Berkeley
August 27, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Anglo-Saxon place name, meaning “from the birch meadow”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Bar, Barclay, Barklay, Barkley, Barklie, Barrclay, Berk, Berke, Berkie, Berklee, Berkley, Berky, Birk, Birkeley, Birkley, Bourke, Burk, Burke, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Mr. Berkeley Pelham, Margaret’s uncle, who lives in Brazil, in “That Little Smith Girl” from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Berkeley Pelham (called “Berk“), Margaret’s older brother, in “That Little Smith Girl” from A Flock of Girls and Boys.
Benning
August 27, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
English last name, from the Roman name “Benedictus”, meaning “blessing”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Banish, Benech, Benedict, Benedicte, Beneit, Benet, Bening, Bennet, Bennett, Benoit, Benyt, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– General Benning Wentworth, a venerable ancestor who married his kitchen maid, an act Will Wentworth takes pride in, while his cousin Fanny dislikes to speak of it, in “That Little Smith Girl” from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
St. John
August 26, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
A Norman last name (pronounced “SIN-jun”), possibly referring to any one of the many, many Saint Johns or to one of the many places named for them.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Singen, Sinjin, Sinjon, Sinjun, St. Jean, Stjohn, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– St. John Eyre Rivers, Jane’s hard, cold, deeply religious cousin, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
Damer
August 26, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Variation of the Dutch last name “Dammer”, meaning “lives by the dyke”, or of the German name “Dahmer”, meaning “famous day” or “famous thought”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Dagomar, Dahme, Dahmer, Dammer, Daukmar, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Damer de Rochester, an ancestor of Mr. Rochester, “slain at Marston Moor in the time of the civil wars”, whose tomb Jane notices in the church on her wedding day, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
Fairfax
August 26, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
One of those “last names as first names” that were once a quite popular way for a mother’s maiden name to be passed on to her sons, from Anglo-Saxon, meaning “fair-haired”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
None, really.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Fairfax is the middle name of Edward Rochester, the moody and passionate master of Thornfield, and the name by which Richard Mason calls him, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
Dionysius
August 26, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Latin spelling of “Dionysios”, derived from the name of the Greek god of wine, dance, revelry, and fertility.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Den, Denes, Denis, Denney, Dennis, Denny, Denys, Deon, Deion, Dinis, Diniz, Dion, Dionisie, Dionisio, Dionysios, Dionyz, Tenney, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Dionysius O’Gall of Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught, Ireland, whose family of five daughters Mr. Rochester pretends he his sending Jane to teach, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
WRITERS:
– Dionysius P.A. O’Brien (b. 1934), American singer and songwriter who goes by the pen name “Tom Springfield”.
Edwin
August 25, 2014 § 4 Comments
ORIGIN:
Old English, meaning “rich friend”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Eadwine, Ed, Edd, Eddi, Eddie, Eddy, Edvin, Edwyn, Ned, Nedd, Neddie, Neddy, Ted, Tedd, Teddie, Teddy, Win, Winnie, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Lord Edwin Vere, the young man Georgiana Reed nearly elopes with, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
WRITERS:
– Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838-1926), English educator, novelist, and theologian.
– Edwin Balmer (1883-1959), American writer.
– Edwin Corle (1906-1956), American writer.
– Edwin Gilbert (1907-1976), German-American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter.
– Edwin DuBose Heyward (1885-1940), American dramatist, novelist, and poet, who wrote under the pen name “DuBose Heyward”.
– Edwin Honig (1919-2011), American poet, playwright, and translator.
– Edwin Palmer Hoyt (1923-2005), American writer.
– Edwin Markham (1852-1940), American poet.
– Edwin Morgan (1920-2010), Scottish poet and translator.
– Edwin Muir (1887-1959), Scottish author.
– Edwin O’Connor (1918-1968), American broadcaster, journalist, and novelist.
– Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935), American poet.
– Edwin Rolfe (1909-1954), pen name of American poet and writer Solomon Fishman.
– Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980), American naturalist, photographer, and writer.
Tedo
August 25, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Theodore“, meaning “gift of God”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Fedir, Fedor, Fedya, Feodor, Fyodor, Tad, Taddie, Taddy, Ted, Teddie, Teddy, Teo, Teodor, Teodoro, Theo, Theodor, Theodore, Theodoros, Theodorus, Todor, Toshe, Tudor, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Tedo (Theodore) Ingram, Blanche and Mary’s brother, one of the elegant people who make up Mr. Rochester’s social set, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
Bobby
August 25, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Robert” or “Roberta“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
For girls: Bobbi, Bobbie, Roberta, Robertina, Robin, Robina, Robyn, Robynne, etc.
For boys: Bob, Bobbie, Dob, Dobbie, Dobby, Rob, Robb, Robbe, Robbi, Robbie, Robby, Robi, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Bobby, the boy Sheila briefly went “steady” with while on summer vacation with her family, in Sleeping Arrangements, by Laura Cunningham (published 1989, set in the 1950s).
– Bobby Leaven, Bessie’s young son, who goes with her when she visits Jane Eyre at Lowood Institute, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 