The Art of Literary Nomenclature

ORIGIN:
From an English place name meaning “willow island”; or a diminutive of “Wilson”, or a variation of “Wallace”, “Welles”, “Wiles”, “Willis”, etc.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Wallace, Wallis, Walls, Welles, Wells, Wels, Wil, Wilce, Wiles, Will, Willie, Willis, Wills, Willy, Wilsey, Wilsee, Wilson, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Wilse Graham, Ellen’s staunchly pro-Confederacy nephew from Kentucky in Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (1964; set during the American Civil War, 1861-1865).

Tagged: 1860s, 1960s, English, W