Nancy

A female given name.

Proper noun

  1. A female given name.
    • I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy, Naething could resist my Nancy: But to see her was to love her; Love but her, and love forever. - 1792, Robert Burns, Ae Fond Kiss:
    • "And they've got lovely names, too. You'll like their names," sighed Nancy. "They're 'Algernon' and 'Florabelle' and 'Estelle'. I - I just hate Nancy!" "Oh, Nancy, what a dreadful thing to say! Why?" "Because it isn't...
    • There are many Nancies and Jerries in the world. They get told apart by a further name, such as Nancy Lovelace, or Jerry Turing. - 2003, Ira Pohl, “Nested Classes”, in C# by Dissection: The Essentials of C# Programming,...

Origin

Medieval diminutive of Ann and Agnes. Compare Betsy, Patsy.

Forms

Nancys Nancies

Derived

nance Nance nancyboy Nancy Dawson nonce nosy Nancy

Proper noun Entry 2

  1. A city in Meurthe-et-Moselle department, Grand Est, north-eastern France.

Origin

From French Nancy, from Medieval Latin Nanciacum, from Old High German Nanzig.

Noun

  1. Alternative letter-case form of nancy.
    • HAWKER, the Australian, who is to handle the Sopwith plane, predicts that any fast steamer out of New York will have no difficulty in beating the “Nancies” of the United States Navy. - 1919 May 8, “The Waiting Airmen”,...
    • Funny peculiar: Ganymede promising latitude, if not liberation. The Boy Done Good. For Nancies. He might, however, mean something vastly different for Normals, who are quietly - one could even say covertly - being...
    • In Ashes to Ashes, DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), the Neanderthal copper from 1973, has moved to London from Manchester to show the 'southern Nancys' a thing or two about policing. - 2008 January 20, Beth Willis,...

Forms

Nancies Nancys