Zenobia
August 12, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
From Greek, meaning “life of Zeus”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Sena, Seena, Senia, Sina, Xena, Xeena, Xenia, Xina, Xenobia, Zena, Zenia, Zenicia, Zenija, Zenovia, Zina, Zinovia, Zinoviya, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Zenobia Frome (called “Zeena“), Ethan’s sickly, caustic wife in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (written in 1911, but set in the 1890s or first few years of the 1900s).
Zeena
August 12, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Alternate spelling of “Zena”, possibly a feminine version of “Zeno”, or a variant of “Xenia” / “Zenia”, or a diminutive of names like “Rosina” or “Zenobia“, “Zenaida”, etc.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Sena, Seena, Senia, Sina, Xena, Xeena, Xenia, Xina, Zena, Zenia, Zenicia, Zenija, Zina, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Zeena (Zenobia) Frome, Ethan’s sickly, caustic wife in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (written in 1911, but set in the 1890s or first few years of the 1900s).
Ethan
August 12, 2014 § 5 Comments
ORIGIN:
From Hebrew, meaning “firm” or “enduring”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Eathon, Eitan, Eten, Eth, Ethe, Ethen, Eytan, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Ethan Frome, the luckless, careworn farmer of the title in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (written in 1911, but set in the 1890s or first few years of the 1900s).
– Ethan Frome, Sr., who frittered away what little wealth the family had, leaving his wife and son to a hardscrabble existence, in Ethan Frome.
Ruth
August 7, 2014 § 7 Comments
ORIGIN:
From Hebrew, meaning “friend” or “companion”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Ruta, Rute, Ruut, Ruthie, Ruthy.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Ruth Bowen, the noble, sea-loving young heroine of “Water Lilies” from A Garland for Girls, by Louisa May Alcott, 1887.
– Ruth Huckabuck, Reuben’s dwarfish granddaughter and heir, in Lorna Doone, by R.D. Blackmore (written in 1869, set in the 1670s-1680s).
– Ruth Jameson (sometimes called “Ruthie“), “a girl of the city” who cannot see herself as the Harvester’s dream girl, in The Harvester (1911) by Gene Stratton Porter.
– Ruth Varnum (later Mrs. Ned Hale), a friend of Ethan’s and Mattie’s, who, as landlady to the narrator, is able to fill him in on some of the details surrounding Ethan’s tragic life, in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (written in 1911, but set in the 1890s or first few years of the 1900s).
– Ruth Visor, Keren Lemon’s cousin, who fears she will be forced to compete with Keren for Robert Racket’s love, in “The Farrier Lass o’ Piping Pebworth” (written in 1887, set circa 1600), from A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old Time Tales (1888), by Amélie Rives.
WRITERS:
– Ruth Gordon (1896-1985), American actress and writer.
– Ruth Prowler Jhabvala (1927-2013), German-born British-American writer.
– Ruth Edna Kelley (1893-1982), American author and librarian.
– Ruth Rendell (b. 1930), English author.
– Ruth Stout (1884-1980), American author.
– Ruth Plumly Thomson (1891-1976), American children’s book author.
Eliza
August 2, 2014 § 3 Comments
ORIGIN:
Shortened form of “Elizabeth“, meaning “oath of God”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Ella, Ellie, Elissa, Elsa, Elsie, Elyse, Libby, Liddy, Lisa, Lise, Lisette, Liz, Liza, Lizette, Lizy, Lizzie, Lizzy, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Eliza Brandon, Col. Brandon’s cousin, who is forced to marry his brother, and who leaves him the care of her young daughter, in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (set between 1792-1797, published in 1811).
– Eliza Reed (sometimes called “Lizzy“), one of Jane’s spoiled, mean-spirited cousins, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Eliza Ridd (called “Lizzie“), John’s small, strange, and spiteful book-loving youngest sister, in Lorna Doone, by R.D. Blackmore (written in 1869, set in the 1670s-1680s).
– Eliza Spears, a local woman who was miraculously cured by Zeena’s new doctor, Dr. Buck, in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (written in 1911, but set in the 1890s or first few years of the 1900s).
