English pet name for many forenames beginning with the letter "D-", some of which are listed, above. It may also be a given name. The rarer male form as a given name is more common in the US.
The original usage may relate to a River Dee in Scotland, Wales or England, possibly via the surname.
ONC says Dee is most frequently used as a pet name for Dorothy, but we are unconvinced that it is so restricted since, while Dee is still popular, Dorothy has fallen out of favour. One correspondent [DG] has reported it being used for Doris.
We would welcome additional examples of this usage. |
