Patsy

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For other uses, see Patsy (disambiguation).
Patsy
PronunciationPAT-see
GenderFemale; sometimes Male
Origin
Word/nameLatin Patricius
Meaning"Noble" (i.e. a patrician)
Region of originnorth England, Scotland, & Ireland
Other names
Related namesPatricia (fem), Patrick (masc)

Name[]

Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among Italian-Americans, it is often used as a pet name for Pasquale.[1]

In older usage, Patsy was also a nickname for Martha or Matilda, following a common nicknaming pattern of changing an M to a P (such as in Margaret → Meg/Meggy → Peg/Peggy; and Molly → Polly) and adding a feminine suffix.[1][2]

President George Washington called his wife Martha "Patsy" in private correspondence. President Thomas Jefferson's eldest daughter Martha was known by the nickname "Patsy", while his daughter Mary was called "Polly".[citation needed]

People with the name[]

Female[]

Male[]

Fictional characters[]

Victim of deception[]

The popularity of the name has waned with the rise of its, chiefly North American,[3] meaning as "dupe" or "scapegoat".[1] Fact, Fancy and Fable, published in 1889, notes that in a sketch performed in Boston "about twenty years ago" a character would repeatedly ask "Who did that?" and the answer was "Patsy Bolivar!"[4] It may have been popularized by the vaudevillian Billy B. Van, whose 1890s character, Patsy Bolivar, was more often than not an innocent victim of unscrupulous or nefarious characters.[5] Van's character became a broad vaudeville "type", imitated by many comedians, including Fred Allen, who later wrote, "Patsy Bolivar was a slang name applied to a bumpkin character; later, it was shortened to Patsy, and referred to any person who was the butt of a joke."[6]

Lee Harvey Oswald, after assassinating president John F. Kennedy, denied he was responsible for the murder, and stated: "No, they are taking me in because of the fact that I lived in the Soviet Union. I'm just a patsy!"[7][8]

Byron Smith, after killing Haile Kifer and her cousin, Nicholas Brady, also claimed he was a patsy.[9]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Names: Patsy". edgarbook. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2007.
  2. ^ "Common Nicknames & Their Given Name Equivalents". About.com. Retrieved 16 November 2007.
  3. ^ Soanes, Catherine & Stevenson, Angus (ed.) (2005). "Patsy". Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd revised ed.). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 1291. ISBN 978-0-19-861057-1.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  4. ^ Games, Alex (2010). Balderdash & Piffle. Random House. p. 275. ISBN 9781446415054.
  5. ^ "Patsy". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  6. ^ Bader, Robert S. (2016). Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers On Stage. Northwestern University Press. p. 103.
  7. ^ "Oswald's Ghost". American Experience. PBS. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  8. ^ "A J.F.K. Assassination Glossary: Key Figures and Theories". The New York Times. October 26, 2017. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  9. ^ "Transcripts". CNN.com. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
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