According to an in-depth article by Richard Sackley for Classic Images (January 2010), her birth name coincided with a hospital visit by
Jack Dempsey, the former World Heavyweight Champion. It seems that Dempsey caught a glimpse of the newborn being carried by a nurse and declared, "Boy, there's a patsy." The nurse relayed the story to Patsy's mother. Although the baby's legal name was Virginia, she was called Patsy thereafter.