Why Did Elvis Presley Call Priscilla 'Satnin'?

In 2022, Baz Luhrman gave us the electric, excessive musical biopic "Elvis," charting the iconic musician's life in a movie that embraced an almost comic book-like aesthetic. Then, in 2023, we got the much more restrained and contemplative "Priscilla," which focused on Priscilla Presley and Elvis' relationship and their 1967 to 1973 marriage.

With "Priscilla," director Sofia Coppola both romanticizes and criticizes Elvis, telling the story from Priscilla's point of view, based on her own 1985 book "Elvis & Me." Luhrman's film famously catapulted Austin Butler to mega stardom, while Coppola's film starred Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla and Jacob Elordi as the King. While the two films couldn't be more different in terms of tone, there are as you might expect several similarities.

One of the smaller but still important examples is the nickname "Satnin," which Elvis uses in both movies. The Elvis History Blog lists 10 different nicknames the King had for the women in his life, but "Satnin" was reserved for the women for whom he had an especially soft spot. But what does it mean? Here's everything you need to know about Elvis' "Satnin" nickname and why he used it.

Elvis Presley was fond of nicknames for those he loved. The King of Rock and Roll even gave monikers to his friends, referring to members of his "Memphis Mafia" group of associates by different pet names. As Alan Fortas wrote in his 1992 book "Elvis: From Memphis to Hollywood" (via Elvis History Blog), "Elvis had some kind of pet name for almost anybody who spent some time around him, an outgrowth of the baby talk routine he'd gotten into with his mother years before."

But there was one special nickname that came from Presley's mother, Gladys: Satnin. Originally, Elvis referred to his mother as Satnin, but later used it for one of his early girlfriends, June Juanico, who he dated in 1956. Ultimately, though, Priscilla inherited the pet name, and while "Elvis" changed certain facts about its subject's life, both it and "Priscilla" correctly feature the King referring to his mother and his wife as Satnin.

As depicted in "Priscilla" — which stoked the ire of Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley for its portrayal of the musician — Elvis met his future wife while stationed at a West Germany Army base, where Priscilla's stepfather, Captain Joseph Paul Beaulieu, was also based. At the time they met in 1959, Elvis was 24 and Priscilla was just 14 — a contentious detail that "Priscilla" explores as one of the many questionable elements of the King's conduct. Their first meeting occurred at a party just a year after Elvis had lost his mother, and after he and Priscilla became an item, she came to inherit the Satnin nickname he used for Gladys.

The Elvis History Blog quotes Memphis Mafia member Lamar Fike as saying, "[Elvis and Priscilla] would baby-talk back and forth. He called her 'Nungen,' which was Elvis for 'young one.' But he also started calling her 'Satnin' since Gladys was gone."

There's no doubt that Elvis was fond of the nickname Satnin, and reserved it for those to whom he felt particularly close, but there are conflicting reports of where the term actually comes from. In her book, "Elvis: In the Twilight of Memory," (via Distractify) Elvis' once-girlfriend June Juanico recalled how his mother used to sing to him when he was little. She wrote, "You remember the song, 'Mammy's Little Baby Loves Shortnin' Bread'? Well, she used to sing 'mama's little baby has satnin skin.' You know, June, skin soft as satin." In this version of events, "Satnin" was a way of working the word "satin" into the song where the word "shortnin'" would usually go.

However, Elvis' cousin, Billy Smith, remembers things differently. According to him, "Satnin" referred to Gladys Presley's weight — specifically her belly. As Smith recalls it, Elvis would pat his mother on the stomach and say, "Baby's going to bring you something to eat, Satnin'." Still, Smith agreed that the word itself was a version of "shortening," a form of fat that's solid at room temperature, such as lard or margarine. In this version, then, "Satnin" is a tad less sentimental than an altered song lyric, but the fact that Elvis used it affectionately to refer to his mother before applying it to Priscilla is not in dispute.