-y

-ie, -y

1. These suffixes are used in pet-names and diminutives. There is often a free choice between -ie and -y, except that -y is always used in the pet-names baby, daddy, ducky, granny, hubby, mummy, and sonny, and in the diminutives bunny, fatty, kitty, nappy, and teddy, and -ie is always used in the diminutives bookie, girlie, and goalie, and is the preferred form in a number of words associated with Scotland (beastie, kiltie, laddie, lassie, etc.). In other cases (dearie / deary, goalie / goaly, nightie / nighty, etc.), it is largely a matter of individual preference or of a particular printing style. Spellings of individual words will be found in the current edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary. The plural forms of all these words end in -ies.

2. Spelling of personal names (Jamie, Katie, Molly, Sally, Willie, etc.) is not a matter of choice but of the form favoured by the bearer of a particular name.