Note 70 — Chapter I · PATRONYMIC SURNAMES.

Elizabeth came into use too late to leave any mark upon our surnames. I have not come across, to the best of my remembrance, a single instance in any record earlier than the fifteenth century. ‘Bess,’ or ‘Bessie,’ was the first pet name formed from it, and this very probably began to grow into favour about the time of Elizabeth Woodville’s marriage. With the proud imperious Queen Bess, however, came in every conceivable variety that could be played upon the name, ‘Betsey,’ or ‘Betsy,’ ‘Betty,’ ‘Eliza,’ ‘Lizzie,’ and ‘Libbie’ being the favourites. The first ‘Bessie’ I find is that of ‘Bessye Tripps,’ 1558; the first ‘Betty’ being that of ‘Bettye Sheile,’ 1580, both being in a Newcastle will. Betty for two centuries was, perhaps, the form most in favour in aristocratic circles. How fickle is fashion! It is entirely tabooed there in the nineteenth.