Ruthie
August 22, 2014 § 2 Comments
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Ruth“, meaning “friend” or “companion”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Ruta, Rute, Ruut, Ruth, Ruthy.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Ruthie (Ruth) Jameson, “a girl of the city” who cannot see herself as the Harvester’s dream girl, in The Harvester (1911) by Gene Stratton Porter.
Patience
August 22, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
One of the “virtue” names created by the Puritans. Guess what it means? If you guessed, “patience”, you’re right! If you did not guess “patience”, you are . . . not right.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Possibly Pat / Patti / Pattie / Patty? Paysh? Payshie? Possibly?
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Lady Patience Lennox, Lady Elizabeth’s first daughter, a beautiful, elfin creature who was inaptly named, in “Nurse Crumpet Tells the Story” (written in 1887, set circa 1630s-1669), from A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old Time Tales (1888), by Amélie Rives.
Dorothy
August 22, 2014 § 13 Comments
ORIGIN:
English version of “Dorothea”, meaning “gift of God”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Dede, Dee, Deedee, Dodie, Doll, Dolley, Dollie, Dolly, Dora, Doreen, Doretta, Dorinda, Dorine, Dorit, Dorita, Dorotea, Dorothea, Dortha, Dorthy, Dory, Dosia, Dot, Dottie, Dotty, Lola, Lollie, Lolly, Moll, Molly, Tea, Thea, Tia, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Lady Dorothy Lennox (called “Dolly“), one of the children in the care of Nurse Crumpet who beg her to tell the sad story of their Aunt Patience, in “Nurse Crumpet Tells the Story” (written in 1887, set circa 1630s-1669), from A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old Time Tales (1888), by Amélie Rives.
WRITERS:
– Dorothy Allison (b. 1949), American writer.
– Dorothy Bryant (b. 1930), American writer.
– Dorothy Day (1897-1980), American activist and journalist.
– Dorothy Dunnett (1923-2001), Scottish historical novelist.
– Dorothy Eden (1912-1982), American author.
– Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879-1958), activist and author.
– Dorothy Gilman (1923-2012), American author.
– Dorothy Hewett (1923-2002), Australian writer.
– Dorothy B. Hughes (1904-1993), American author and critic.
– Dorothy Livesay (1909-1996), Canadian poet.
– Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), American author, critic, poet, and satirist.
– Dorothy Porter (1954-2008), Australian poet.
– Dorothy Richardson (1873-1957), English author and journalist.
– Dorothy Lucy Sanders (1907-1987), pen name used by Australian writer Dorothy McClemans (also as “Lucy Walker” and “Shelley Dean”).
– Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957), English writer and humanist.
– Dorothy West (1907-1998), American author.
Marjory
August 22, 2014 § 3 Comments
ORIGIN:
Alternate spelling of “Margery” / “Marjorie”, a medieval English version of “Margaret“, influenced by the name of the herb “marjoram”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Madge, Mae, Maisie, Maisy, Mame, Mamie, Margaret, Margareta, Margaretha, Margarethe, Margarita, Margaux, Marge, Margery, Margie, Margit, Margy, Margo, Margot, Marguerite, Marji, Marjorie, May, Mayme, Maymie, Meg, Megan, Megeen, Megen, Meggie, Meggy, Meta, Metta, Midge, Mim, Mimi, Mimsie, Mimsy, Mysie, Jorey, Jori, Jorie, Peg, Pegeen, Peggie, Peggy, Peigi, Reeta, Rita, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Marjory, a village woman who loses her reason after her man falls from a cliff, in “Nurse Crumpet Tells the Story” (written in 1887, set circa 1630s-1669), from A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old Time Tales (1888), by Amélie Rives.
– Marjory Pebble, a little girl who lives near the Lemons, in “The Farrier Lass o’ Piping Pebworth” (written in 1887, set circa 1600), from A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old Time Tales.
WRITERS:
– Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998), American activist, journalist, and writer.
– Marjory Wardrop (1869-1909), English scholar and translator.
Jezreel
August 22, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
From a Hebrew place name, meaning “God will sow”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
For girls: Jesreel, Jessi, Jessie, Jessy, Jezzi, Jezzie, Jezzy.
For boys: Jesse, Jesreel.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Jezreel Spittlewig, a local joiner, who is suggested to (and summarily rejected by) Keren Lemon as a possible husband, 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.
Meg
August 22, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Margaret“, meaning “pearl”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Madge, Mae, Mag, Maggi, Maggie, Maggy, Maighread, Maisie, Maisy, Mame, Mamie, Marga, Margaid, Margaux, Marge, Marged, Margery, Margie, Margit, Margy, Margo, Margot, Marji, Marjorie, Marjory, May, Mayme, Maymie, Meg, Megan, Megeen, Megen, Meggie, Meggy, Meta, Metta, Midge, Mim, Mimi, Mimsie, Mimsy, Mysie, Peg, Pegeen, Peggie, Peggy, Peigi, Reeta, Rita, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Mistress Meg Titmouse, a friend of Keren Lemon’s, 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.
