Cate?

Kate0034 · May 2015

If you had a daughter named Catherine (with a C) and wanted to call her Cate, would you spell it this way?

I've noticed that the royal Kate spells her name with K despite being Catherine with a C. Just wondering if there's a reason for this. Is Kate the proper spelling no matter what? Is there even such thing as a "proper" spelling for a nickname?

alcrimmins · May 2015

I've seen it both ways, mostly Kate though. I like it with a C!

momo21 · May 2015

Cate or kate are both fine. Cate Blanchett spells it with a C. Personally, I prefer Kate and would probably do Katherine to get that spelling.

bbiutmcph · May 2015

I know women who do both. I much prefer the Catherine spelling but don't mind either nn spelling.

MixedBerries88 · May 2015

I can't tell you a hard and fast rule about this but I will say that K is more intuitive to me for the nn Katie. Caitie just looks wrong to me. Cate even looks wrong. I don't really know what to say other that it just feels wrong to me.

HeavenBlessedMom · May 2015

Katherine for kate

daystardreams · May 2015

I like Cate.

Kate0034 · May 2015

daystardreams said:
I like Cate.

I like it too. Kate is a family name that I may use one day (it's not my own name even though it's my username--I'm weird about real names online so I chose a family name). I'm not attached to the spelling "Kate" though, and I prefer Catherine with a C, so I assume I would probably spell the nn Cate.

Thanks for all the thoughts, everyone!

mattandlora · May 2015

You can spell the NN either way, regardless of the name spelling. Peggy is a NN for Margaret, not Mpeggy. Bessy is a nickname for Elizabeth. They don't have to start with the same letter, or even the same sound. I say go for both spellings that you want

LizWhiz87 · May 2015

I like Cate and find it more appropriate with Catherine. Nicknames by no means have to have all the letters of their origin names (Peggy for example, see above), but if there is a spelling that is recognized and legitimate that is closer to the spelling of the name you have chosen, I would use it.

gonetothesea · May 2015

Cate just seems... more refined and more adult. I like it a lot. I like Kate too, but I just think it looks really nice with a C.

MamaWren919 · May 2015

I love Catherine and Cate. It was a top contender for us, if baby was a girl. I prefer the Cate spelling. I agree that it seems more refined.

balderasmama · May 2015

My name is Caitlyn and I started going by Caite when I wanted to sound more grown up. It is never spelled correctly (I wouldn't expect it to be) and is always spelled Kate. I kind of wish I had gone with Cate since it had a small likelihood of being spelled right, but it was too late. I prefer Cate to Kate, but just know your daughter will always being saying Cate with a C

MixedBerries88 · May 2015

@mattandlora I actually LOLed at Mpeggy.

KadzoKimbia · May 2015

My cousin is Catherine- Catie
Sil is Kathryn-Katy

I think nicknames should resemble the name of possible.

sherbear82 · May 2015

mattandlora said:
You can spell the NN either way, regardless of the name spelling. Peggy is a NN for Margaret, not Mpeggy. Bessy is a nickname for Elizabeth. They don't have to start with the same letter, or even the same sound. I say go for both spellings that you want

How DOES Peggy come from Margaret?

mattandlora · May 2015

@sherbear82 - I have no idea, but it's legit. You can find it on the behind-the-name list under diminutives of Margaret

wassuphoes · May 2015

sherbear82 said:

mattandlora said:
You can spell the NN either way, regardless of the name spelling. Peggy is a NN for Margaret, not Mpeggy. Bessy is a nickname for Elizabeth. They don't have to start with the same letter, or even the same sound. I say go for both spellings that you want
How DOES Peggy come from Margaret?

Medieval variant of Meggy, a diminutive of MARGARET. The reason for the change in the initial consonant is unknown.

LizWhiz87 · May 2015

sherbear82 said:

mattandlora said:
You can spell the NN either way, regardless of the name spelling. Peggy is a NN for Margaret, not Mpeggy. Bessy is a nickname for Elizabeth. They don't have to start with the same letter, or even the same sound. I say go for both spellings that you want
How DOES Peggy come from Margaret?

Maybe someone knew a peg-leg named Margaret and they all called her Peggy for short (cause of her peg leg), and one day someone from out of town heard someone call peg-leg Margaret 'Peggy', but she was wearing a long dress that covered her peg leg so they didn't know she had a peg leg and they thought Peggy was just somehow a nickname for Margaret.

I haven't had my coffee yet and I am a little delirious.

4N6s · May 2015

I prefer Kate

bananers · May 2015

wassuphoes said:

sherbear82 said:

mattandlora said:
You can spell the NN either way, regardless of the name spelling. Peggy is a NN for Margaret, not Mpeggy. Bessy is a nickname for Elizabeth. They don't have to start with the same letter, or even the same sound. I say go for both spellings that you want
How DOES Peggy come from Margaret?
Medieval variant of Meggy, a diminutive of MARGARET. The reason for the change in the initial consonant is unknown.

I read somewhere that for a while there was a trend of swapping out first letters in nicknames. It was somewhat random, but it was a legit trend, and that's where names like Peggy for Margaret or Dick for Richard or Bill for William came about.

secretbaba · May 2015

Makes me think of Buffy as a nickname for Elizabeth. I've always wondered if that's Bethy made into Buffy.

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