Crazy Nicknames for Girls

Sweet old-fashioned nickname name that could make a comeback in the wake of Sadie et al. Famous bearers include author Dodie Smith, who wrote The Hundred and One Dalmatians and I Capture the Castle.

You can't get much more feminine, sweet, and ladylike than Lady. Would make a cute nickname for up-and-coming Adelaide. Lady will also bring to mind the canine lover of the Tramp.

Ocie is yet another antiquated ie-ending short form that was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s and now has almost dropped from sight.

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

A less common relic of the Claudette-Paulette-Annette era.

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.

Cedric the Entertainer chose this for his daughter, but most other parents would find it, though optimistic, not exactly substantial.

Boo may have started out as a nickname for the male character Arthur "Boo" Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird and these days may be closely associated with another male Boo, the "world's cutest dog" or with the adorable little girl in Monsters, Inc.

Tippi is best known as the nickname of actress Tippi Hedren, star of Hitchcock's "The Birds" and "Marnie." Hedren's real name was Nathalie Kay; her father dubbed her Tippi. Although the name will inevitably be reminiscent of Hedren, it could make a cute short form for a name such as Tiffany or Philippa.

You can call your daughter Sugar, but only as a term of endearment. Her real name has to be something, almost anything, else.

Zsa Zsa is a zippy Hungarian nickname name, sometimes used independently, linked for decades with the Hungarian-born actress Zsa Zsa Gabor--who was born Sari.

Doe is a soft and gentle-eyed middle name possibility and, like Fawn, one of the few animal names open to girls.

Minty isn't a fresh word name — it's an old-fashioned nickname for Araminta, the romantic smoosh name coined by playwright William Congreve in 1693.

The archetypal diminutive, in every sense of the word. Bitsy enjoyed some use as a nickname in the era when children were named after family members and then called by a cute pet name: Chip, Skip, Babe, Bitsy. As a full name, it has made the US list only three times: in 1943, 1958 and 1962.

Babs is an old-fashioned nickname for Barbara, itself an old-fashioned name that was hugely popular in the 20th century but that's not (yet) on its way back in. If you really want a vintage-y nickname name with a lot of attitude that bucks the current friends, go for Babs instead of Betty or Bea.

To most English speakers, Nana is the dog in Peter Pan, the daughter played by Emma Stone in Crazy Stupid Love, and another name for Grandma.

Zippy is a cute nickname that livens up the Biblical Zipporah. Too cute? Your call.

Flo is an antiquated nickname not often used these days, possibly because "Aunt Flo" is a euphemism for a period.

This jazzy French diminutive of Isabelle was first made famous by the title character of Raymond Queneau’s novel Zazie dans le métro, which was adapted into a film in 1960. It could also work as a nickname for Elizabeth or Susannah.

Prune is a fruit name loved by the French, for whom it's a Plum equivalent. In the U.S., Plum works, but Prune is not a name we'd want to inflict on a child. Prunella is slightly more plausible.