General Chat

I have often heard of an aunt Arty way back in my family, looking at family records there was a Harriet which was close to my mum, is it possible she could have been nicknamed Arty, does that sound plausible? I have been looking for th Arty connection for years. thanks

Could it be that some small child mispronounced the word aunty? Or could there have been somebody with the name Artemis? In mythology she was the virgin goddess of the hunt and the moon, twin sister of Apollo.

Huia

Hi Connie,
I would say it was possible. I referred to my mum's best friend as 'aunty'.
As for 'Arty' being Harriet - more than possible. The more common shortening of Harriet is 'Hatty', but no reason why it shouldn't be 'Arty'.
As hui says, 'Arty' could also be the word a child used for 'Aunty' - and it stuck!
On reading my gran's letters to my grandad, she mentions an 'Aunty Pen'.
It was only by digging and cross referencing, it transpires 'Aunty Pen' was my gran's sister Gwendoline - given the nickname by my uncle, who couldn't say Gwendoline!

Thank you, both explanations are possible, its very interesting. My mum always used to say Auntie Arty (whatever that meant) and her dads sister was named Harriet. If I ever find a connection I will let you know as it may turn up somewhere else. thanks

Both Aunt Arts in my family were Harriets.

Or could she just have been good at drawing.

My granddaughter used to call he other granddad when he was alive, Grandad with trams (he was a tram driver at crich museum), that could be remembered as Granddad tram.