Fitzgerald
August 2, 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, “Fitzgerald” was an Irish surname (by way of Anglo-Norman French) meaning “son of Gerald“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Um, maybe Fitzie? And any version of “Gerald”?
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Fitzgerald Fogarty, “Lord Castlefogarty’s second son”, who Mrs. Major O’Dowd thinks George Osborne is very like, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Vere
August 2, 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, “Vere” was a French place name meaning “near the alder”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
None that I know of.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Vere Vane, a gentleman whose mid-life crisis serves as a topic for gossip between Miss Crawley, Rawdon Crawley, and Becky Sharp, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Huddleston
August 1, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
English place name (usually used as a last name) meaning, essentially, “a settlement of huts”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Huds? Huddie? Hudmeister?
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Sir Huddleston Fuddleston (which is a fantastic name) is a neighbor of Sir Pitt Crawley, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Rawdon
August 1, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Old English place name, meaning “rough hill”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Rawdy, I suppose?
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Capt. (later Col.) Rawdon Crawley, the dashing, profligate soldier who is Sir Pitt’s younger son and Becky’s suitor in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Rawdon Crawley, the son of Capt. Crawley and Becky, unofficially adopted by Pitt Crawley and Lady Jane, in Vanity Fair.
Bute
August 1, 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, “Bute” is a Norman name meaning “thick end” or “stump”, or is perhaps derived from an Old English word for a target for archery.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Um…
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– The Rev. Bute Crawley is Sir Pitt Crawley’s brother in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s). Sir Pitt calls him “Buty” or “Buty and the Beast”.
Walpole
August 1, 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, “Walpole” is an old English place name meaning either “pool with a wall” or “pool of the Britons / foreigners”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Wally? Poley?
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Sir Walpole Crawley, the late first Baronet, was Sir Pitt Crawley’s father in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Pitt
August 1, 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, “Pitt” was an Old English / Flemish surname given to one who lived or worked near a “pytt”, or hollow.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
I can think of nothing. Well, nothing flattering or attractive, anyway.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Sir Pitt Crawley, the crude, dissolute old baronet who hires clever little Becky Sharp as governess in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Mr. Pitt Crawley, Sir Crawley’s eldest son and heir, in Vanity Fair.
– Master Pitt Crawley, son of Mr. Pitt and Lady Jane, in Vanity Fair.
Morton
July 30, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Anglo-Saxon last name / place name, meaning “village on the moor”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Mort, Mortie, Morty.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Morton Dykes, a sometime-suitor of one of the Gilbreth girls in Belles on Their Toes (1950), written by Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.
Randolph
July 29, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Variant form of “Randall” or “Randolf”, an old Anglo-Saxon word for “shield-wolf”. Either that, or a place name for “fair valley.” You takes your pick, I guess.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Rand, Randal, Randall, Randolf, Randy, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Randolph Miller, the title character’s scamp of a younger brother in Daisy Miller by Henry James (1879).
Fitzwilliam
July 28, 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, “Fitzwilliam” was an Irish surname meaning “son of William“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
None that I can think of . . . unless you like “Fitzie”?
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Fitzwilliam Darcy, the romantic-lead-to-end-all-romantic-leads in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (written in 1797, published in 1813). Hard to imagine calling him “Fitzwilliam”, though, right? Kinda lessens the sex appeal a bit.
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 