Diminutive nickname for Mordecai or Moses, common in Ashkenazic Jewish communities.
Motty is a warm, affectionate diminutive rooted most commonly in Mordecai, the Hebrew biblical name borne by the uncle and guardian of Queen Esther in the Book of Esther. Mordecai's etymology is fascinatingly layered: most scholars believe it derives from the Babylonian god Marduk, chief deity of the Babylonian pantheon, fused with the Hebrew theophoric suffix — a name that thus embodies the cultural fusion of the Jewish exile in Babylon. In the Purim story, Mordecai is the heroic adviser who refuses to bow to Haman, triggering the conflict that Esther ultimately resolves, making him one of the most celebrated figures in the Hebrew canon.
As a nickname, Motty belongs to the rich tradition of Yiddish and Ashkenazi Jewish pet-name culture, where formal biblical names were affectionately compressed and suffixed: Shmuel became Shmulik, Avraham became Avromele, and Mordecai became Motty (or Mottel, Mottke, Muttel). These diminutives functioned as daily-use names within Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, carrying both the spiritual weight of the original and the domestic warmth of the vernacular. Motty in particular was common in Yiddish-speaking communities of Poland, Lithuania, and Russia, and traveled with emigrant families to Britain, the United States, and Israel.
In contemporary usage, it appears most frequently in Orthodox and Haredi Jewish communities, where traditional naming customs have been most carefully preserved. To hear the name Motty is to hear an entire world of Ashkenazi culture compressed into two syllables — shtetl warmth, Purim celebration, and the long continuity of Jewish memory.