Ollie = Horace

[Phoenix]

There were only four surviving siblings in a south London family, all born between 1880 and 1900. One boy is Horace. That's what it says on GRO indexes and censuses.

The annotation on a photo, however, (showing all four children together) names this child as Ollie. And elderly cousin is adamant that there was an Ollie, but no Horace.

Given Tel = Terence and Del = Derek, Ol = 'Orace seems quite reasonable in South London, but I've not come across it before. Has anyone?

[Shona]

Horry can be a diminutive for Horace. Drop the H and you have Orry. Not such a leap to get to Olly from there, I suppose.

[Olde Crone]

Sounds feasible to me - a sibling trying to say Horace but can only manage Ollie? However, there's no accounting for names and pet names in families - my bro still calls me Cissie, for sister. my real name of course begins with M.

OC

[Shona]

I call my sister Hez. Not her name, but it stuck.

[Phoenix]

Thank you, Shona & OC. If Horace had been a popular name (I blame Rumpole!) then there would be obvious diminutives.

Ollie is usually short for Oliver .. could he have been Horace Oliver ..

[JBee]

I worked with someone named Horace but he was called Bill !!! lol

[Olde Crone]

The letter R often transliterates (?) into L

Mary-Mally-Molly

Harold - Hal

Sarah - Sally

So Horace to Ollie isn't very far!

OC

Horace does to my mind sound like an old man .. apologies to anyone who is called Horace .. and to a little boy and young man he might have wanted to called something else ..
In girls Harriet comes to mind in the same ilk too .. a cousin named her little girl Harriet!!
More challenging I think, the other day a friend was going to call her new baby Ruby, but has now changed her mind and is calling her Willow .. to go with her sister Poppy .. They have an unpronouncable surname too .. can you imagine the torment at school .. Here comes Poppy and Willow!! .. ouch .. they'll have to be pretty resilient..