. a patrician)
Region of originnorth England, Scotland, & Ireland
Other names
Related names Martha, Matilda, Mattie, Patricia, Patrick, Patti, Patty
Patsy Custis (1756-1773), the daughter of Martha Washington and stepdaughter of George Washington. Martha Parke Custis.jpg
Patsy Custis (1756-1773), the daughter of Martha Washington and stepdaughter of George Washington.
Martha Jefferson Randolph (1772-1836), was nicknamed Patsy. Martha Jefferson Randolph cropped.jpg
Martha Jefferson Randolph (1772-1836), was nicknamed Patsy.
Princess Patricia of Connaught (1886-1974), pictured with wounded Canadian soldiers in 1917. Her nickname was Patsy. Princess Patricia wounded Canadian Soldiers.jpg
Princess Patricia of Connaught (1886-1974), pictured with wounded Canadian soldiers in 1917. Her nickname was Patsy.

Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, or Patrice). Among Italian Americans, it is often used as a pet name for Pasquale. [1]

Contents

In older usage, Patsy was also a nickname for Martha or Matilda, following a common nicknaming pattern of changing an M to a P (such as in Margaret → Meg/Meggy → Peg/Peggy; and Molly → Polly) and adding a feminine suffix. [1] [2]

President George Washington called his wife, Martha, "Patsy" in private correspondence. President Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter Martha was known by the nickname "Patsy", while his daughter Mary was called "Polly".[ citation needed ]

People with the name

Female

Male

Fictional characters

Victim of deception

The popularity of the name has waned with the rise of its, chiefly North American, [3] meaning as "dupe" or "scapegoat". [1] Fact, Fancy and Fable, published in 1889, notes that in a sketch performed in Boston "about twenty years ago" a character would repeatedly ask "Who did that?" and the answer was "Patsy Bolivar!" [4] It may have been popularized by the vaudevillian Billy B. Van, whose 1890s character, Patsy Bolivar, was more often than not an innocent victim of unscrupulous or nefarious characters. [5] Van's character became a broad vaudeville "type", imitated by many comedians, including Fred Allen, who later wrote, "Patsy Bolivar was a slang name applied to a bumpkin character; later, it was shortened to Patsy, and referred to any person who was the butt of a joke." [6]

Lee Harvey Oswald, after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, denied he was responsible for the murder, and stated: "No, they are taking me in because of the fact that I lived in the Soviet Union. I'm just a patsy!" [7] [8]

Byron Smith, after killing Haile Kifer and her cousin, Nicholas Brady, also claimed he was a patsy. [9]

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  1. English and Scottish: A patronymic surname based on the English and Scottish name Colin, an English diminutive form of Nicholas.
  2. Norse: From the Old Norse personal name "Kollungr", a form of "koli" which in Old English became 'Cola', meaning swarthy or dark.
  3. Irish: The medieval surname was Ua Cuiléin, which has usually become Ó Coileáin today.
  4. Welsh: Collen; "hazel, hazel grove".

Nolan is a surname, of Irish origin from Ó Nualláin, derived from Irish nuall meaning "noble, famous" combined with a diminutive suffix. According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Nolans in Ireland were one of the chiefly families of the Loígis tribe who in turn came from the Cruthin tribe who were the first Celts to settle in Ireland from between 800 and 500 BC.

Notable people with the surname Harte include:

Stapleton is an English surname dating back to the times of Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. It is a habitation name; examples of habitations are found in Cumbria, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Somerset, and Yorkshire, and is from the Old English word stapol meaning post and ton meaning settlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dillon (surname)</span> Surname list

Dillon is an Irish surname of Breton origin, descending from a cadet branch of Viscomte de Leon in Northern Brittany. It first appeared in Ireland with the arrival of Sir Henry de Leon, in the service of Prince John in 1185. Sir Henry married Maud de Courcy, daughter of Sir John de Courcy and Affrica Guðrøðardóttir. Awarded large tracts of land by in Meath and Westmeath, one of the Dillons’ first Mott & Baileys can still be found at Dunnamona before the establishment of stone structures such as Portlick Castle.

Morris is a surname of various origins though mostly of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh origin. In 2014, the surname ranked 39 out of 104,537 in England, and 55 out of 400,980 in the USA.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burke</span> Surname list

Burke is a Norman-Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh had the surname de Burgh, which was gaelicised in Irish as de Búrca and over the centuries became Búrc, then Burke, and Bourke.

Lawlor is an Irish surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Paddy is a diminutive form of the male given names Patrick, Patricia, Padraig, Padraic and variant forms. It is also a nickname.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patty (given name)</span> Name list

Patty is an English given name that originated as a rhyming diminutive form of names such as Martha via the diminutive Mattie, much in the same way that Peggy was derived as a rhyming variant of Meg or Meggie, an English diminutive of Margaret, and Polly was originally derived as a rhyming variant of Molly, an English diminutive of Mary. The alternation of the letter P with the letter M in these English hypocorisms is not understood. The diminutive was used in Colonial America. It was later used as an English short form of Patricia or, for boys, as a diminutive form of Patrick. It is also in use as an independent name. Spelling variants include Patti and Pattie. Patsy is another related variant. Patty is also in use as a surname with different origins.

Quinn is an Anglicised form of the Irish Ó Coinn or Mac Cuinn. The latter surname means "descendant of Conn". The surname Quinn is also rendered Ó Cuinn or Mac Cuinn in Irish. The surname is borne by several unrelated families in Ireland, especially in the northern province of Ulster and also the counties of Clare, Longford, and Mayo. According to the historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Quins were part of the Conmaicne Rein tribe in Ireland who came from the Erainn tribe who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland from about 500 and 100 BC. The most notable family of the name are that of Thomond, a Dalcassian sept, who derive their surname from Niall Ó Cuinn who was slain at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. This family was formerly represented by the Earls of Dunraven. Another family is that seated in Annaly, who were related to the O'Farrell lords of Longford. Another Quinn family was seated at An Chraobh, County Tyrone and they were related to the O'Neill Kings of Tír Eoghain and for whom they acted as Hereditary Quartermasters. Other families include one seated in Antrim; one seated in Raphoe; and one called Clann Cuain, seated near Castlebar. In the seventeenth century, the surname Quinn was common in Waterford. In 1890, the surname was numerous in Dublin, Tyrone, Antrim, and Roscommon. Quinn is one of the twenty most common surnames in Ireland. the surname Quinn is sometimes associated with Catholics, while Quin is associated with Protestants.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Names: Patsy". edgarbook. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2007.
  2. "Common Nicknames & Their Given Name Equivalents". About.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2007.
  3. Catherine Soanes; Angus Stevenson, eds. (2005). "Patsy". Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd revised ed.). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 1291. ISBN   978-0-19-861057-1.
  4. Alex Games (2010). Balderdash & Piffle. Random House. p. 275. ISBN   9781446415054.
  5. "Patsy". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  6. Robert S. Bader (2016). Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers On Stage. Northwestern University Press. p. 103.
  7. "Oswald's Ghost". American Experience. PBS. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  8. "A J.F.K. Assassination Glossary: Key Figures and Theories". The New York Times . 26 October 2017. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  9. "Transcripts". CNN. Retrieved 15 July 2018.