Joey
wiktionary
Unknown. Older and more general sources state that joey comes from an Australian aboriginal language, but newer sources that focus on Australian English and aboriginal languages say the origin is unknown. The Australian National Dictionary includes a sense of “young possum” with citations predating the earliest “young kangaroo” citations.
From Joseph Grimaldi.
joey (plural joeys)
From Joey Deacon, who was the focus of Blue Peter's 1981 charity campaign. The programme was aimed at children, who then picked the term up and used it as an insult.
Said to have been named after Scottish politican Joseph Hume (1777–1855).
etymonline
joey (n.)
"young kangaroo," 1839, sometimes said to be from a native Australian word joè, but more recently often said to be of unknown origin. Perhaps an extended use of Joey, the familiar form of the male proper name Joseph, for which Partridge lists many common or coarse meanings in 20c. Australian slang. Farmer and Henley ("Slang and Its Analogues") quote an 1887 article on "Australian Colloquialisms":
JOEY is a familiar name for anything young or small, and is applied indifferently to a puppy, or a kitten, or a child, while a WOOD-AND-WATER-JOEY is a hanger about hotels and a doer of odd jobs.
