Bung. The one’s Nancy Curds, and the other Hanna Jenniting: Ditty and Jenniting are agreed already ... the wedding will be kept at our house.”—Scene xiii.
But the use of double diminutives was of every-day practice in Normandy and France, and increased their total greatly. I take at random the following surnames (originally, of course, christian names) from the Paris Directory:—Margotin, Marioton, Lambinet (Lambert), Perrinot, Perrotin, Philiponet, Jannotin, Hugonet, Huguenin, Jacquinot, and Fauconnet (English Fulke). Huguenin (little wee Hugh) repeats the same diminutive; Perrinot and Perrotin (little wee Peter) simply reverse the order of the two diminutives. The “marionettes” in the puppet-show take the same liberty with Mariotin (little wee Mary) above mentioned. Hugonet, of course, is the same as Huguenot; and had English, not to say French, writers remembered this old custom, they would have found no difficulty in reducing the origin of the religious sect of that name to an individual as a starting-point. Guillotin (little wee William) belongs to the same class, and descended from a baptismal name to become the surname of the famous doctor who invented the deadly machine that bears his title. I have discovered one instance of this as a baptismal name, viz. Gillotyne Hansake (“Wars of English in France: Henry VI.,” vol. ii. p. 531).
Returning to England, we find these pet forms in use well up to the Reformation:
“Nov., 1543. Item: geven to Fylpot, my Lady of Suffolk’s lackaye, viis. vid.
“June, 1537. Item: payed to Typkyn for cherys, xxd.”—“Privy Purse Expenses, Princess Mary.”
“1548, July 22. Alson, d. of Jenkin Rowse.”—St. Columb Major.
“1545, Oct. 3. Baptized Alison, d. of John James.”—Ditto.[11]
“Ralph Roister Doister,” written not earlier than 1545, and not later than 1550, by Nicholas Udall, contains three characters styled Annot Alyface, Tibet Talkapace, and Dobinet Doughty. Christian Custance, Sim Suresby, Madge Mumblecheek, and Gawyn Goodluck are other characters, all well-known contemporary names.
In “Thersites,” an interlude written in 1537, there is mention of
“Simkin Sydnam, Sumnor,
That killed a cat at Cumnor.”