Patty (given name)

Patty
Patty Wyatt is the main character of When Patty Went to College, a 1903 novel by American author Jean Webster.
GenderPrimarily female
Origin
Word/nameEnglish
Meaningdiminutive of Martha, Patricia, or Patrick
Other names
Related namesMattie, Paddy, Patti, Patsy, Pattie
American child actress Patty McCormack in a publicity photo from the 1956 film The Bad Seed.
American child actress Patty Duke in a 1959 publicity photo.
A 1975 mug shot of heiress Patty Hearst taken the year after her kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army and the events that followed.

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.[1] Patty is also in use as a surname with different origins.

  1. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 216. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.