View Message

Actually there are a lot of experts who think Nancy was first a pet form of Annes and only later applied to Ann. That would explain where the -s- sound comes from in Nancy. Originally the pet form of Ann would have been Nanny and of Agnes/Annes would have been Nancy, but as many people in England completely confused Ann and Annes, there being many examples of the same woman referred to as Ann in one record and Annes in another, Nancy came to be applied to Ann as well as Annes.

The medieval form of Agnes was Annis, which was sometimes used interchangeably with Anne (even though the names were not related). An example is William Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway, who was referred in some sources as Agnes.

---

Perhaps Nan (Nancy) was sometimes used as short for Annis, due to Anne/Annis/Agnes being sometimes considered the same name.

This message was edited 5/29/2022, 2:37 AM

From the entry for Nancy:

---

Previously a medieval diminutive of Annis, though since the 18th century it has been a diminutive of Ann.

---

Annis is a medieval form of Agnes, so I'd say Anna and Nancy are closely related, the same for Agnes and Nancy, though the relation between the latter is archaic.

---

This reminds me of Jenny, which it used to be a diminutive of Jane.