Genealogy Chat

Phoenix, I am not sure about the link between Matthew and Martha. Matthew is a Hebrew name meaning 'Gift of the Lord', whereas Martha is Aramaic meaning 'Mistress of the House'. Liz

My grt gran's sister was a Martha at birth...for some strange reason she was known as 'Biddy'...would love to know how that came about!

Phoenix I recently filled in my Tax Form on line, checked it all and pressed send...too late did I see that I have given my first name as Parjorie. (LOL)

Admittedly I didn't have a mirror, but I sat there, mouthing the words as I typed! But yes, I quite see what you mean, OC. BTW the list of variants omits the one that always foxes me: Matthew is another variant of Martha. Does this mean that Martha is actually the feminine version of Matthew? Was Perkin Warbeck christened Mark? Oooh, so many exciting new avenues!

They were famous biblical sisters, Mark.

Its interesting how often Martha and Mary turn up as sisters in my (puritannical) (or should that be 'muritannical' Perry :-) ) ancestor's families. Mark

Phoenix (You'll wish you never asked) When a child is learning to speak, it imitates not just the sound it hears, but the facial expression of the person speaking to it, in order to form the correct sound. Right - now screw up your mouth and say Mhaaaa - as in Martha. Now screw up mouth and say Phaaa - as in Papa. The mouth shapes are almost the same, the child realises that it has to expel air to get the sound - but has not made the very slight lip and tongue adjustment to differentiate between M and P. So - a child who hears his sister referrred to as Molly, often produces the name Polly, in an attempt to imitate what he is hearing/seeing. This works for nearly all M and P names - contort your face enough, move your tongue around, and you will see where and how most of these nicknames arose. OC

From www.thinkbabynames: The girl's name Martha is pronounced MAR-tha. It is of Aramaic origin, and its meaning is 'lady; mistress of the house.' Biblical: the sister of Mary and Lazarus. She is patron saint of the helping professions. The name was revived by and popular with the Puritans. Lifestyle maven Martha Stewart; First Lady Martha Washington; dancer Martha Graham; Martha 'Calamity' Jane Burke; actress Martha Plimpton. Martha has 33 variant forms: Maarva, Marfa, Marhta, Mariet, Marit, Mart, Marta, Marte, Martella, Martelle, Marth, Marthe, Marthena, Marthine, Marthini, Marthy, Marti, Martie, Martina, Martita, Martje, Martta, Marty, Martynne, Martyne, Marva, Mata, Matha, Matti, Mattie, Mirtha, Pat and Pattie

If it's any help, I have a Pattern Cadman on my tree, and I found somewhere that Pattern is supposed to be a Shropshire name for Martha.

Yes of course it is. Martha - Patty Margaret - Peggy Mary - Polly I don't understand why M becomes P, but it does.

I have heard Matty used as a short form of Martha - only a short step to Patty, so why not? Dea x

Hi there, Again not much help to you, but my grandmother was registered Clara Florence Alberta, when she married she was called Florence Lilian(god knows where she got that from) later the marriage cert was amended by the vicar, she obviously needed it for legal purposes. Think Tiger Lily is correct in saying that she just fancied being called something else! Fuzzy x

Thanks Tiger. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to keep looking and maybe she will turn up somewhere unexpected!! Thanks again.

No I don't think that Patty is short for Martha. However, I do think that names can 'date' you or just sound old fashioned. So, like a lot of girls, (especially if they liked the movies) she may have chosen a more trendy name to be known by. Not much help with research though is it! Good luck. TGx

Could Patty possibly be short for Martha? I have a woman that some people called Martha and others called Patty. Can't find anything for a Martha Patricia or Patricia Martha (Brown). Have no dates to go off except that it was definitely after 1931!!! She supposedly came from Ripley, Codnor area Derbyshire. Any clues??