Nancy
August 17, 2014 § 6 Comments
ORIGIN:
Medieval diminutive of “Annis”, or of “Ann” / “Anne” (via “Nan“).
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Ann, Anne, Annie, Anny, Nainsi, Nan, Nancie, Nana, Nance, Nandag, Nanette, Nanice, Nanine, Nannie, Nanny, Nanse, Nansi, Nansie, Nansy, Nenci, Nensi, Neske, Nest, Nesta, Nina, Ninette, Ninon, Nona, Nonna, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Aunt Nancy, who might be a fallback matron for Hope should something happen to Mrs. Bell, in “What Hope Bell Found in Her Stocking”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Nancy Creighton, John’s quiet and withdrawn wife, “amiable, but aloof to the friendly Creightons” in Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (1964; set during the American Civil War, 1861-1865).
– Nancy (Annie) Ridd (sometimes called “Nanny“), John’s favorite sister, a sweet little homemaker, in Lorna Doone, by R.D. Blackmore (written in 1869, set in the 1670s-1680s).
– Nancy (Anne) Steele, Lucy’s well-intentioned but empty-headed ninny of an older sister, a woman of “vulgar freedom and folly”, in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (set between 1792-1797, published in 1811).
WRITERS:
– Nancy Boyd (1892-1950), pen name of American poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay.
– Nancy Cato (1917-2000), Australian activist and writer.
– Nancy A. Collins (b. 1959), American horror novelist.
– Nancy Farmer (b. 1941), American author and children’s book writer.
– Nancy Garden (1938-2014), American author.
– Nancy Holder (b. 1953), American novelist.
– Nancy Huston (b. 1953), Canadian essayist and novelist.
– Nancy Kress (b. 1948), American sci-fi writer.
– Nancy Milford (b. 1938), American biographer.
– Nancy Meyers (b. 1949), American director, producer, and screenwriter.
– Nancy Mitford (1904-1973), English biographer, journalist, and novelist.
– Nancy Oliver (b. 1955), American playwright and screenwriter.
– Nancy Pickard (b. 1945), American crime novelist.
– Nancy Brooker Spain (1917-1964), English broadcaster, columnist, and journalist.
– Nancy Springer (b. 1948), American author.
– Nancy Werlin (b. 1961), American author.
– Nancy Willard (b. 1936), American novelist, poet, and children’s book writer and illustrator.
QUOTATIONS:
– From “Wages“, by Norman Rowland Gale: “Because I bowed / content, I fancy, / He gave me you / for wages, Nancy!”
Tagged: 1670s, 1680s, 1790s, 1810s, 1860s, 1880s, 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, English, Irish, N, Scottish
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 
[…] Other Old Time Tales (1888), by Amélie Rives. – Miss Anne Steele (sometimes called “Nancy“), Lucy’s well-intentioned but empty-headed ninny of an older sister, a woman of […]
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[…] Miller by Henry James (1879). – Annie Ridd (sometimes called “Nanny” or “Nancy“), John’s favorite sister, a sweet little homemaker, in Lorna Doone, by R.D. […]
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[…] IN LITERATURE: – Nanny (Annie) Ridd (sometimes called “Nancy“), John’s favorite sister, a sweet little homemaker, in Lorna Doone, by R.D. […]
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[…] Shortened version of “Nancy“, or a medieval Cornish place name, meaning […]
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Reblogged this on penwithlit and commented:
There was, of course, Robert Morton Nance…..
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[…] ORIGIN: Diminutive of “Ann” / “Anne“, or shortened version of “Nancy“. […]
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