Daisy as nn for Margaret. I'm not mad am I?

[ScatterChasse]

Some friends of mine are having a little girl in a couple of months, and have decided they are going to call her Margaret after his Grandma.

BUT they want a nickname for when she's little, but aren't fond of Maggie or Meg, but don't want to use a middle name as a first name instead (I think they're making it a bit difficult for themselves ).

I was going to suggest Daisy as a nn, but another friend said nobody would get it. Was she right?

Yes, as everyone has said. Surely everyone who's opinion is worth having knows Demi and Daisy from the Little Women series?

Same as everyone should know Peggy is another nn for Margaret from Swallows and Amazons.

Dd's middle name is Peggy after dh's grandma who was Margaret. If we'd had that as her first name she'd have been Margaret too.

Daisy is a nn for margaret. I am fairly certain Margherita means daisy in Italian, so i guess this is where the nickname comes from

Here's what happens if you google image 'marguerite'

I think of Daisy as a nn for Margaret (more so than as a free-standing name).

Do suggest it - I think it's lovely!

Daisy for Margaret is totally acceptable (I love Little Women!)

Also Mags as a direct derivative of Margaret.

My dd is Margaret but 99% of the time is known as Daisy. Some people get it, some don't. Some people just think she is called Daisy. Doesn't bother me that is confuses some people. We like Daisy at the moment (she is about to turn 3) and love that she has lots of choices for nicknames. She knows her name is Margaret and has started telling people that it is so it doesn't confuse her!

It was so, so common until quite recently to have Daisy as a shortening of Margaret.

Daisy is an extremely traditional nn for Margaret and as another poster said it's from the French word for a daisy being the same as the French form of Margaret.

Pearl is also a traditional Margaret nn. The name is derived from the Greek word for a pearl (originally borrowed from Sanskrit, fwiw). The educated classes once learned biblical Greek at university and the nickname is a sort of a linguistic in-joke, much like Daisy.

I get it. Daisy's a lovely nickname for Margaret. I didn't know Pearl was a possibility but that's really nice too. I think that Daisy will be perfect when she's a cute toddler and teenager, then when she grows up and becomes a distinguished Shakespearean actress/professor of neuroscience/QC, she can use Margaret for professional purposes.

as a side note it doesn't matter if people don't "get" it. You can nn your child whatever you please!
And there's always Peggy, Meg, Maggie, Greta, Rita, and some cuter/sillier/more diminutive ones: Riri and Mimi come to mind.

I have an aunt Peg AKA Margaret. Never heard of Daisy as nn

Some more: Megan (traditional Welsh nn), Mamie, Mae.

Anyone who 'doesn't get it' hasn't read very widely and hasn't even read the thread properly.

Clearly a lot of people won't 'get it'. But it is 'right' and I think it would be nice to resurrect it. Same for Polly as a nn for Mary.

The only thing is that these were nns used when there would be 5/10 Marys in a class or a family, whereas now it would be unusual to have one in a school.

I've just realised that my (rather odd) Great Aunty Midge was probably another Margaret.
Mind you, coming from a family that (yes really) boasted cousins Polly, Molly and Dolly, that may not give you much confidence in their taste in names.

we're the opposite and just named DD Maggie as we dont like Margaret. But May is such a cute nn if they don't like Maggie

Well my DH's X was christened Marian and her NN is Kate. So I really don't see any problem at all in giving Margaret the NN Daisy.

I get it and think it is lovely.

My cousin is referred to by everyone as Daisy, and her name is Margaret. I thought Daisy as a nickname for Margaret was generally understood, sort of like Jack is a nickname for John, before people started thinking it was a real name.

It really doesn't matter if people don't 'get it'; it's an entirely valid nn for Margaret.

I can't think of Daisy as anything but a nickname.

I get it! Daisy is the English name, Margaret from the French. Both mean the same.

it's etymologically correct, but tenuous

Marguerite is a little prettier than Margaret but still in the same vein.

DD has a version of Mabel in her name, which is a ggp name but mil wasn't too keen( her side of the family) but we changed it slightly to show that it was a thought but that we had modernised it slightly.

My granny was Margaret but always known as Rita - again from the French spelling. I've always thought it might be quite cute for a tot.

You could be Marg or Margie also.

As one of four at school (- showing my age here -) none were called Daisy as a nn. and I had never heard of it used as such until I read Mumsnet.

Interestingly my Granny was Daisy, and my mother had it as an unused first name, as registered on their birth certificates, but I don't think either of them regarded it as a nn for Margaret.