What is Elsie short for?

[Tors91]

Hi!

I have always loved the name Elsie for a girl, my middle name and my partners grandmother is Elizabeth so we have always wanted Elsie Elizabeth if we were to have a girl.
However I have just read somewhere that Elsie is short for Elizabeth? 🙈 I have never heard this before, now I’m annoyed because we wouldn’t be able to use Elizabeth as a middle name if this is the case!!
Has anyone else ever heard of this??

Elspeth

Elspeth is also a form of Elizabeth, so that doesn’t help.

I know an Elsie who is actually an Ellen, she's in her 80's so it seems there are a few different names that Elsie can be a nn for

I would register the child as Elspeth or Elizabeth. Then call her Elsie at home. school etc.That way , when she grows up she has a choice. If she likes Elsie, fine; if she wants a more formal version, it's still her birthright.

In UK, certain names have always, and perhaps always will, carry a strong cultural/ class connotation. Trendy parents should bear that in mind before inflicting humour/ fashion / jokey-wokeness on another person for life.

My beloved Granny was:
Elsie Margaret- not short for anything in her case.
Love Elizabeth though as it is my daughter's middle name. (Also 2 great queen's name)

I always thought Elsie was a stand alone name, it definitely is now.
Don't call her Elizabeth if you don't intend using it.
It's perfectly fine just to call her Elsie. Just as it's fine to call a child Jack rather than John.
In fact anything goes.

Elsie is a name in it's own right, as is Elizabeth. Go with them both.

It may once have been a diminutive of Elizabeth, (see also Esmé being a diminutive of Esmeralda on another thread) but I doubt anyone would hear the name Elsie and automatically presume the birth certificate said Elizabeth.
Apart from the fact that not many, I imagine, would. I'm of the generation to have had about 6 Aunty Elsies and they were all just Elsie.
I love it's come back into fashion, and though usually not a fan of first and middle names beginning with the same letter, Elsie Elisabeth sounds lovely.

Elsie Elizabeth is lovely.

To the poster who suggested Elise, just because the spelling is similar doesn't mean the name isn't horrible

In our house, it’s short for Elspeth.

My grandma who died last year at 93 was just Elsie

All the Elsies i know are Elsie short for Elsie. Including 2 in their 90s.
I think Elsie Elizabeth sounds lovely.

Elsie has been for hundreds of years a short form of Elizabeth. It has also since around the 1890s been used as a separate name. But to call a child Elsie Elizabeth would be giving her the same name twice.

Esme has nothing to do with Esmeralda (which means Emerald). It's originally a boy's name - the name of a male favourite of Scottish king James VI. It's French, it means 'esteemed'. or possibly 'loved'. The spelling is French and male. In French, it's pronounced 'ess-meh'.
[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esm
%C3%A9Stewart,1stDukeof_Lennox]]

Elsie Elizabeth is equivalent to Katie Katherine - I really wouldn't use it as a full name. However I think it would be fine to name her Elizabeth, with Elsie or Elsie-Elizabeth as nicknames.

@PurBal

My grandma who died last year at 93 was just Elsie

There were two Elsies in my wider family born near that beginning of the 20th century who were just Elsie, Ive never heard of it as a nn either. Maybe there are regional differences

There was a trend by the 1890s or so to just use the nn on the birth certificate, like Elsie, Annie, Maisie, Bessie, Jessie (traditionally a Scottish diminutive of Janet) etc. It was their cute naming trend, like why name your kid Elizabeth/Mary/Anne if you never intend to call them that?

So there's really nothing wrong with doing it if that's what you prefer. Personally I think going with Elizabeth gives the child more scope to make her own choice when she's older, but it's not necessary, per se.

My grandmother was an Elizabeth and always known as Elsie

There was a trend by the 1890s or so to just use the nn on the birth certificate, like Elsie, Annie, Maisie, Bessie, Jessie

This is true. Nicknames as an official name was really popular and there were far more off-piste names than people would think. The type of names that would give the MN 'but they must have a long name for options!' sticklers, an attack of the vapours.

@StrychnineInTheSandwiches

There was a trend by the 1890s or so to just use the nn on the birth certificate, like Elsie, Annie, Maisie, Bessie, Jessie

This is true. Nicknames as an official name was really popular and there were far more off-piste names than people would think. The type of names that would give the MN 'but they must have a long name for options!' sticklers, an attack of the vapours.

totally, and where is that long-name option for non-Mumsnet approved names like Zebedee, Rio, Sailor, Blue, McKenna, Balonz etc etc etc? Not every name has a staid long form for just in case you become a QC. It is what it is and that's OK.

I don't think those saying Elizabeth Elsie get that it's giving your child the same name twice. Like Mandy Amanda or Jessie Jessica or Susie Susannah. It sounds daft.

@prairiegirl81

I've never heard that Elsie is short for Elizabeth so wouldn't think anything of the two names together.

I think Elsie Elizabeth is lovely. Go for it if you love it.

same

Why not call her [say] Lauren Clare and refer to her by her initials:

L.C. [Elsie]

or any other names that fit L and C

Elsie sounds [to me, at least] a little old fashioned and has the image of an older women - "Aunt Elsie"

Just call her Elsie then, you don't need the Elizabeth in the middle of Elsie is from Elizabeth- it will Honour the nam anyway.

I think that Elsie Elizabeth is lovely. I've always thought that Elsie was a name in itself

I don't know any Elizabeth's called Elsie, but it is possible.

Ailsa