Vintage Nicknames for Girls

After a long time in limbo, Prudence is now so clunky it'a cool, and it's starting to make a comeback, along with other Puritan virtue names like Mercy, Patience, and Constance.

Actress Tilda Swinton injected this dated nickname name with some modern charm.

This centuries-old nickname feels fresher and more modern today than Susie or Sue. A good short form if you're tempted by Susan, Susanna, or Susannah; another spelling is Sukey.

You may never have known a Nettie personally, but there well might be one hidden in your family history, considering that she was a Top 100 name until 1901 and stayed on the Social Security list until 1962.

So uncool it's almost cool, Bertie makes for a boyish nickname for Alberta, Roberta, Bertille, Albertine... or just use it on its own, à la Billie or Frankie.

A peppy nickname name associated with Lolo (born Lori) Jones, American track and field champ.

A classic short form of Henrietta, also seen as a nickname for Mehetabel.

Innocent, sincere, and bright-eyed, and as outdated as its mother name, Gertrude.

Upper-crusty nickname occasionally used in Britain, particularly in 1930s novels featuring significant garden party scenes, but eclipsed here by Carrie et al.

Vintage nickname for Roberta or Barbara, most famously borne by Roberta "Bobbie" in Edith Nesbit's classic The Railway Children.

This nickname-name is very popular in Germany, though Lottie is still the preferred version in the US. The problem, of course, is that you'll have to put up with a lotta jokes. See?

After a century of association with horses and cows, this name just could be ready for revival by a fearless baby namer -- after all, it did happen to Jessie and Becky.

Unique and unusual as a nickname and a stand-alone name, Loie is a vintage choice worth reviving. It is traditionally used as a short form of Lois and Louise but would work as a nickname for any Lo- starting name, or even names such as Laura, Eloise, and Charlotte.

Short and feminine, Ria has a rhythmic flow.

Freddie, especially with the ie ending, is one of the old-school boy-names-for-girls that came into vogue at the turn of the last century. Freddie, all on its own, ranked among the Top 1000 girl names until 1958, but in 2021 it was given to just 8 baby girls. Maybe that makes it prime for a comeback, ala Billie?

Although she declared her independence as far back as the reign of Elizabeth I--Good Queen Bess, Bess now sounds less passé than Beth or Betsy.

May be the most modern, stylish Catherine nickname: more unusual than Kate or Cate, with an animal and word name edge. Cat Power is a trendy folksinger.

As this word is less often used to mean derriere, it becomes more possible to view Fanny as the kind of appealingly quaint nickname name, like Josie and Nellie, that many parents are favoring now.

A sweet Bobbsey-twin era nickname, fluffy and floral.

This sassy, spunky name was used for the mostly Irish jump-roping pigtailed girls of the thirties and forties -- and some Irish and Italian boys as well. Its most noted bearer was iconic country music singer Patsy Cline (born Virginia), and was sighted most recently in the Ab Fab movie. After reaching Number 52 in the late thirties, it dropped off the list completely in 1970--and we're not anticipating a return.