Patsy

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title: "Patsy" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["english-feminine-given-names", "feminine-given-names", "irish-masculine-given-names", "scottish-feminine-given-names", "english-masculine-given-names", "masculine-given-names", "scottish-masculine-given-names", "nicknames", "scottish-unisex-given-names"] topic_path: "geography/ireland" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox Given Name Revised"]

FieldValue
namePatsy
imageFile:Patsy Cline publicity photo.jpg
captionCountry western singer Patsy Cline (1932–1963)
pronunciation
genderUnisex
meaning"Noble" (i.e. a patrician)
regionnorth England, Scotland, & Ireland
originLatin Patricius
related namesMartha, Matilda, Mattie, Patricia, Patrick, Patti, Patty
::

| name = Patsy |image=File:Patsy Cline publicity photo.jpg |imagesize= |caption=Country western singer Patsy Cline (1932–1963) | pronunciation =
| gender = Unisex | meaning = "Noble" (i.e. a patrician) | region = north England, Scotland, & Ireland | origin = Latin Patricius | related names = Martha, Matilda, Mattie, Patricia, Patrick, Patti, Patty | footnotes = [[File:Martha Parke Custis.jpg|right|thumb|[[Martha Parke Custis|Patsy Custis]] (1756–1773), the daughter of [[Martha Washington]] and stepdaughter of [[George Washington]].]] [[File:Martha Jefferson Randolph cropped.jpg|right|thumb|[[Martha Jefferson Randolph]] (1772–1836), was nicknamed Patsy.]][[File:Princess Patricia wounded Canadian Soldiers.jpg|right|thumb|[[Princess Patricia of Connaught]] (1886–1974), pictured with wounded Canadian soldiers in 1917. Her nickname was Patsy.]]

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, or Patrice). Among Italian Americans, it is often used as a pet name for Pasquale.

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.

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".

Women with the name

Men with the name

Fictional characters

Victim of deception

The popularity of the name has waned with the rise of its, chiefly North American, meaning as "dupe" or "scapegoat". 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!"{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-G_VVq2A-kC&pg=PA275 |title=Balderdash & Piffle|author=Alex Games|publisher=Random House|year=2010|isbn=9781446415054|pages=275}} 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. 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."{{cite book|author=Robert S. Bader|title= Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers On Stage |publisher=Northwestern University Press|year=2016|page=103}}

Lee Harvey Oswald, after the assassination of 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!"{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/us/jfk-assassination.html|title=A J.F.K. Assassination Glossary: Key Figures and Theories|date=26 October 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=13 May 2018|issn=0362-4331}}

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

References

References

  1. "Common Nicknames & Their Given Name Equivalents".
  2. (2005). "Patsy". Oxford University Press.
  3. "Patsy".
  4. "Oswald's Ghost". PBS.
  5. "Transcripts".

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english-feminine-given-namesfeminine-given-namesirish-masculine-given-namesscottish-feminine-given-namesenglish-masculine-given-namesmasculine-given-namesscottish-masculine-given-namesnicknamesscottish-unisex-given-names