Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Titty as a name?

90 replies

RiftGibbon · 17/07/2023 09:37

Discovered a copy of Swallows and Amazons and one of the girls is called Titty.
The others have more standard names for the time.
I assume it is a diminutive of something, but what, and why?
Surely by the 1930s there was some correlation between the words tits and breasts?

OP posts:
Jk987 · 17/07/2023 11:35

Don't name your baby that ConfusedConfusedConfused

StillWantingADog · 17/07/2023 11:43

Jk987 · 17/07/2023 11:35

Don't name your baby that ConfusedConfusedConfused

did You not even read the very first post by the op?

Eyesopenwideawake · 17/07/2023 11:45

Piggy French seems to do OK...

TheCatsMama · 17/07/2023 11:48

@newuser9090

Up to the age of 3 my daughter couldn't make the k sound so would call cats titty. She would shout look a titty whenever she saw one in the street. We got some weird looks!

If me and my partner had seen & heard that, we'd probably have gone 'ah, bless!' and forever afterwards called cats titties. Surely little kids get a free pass to say stuff.

FlyingUnicornWings · 17/07/2023 11:50

Trickedbyadoughnut · 17/07/2023 09:38

I was so concerned this was a baby-naming thread.

Can't contribute any information to your questions though 😅

Same! I did laugh out loud at the title.

ohsuzannah · 17/07/2023 11:50

Ohmylovejune · 17/07/2023 09:52

This will age me.

My Mum made me go to see an old, hermit, spinster to invite her to our street party for the Queens 25th Jubilee. I'd never seen her out before apart from from a distance in her garden.

I knocked on her door and, as she opened it, her cat got out and she went into a mad undeciperable rant. I asked her what her cat was called so I could try and retrieve her. Titty.

So now I'm running around our road, calling Titty, and my friends are finding it hilarious! For weeks after, at school, my friends from our road would shout Titty Titty at me in the corridor!

My granny had a cat called Titters! No idea why 😂

TheCatsMama · 17/07/2023 11:53

There were those Biggles books in which people 'ejaculated' which made my dad laugh.

ChildrenOfRuin · 17/07/2023 11:55

I’m so glad that this isn’t a baby naming thread 🤣

2bazookas · 17/07/2023 11:56

An innocent age when people were called Fanny, Roger, Dick, Gay, Nate, and nobody turned a hair. When a Famous (5) girl in shorts could call herself George and nobody gave a second thought to her sex organs/life.

Moonface31 · 17/07/2023 11:58

@2bazookas what's wrong with Nate?!

smilesup · 17/07/2023 12:00

My mate was married to an Algerian. He could never call her lovely dad Nick as it means dick in Algerian.

TheCatsMama · 17/07/2023 12:02

Moonface31 · 17/07/2023 11:58

@2bazookas what's wrong with Nate?!

nates PLURAL NOUN a technical word for the buttocks?

RainyWeekend · 17/07/2023 12:03

Trickedbyadoughnut · 17/07/2023 09:38

I was so concerned this was a baby-naming thread.

Can't contribute any information to your questions though 😅

Omg so did I!! I guffawed so loudly here at the pool, that I woke some sleeping sunbathers!!

caringcarer · 17/07/2023 12:05

Minfilia · 17/07/2023 09:44

Same! 😂

Show quote history

Snap.

starfishmummy · 17/07/2023 12:05

bookworm14 · 17/07/2023 09:41

Titty in Swallows and Amazons is short for Letitia. It has been changed to Kitty in later editions!

I remember reading it to my class when I was a student teacher. As well as editing it to shorten the book to fit into my 6 weeksTeaching Practice , I went through with a pen to highlight "Titty" so I could change it to Kitty! That was in the 70s!!

FairAcre · 17/07/2023 12:08

NeverTrustAPoliceman · 17/07/2023 11:19

A friend of mine has a French friend called Fanny. It's short for something but I can't remember what. She lives in France, I guess it's an ok name there.

Its short for Stephanie in France.

Madamfrog · 17/07/2023 12:24

Fanny is a standalone name in France, it can also be short for Françoise. But it is almost invariably a name in its own right, very common currently for 20 to 30 year olds.

outdooryone · 17/07/2023 12:27

Those saying Fanny need to watch the IronBru advert....

IRN-BRU Fanny

Say hello to baby

https://youtu.be/IcKlVojfMD4

yanak8 · 17/07/2023 12:27

I used to be in the Blyton Society so remember discussing the name changes.

Fanny and Dick obvious. Bessie to Beth we thought because it was seen as a more old fashioned nick name for Elizabeth, and possibly even racial stereotype connotations.

BCSurvivor · 17/07/2023 12:30

I think Titty was short for Matilda.

INeedAnotherName · 17/07/2023 12:37

yanak8 · 17/07/2023 12:27

I used to be in the Blyton Society so remember discussing the name changes.

Fanny and Dick obvious. Bessie to Beth we thought because it was seen as a more old fashioned nick name for Elizabeth, and possibly even racial stereotype connotations.

Go on, I'll bite. What's the racial aspect to Bessie?

Never heard of Nate(s) = buttocks either. Is that a regional thing?

fluffiphlox · 17/07/2023 12:38

I’ve got twins: Titty and Twat.

fdgdfgdfgdfg · 17/07/2023 12:44

Mariposista · 17/07/2023 09:59

In Spain the diminutive for 'Estefania' (beautiful name IMO), is Fanny. And kids here call their teachers by their first names - I will never forget hearing 9 year olds call their teacher Fanny and not giggling. Don't think they ever wised up to what it meant in English.

Show quote history

Why would they care what it means in English, they're speaking Spanish?

Given the 7000ish languages on the planet there's a good chance most of our names mean something a bit amusing somewhere or other.

yanak8 · 17/07/2023 12:48

Go on, I'll bite. What's the racial aspect to Bessie?

Nothing to expand on I'm afraid. It was thought to have been one of the possible reasons behind the change. A stereotype, apparently. Like Jemima in other countries I suppose.

As far as old fashioned goes. I think Beth is now more dated than Bessie, which is a lovely name in my opinion.

I can't remember if Connie was changed, if anyone knows?

Howpo · 17/07/2023 12:49

110APiccadilly · 17/07/2023 11:24

Pardon my naivety, but what's wrong with Bessie?

Show quote history

I loved reading Swallows and Amazons as a child and never once thought anything of the names Titty and Dick, unbelievable thes have been changed, why not get rid of the the Swallows name too? i'm sure someone will be offended.