Keren-Happuch
August 22, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Hebrew, meaning “horn of face paint” or “box of cosmetics”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
. . . I got nothin’.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Keren-Happuch Lemon (so christened in order that her parents can call her “Keren” when she pleases them — which is usual, especially where her father is concerned — and “Happuch” when she is misbehaving), whose bravery and kindness in the face of heartbreak is the topic of her father’s story 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.
Keren
August 22, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Hebrew, meaning “horn” or “ray of light”. Sometimes used as an alternate spelling of “Karen”, “Carin”, etc.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Caren, Carin, Carina, Caryn, Karen, Karena, Karin, Karina, Karyn, Kerena, Kerr, Kerrie, Kerry, Reena, Rina, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Keren Lemon (christened “Keren-Happuch” in order that her parents can call her “Keren” when she pleases them — which is usual, especially where her father is concerned — and “Happuch” when she is misbehaving), whose bravery and kindness in the face of heartbreak is the topic of her father’s story 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.
Robin
August 22, 2014 § 2 Comments
ORIGIN:
Medieval diminutive of “Robert“. For girls, usually a reference to the small, red-breasted songbird.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
For girls: Bobbie, Robbie, Robbin, Robinett, Robinette, Robena, Robenia, Roberta, Robina, Robyn, etc.
For boys: Bob, Bobbie, Bobby, Rab, Rob, Robbie, Robby, Robert, Roberto, Robi, Rupert, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Robin, the little boy whose illness prevents him from following the path laid out for him, but who manages to find the door in the wall nevertheless, in The Door in the Wall (written in 1949 and set sometime between 1327-1377), by Marguerite de Angeli.
– Robin (Lord Robert of Amhurste), a brave and generous young man, in “A Brother to Dragons” (written in 1886, set in 1586), from A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old Time Tales (1888), by Amélie Rives.
– Robin (Robert) Racket, a handsome and charming lad who steals the hearts of cousins Keren Lemon and Ruth Visor, in “The Farrier Lass o’ Piping Pebworth” (written in 1887, set circa 1600), from A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old Time Tales (1888).
– Robin Snell (called “Bob“), the little schoolboy whose fight with young John Ridd is momentarily disrupted by news of the elder Ridd’s death, in Lorna Doone, by R.D. Blackmore (written in 1869, set in the 1670s-1680s).
WRITERS:
– Robin Ddu o Fon (c.1744-1785), Welsh poet also known as “Robert Hughes”.
Margaret
August 22, 2014 § 15 Comments
ORIGIN:
From the Latin “Margarita”, derived from the Greek word “margarites”, meaning “pearl”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Greet, Griet, Greta, Gretchen, Grete, Gretel, Grethe, Gretta, Maarit, Madge, Mae, Mag, Maggi, Maggie, Maggy, Maighread, Mairead, Maisie, Maisy, Mame, Mamie, Mared, Maret, Marga, Margaid, Margalo, Margareeta, Margareta, Margaretha, Margarethe, Margaretta, Margarit, Margarita, Margaux, Marge, Marged, Margery, Margherita, Margie, Margit, Margy, Margo, Margot, Margreet, Margrethe, Margriet, Margrit, Marguerita, Marguerite, Marita, Marjeta, Marji, Marjorie, Marjory, Marketa, Marketta, Marsaili, May, Mayme, Maymie, Meg, Megan, Megeen, Megen, Meggie, Meggy, Mererid, Merete, Meta, Metta, Midge, Mim, Mimi, Mimsie, Mimsy, Mysie, Peg, Pegeen, Peggie, Peggy, Peigi, Reeta, Rita, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Lady Margaret of Amhurste, Lord Robert’s brave and strong-willed twin sister, who saves the wild, cavalier Lord Denbeigh, in “A Brother to Dragons” (written in 1886, set in 1586), from A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old Time Tales (1888), by Amélie Rives.
– Margaret Dashwood, the third Dashwood sister, “a good-humoured well-disposed girl; but as she had already imbibed a good deal of Marianne’s romance, without having much of her sense, she did not, at thirteen, bid fair to equal her sisters at a more advanced period of life”, in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (set between 1792-1797, published in 1811).
– Margaret Pelham (called “Peggy“), a simply-dressed, sweet girl who experiences a case of mistaken identity, in “That Little Smith Girl” from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
WRITERS:
– Margaret Atwood (b. 1939), Canadian activist, critic, essayist, novelist, and poet.
– Margaret Blake (1921-1995), pen name of English mystery and romance author Barbara Margaret Trimble, who also published under the pen names “Barbara Gilmour” and “B.M. Gill”.
– Margaret Major Cleaves (b. 1946), American romance author who also publishes under the pen name “Ann Major”.
– Margaret Gibson (b. 1944), American poet.
– Margaret Gibson (1948-2006), Canadian novelist and short story writer.
– Margaret Millar (1915-1994), American-Canadian mystery author.
– Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949), American novelist.
– Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897), Scottish novelist and historical writer.
– Lady Margaret Seymour (1540-????), English writer.
– Margaret Truman (1924-2008), American historian, novelist, and singer.
– Margaret Wilson (1882-1973), American novelist.
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 