Brewer's: Elizabeth

had pet names for all her favourite courtiers; q.e.:

The mother of Sir John Norris she called “My own Crow.” Burghley was her “Spirit.”

Mountjoy she termed her “Kitchenmaid in Ireland.”

Elizabeth

has given more variants than any other Christian name: Eliza, Isa, Isabel, Lizzy, Elizabeth, Elisabetta, Betty, Bettina, Bess, Bessy, etc.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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