– Eliza Styles is the false name Rawdon Crawley uses to receive letters from Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Eliza Williams, Col. Brandon’s ward, who follows too closely the example of her unfortunate mother in at least one regard, in Sense and Sensibility.
WRITERS:
– Eliza Acton (1799-1859), English author and cook.
– Eliza Cook (1818-1889), English author, poet, and writer.
– Eliza Haywood (c. 1693-1756), English actress and writer.
– Eliza Tabor Stephenson (1835-1914), English novelist.
Daniel
July 30, 2014 § 5 Comments
ORIGIN:
From Hebrew, meaning “God is my judge”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Dan, Danilo, Dannie, Danny, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Daniel (b. 1917; sometimes called “Dan“), the ninth of the dozen Gilbreth children whose upbringing is related in Cheaper By the Dozen (1948) and Belles on Their Toes (1950), written by Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.
– Daniel Byrne, a local man who offers to help get Mattie packed up and on her way out of town, in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (written in 1911, but set in the 1890s or first few years of the 1900s).
WRITERS:
– Daniel Defoe (1660-1730), English author and satirist.
– Daniel Keyes (1927-2014), American author.
– Daniel Moran (b. 1947), pen name of American fantasy, science fiction, and Western author Robert E. Vardeman, who has also published under the pen names “Cliff Garnett”, “Edward S. Hudson”, “F.J. Hale”, “Jackson Lowry”, “Karl Lassiter”, “Paul Kenyon”, and “Victor Appleton”.
– Daniel Stern (1928-2007), American novelist.
QUOTATIONS:
– In The Merchant of Venice (1596), by William Shakespeare, the character of Shylock implies that he hopes for a wise resolution in the difficult case at hand: “A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel! / O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!”
Martha
July 30, 2014 § 6 Comments
ORIGIN:
From the Aramaic for “lady” or “mistress”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Madge, Maddie, Maddy, Marita, Mart, Marta, Marte, Marty, Mat, Mattie, Matty, Pat (from Mat, I guess), Patsy, Pattie, Patty, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Martha, the chambermaid hired to work at the orphanage, in “Polly’s Valentine” from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Martha Abbott, a servant Jane once overheard Bessie gossiping with on the subject of presentiments, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Martha Crawley, née MacTavish, the Rev. Bute Crawley’s wife in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Miss Martha Crawley, one of the Rev. Bute Crawley’s daughters in Vanity Fair.
– Martha G., mentioned in the Child’s Guide pamphlet Mr. Brocklehurst gives to Jane at their first meeting, urging her to “read it with prayer, especially that part containing ‘An account of the awfully sudden death of Martha G—, a naughty child addicted to falsehood and deceit'”, in Jane Eyre.
– Martha Gilbreth (b. 1909), the fourth of the dozen Gilbreth children whose upbringing is related in Cheaper By the Dozen (1948) and Belles on Their Toes (1950), written by Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.
– Martha Griswold, one of snobbish Jessica Hurstwood’s schoolmates, who is scorned for her poor family, in Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie (published in 1900; set 1889-1890s).
– Martha Hilton, the kitchen maid Gen. Benning Wentworth married, mentioned in “That Little Smith Girl” from A Flock of Girls and Boys.
– Martha Jocelyn, Angela’s older sister, whose disillusionment has made her slightly bitter, in “An April Fool”, from A Flock of Girls and Boys.
– Martha Langston, David’s dear departed mother, in The Harvester (1911) by Gene Stratton Porter.
– Martha Pierce, the aunt Zeena Frome stays with while in Bettsbridge to see the doctor, in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (written in 1911, but set in the 1890s or first few years of the 1900s).
– Martha Sharpe, a friend of Miss Anne Steele’s, with whom she shared many confidences for her sister Lucy to eavesdrop on, in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (set between 1792-1797, published in 1811).
WRITERS:
– Martha Finley (1828-1909), American author and educator who sometimes wrote under the pen name “Martha Farquharson”.
– Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998), American journalist, novelist, and travel writer.
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 