Maisie, also spelt Maisy or other minor variations, is a feminine given name. It is the pet form of the Scottish Gaelic name Mairead or the Irish name Mairéad, which are the equivalent of the English name Margaret. The -ie is a diminutive suffix used in Scottish as well as Northern England English.[1]
Margaret is derived via French (Marguerite) and Latin (Margarita) from Ancient Greek: μαργαρίτης (margarítēs) meaning "pearl".[2] The Greek is borrowed from Indo-Iranian languages (Persian).[3][4][5]
People
editMaisie
edit- Maisie Adam (born 1994), English stand-up comedian, writer and actress
- Maisie Carr (1912–1988), Australian botanist
- Maisie Gay (1883–1945), English actress
- Maisie Maxwell (1876–1977), Australian film actress
- Maisie McDaniel (1939–2008), Irish singer
- Maisie Methuen (born 2001), English artistic gymnast
- Maisie Mosco (1924–2011), English writer
- Maisie Nankivell (born 1999), Australian rules football player
- Maisie Peters (born 2000), English musician
- Maisie Potter (born 1997), Welsh snowboarder
- Maisie Renault (1907–2003), French resistance fighter
- Maisie Richardson-Sellers (born 1992), English actress
- Maisie Ringham (1924–2016), British trombonist
- Maisie Shiell (1916–2008), Canadian anti-nuclear activist
- Maisie Smith (born 2001), English actress
- Maisie Summers-Newton (born 2002), British swimmer
- Maisie Trollette (born 1933), British drag queen
- Maisie Ward (1889–1975), British writer, publisher and speaker
- Maisie Williams (born 1997), British actress
Maisy
edit- Maisy Barker, English footballer
- Maisy Collis (born 2000), English footballer
- Maisy Gibson (born 1996), Australian cricketer
- Maisy Ma (born 1999), Hong Kong figure skater
Maysie
edit- Maysie Bestall-Cohen (born 1945), New Zealand modelling agent and fashion show producer
- Maysie Coucher Greig (1901–1971), Australian writer of romantic novels
- Maysie Hoy, Canadian actress and film editor
- Maysie Webb (1923–2005), British librarian and museum executive
Mazie
edit- Mazie E. Clemens (1890s–1952), American journalist and WWI war correspondent
- Mazie Follette (fl 1901–1911), American dancer
- Mazie Gordon-Phillips (1896–1964), American movie theater owner
- Mazie Hirono (born 1947), American junior senator from Hawaii
- Mazie King (1888–1968), American toe dancer, vaudeville performer
- Mazie Turner (1954–2014), Australian artist
- Mazie O. Tyson (1900–1975), American geographer
- Mazie, pseudonym of Grace Christian, American pop star.
Maisey
edit- Maisey Rika (born 1982/1983), New Zealand singer, songwriter and composer
Maizie
edit- Maizie Williams (born 1951), British model and singer
Fictional characters
editMaisie
edit- Maisie, in the British comic strip The Perishers (1959–2006)
- Maisie, the character loved by the protagonist in Rudyard Kipling's first novel, The Light That Failed (1891)
- Maisie, protagonist in the Rosa Mulholland novel Our Sister Maisie (1907)
- Maisie Dobbs, protagonist in an ongoing series of detective novels by Jacqueline Winspear, from 2003
- Maisie Farange, the protagonist in the Henry James novel What Maisie Knew (1897)
- Maisie, the same character in the 2012 film of the novel, played by Onata Aprile
- Maisie Lockwood, a supporting character in the Jurassic Park film franchise
- Maisie MacKenzie, the kitten in the 1980s Scottish children's books by Aileen Paterson
- Maisie Mac, the same character in the 2000-2003 British animated TV series Meeow! (Gaelic version: Meusaidh)
- Maisie Raine, the title character of the eponymous 1998-1999 British TV drama series
- Maisie Ravier, character played by Ann Sothern in ten films and a radio show (1939–1953) and by Janis Paige in a 1960 telemovie
- Maisie Wylde, in the British TV soap opera Emmerdale
Other spellings
edit- Maisy Gibbons from Desperate Housewives
- Maisy Mouse, the titular character of the children's book series by Lucy Cousins and its animated adaptation
- Maizy Russell, a character in the 1989 film Uncle Buck
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia; Hardcastle, Kate (2006). A Dictionary of First Names. The Oxford Reference Collection. OUP Oxford. p. 578. ISBN 978-0-19-157854-0. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 700.
- ^ George F. Kunz and Charles H. Stevenson, The Book of the Pearl: The History, Art, Science and Industry of the Queen of Gems (London and New York: MacMillan & Co., 1908), p. 305.
- ^ Schmitt, Rüdiger. "Persian Loanwords and Names in Greek". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
- ^ Campbell, Mike (29 May 2020). "Meaning, origin and history of the name Margaret". Behind the Name. Retrieved 26 January 2023.