Connie
October 25, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Constance“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Constance, Constantia, Constanza, Constanze, Konstancja, Konstanze, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Connie Turner, the little girl who Lady Mary appears to in order to right a sad wrong, in “Old Lady Mary” (1884), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
Sandy
October 25, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
For boys, a diminutive of “Alexander“, etc. For girls, a diminutive of “Alexandra”, “Sandra“, etc.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
For girls: Sandie, Sandrine, Sasha, Sassa, Saundra, Shura, Sondra, Sondrine, Szandra, Xandra, Zandra, etc.
For boys: Sacha, Sander, Sandor, Sandro, Sascha, Saunder, Sawney, Sender, Shura, Skender, Xander, Zander, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Sandy Jarvis, the coachman at Brentwood, who is able to give Col. Mortimer some information regarding the haunting of the ruined estate, in “The Open Door” (1881), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
WRITERS:
– Sandy Frank (1954-2014), American comedy and television writer.
– Sandy Wilson (1924-2014), English composer and lyricist.
Jeanie
October 25, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Jean”, a medieval variation of “Jane“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Jean, Jeane, Jeanne, Jeannie, Jeanette, Jeanine, Jeannette, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Miss Jeanie, one of Aunt Mary’s friends, in “The Library Window” (1896), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
– Jeanie Mortimer, one of Roland’s sisters in “The Open Door” (1881), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen.
Agatha
October 25, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
From the Greek word “agathos”, meaning “good”, by way of the Latin name “Agathe”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Agata, Agathe, Agda, Agi, Aggie, Aggy, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Agatha Mortimer, one of Roland’s sisters in “The Open Door” (1881), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
WRITERS:
– Agatha Christie (1890-1976), English crime novelist, playwright, and short story writer.
Roland
October 25, 2014 § 4 Comments
ORIGIN:
Germanic, meaning “famous land”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Laurand, Laurant, Laurend, Laurent, Lorend, Lorent, Lorand, Lorant, Roel, Roeland, Rolan, Rolando, Rolland, Rollie, Rolly, Roly, Rowland, Rowle, Rowley, Rowlie, Orland, Orlando, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Roland Mortimer, the kind-hearted boy whose concern for a lost soul nearly destroys him, in “The Open Door” (1881), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
WRITERS:
– Roland Leighton (1895-1915), English poet and soldier.
Willie
August 27, 2014 § 4 Comments
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “William“, meaning “will-helmet”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Bil, Bill, Billie, Billy, Gwil, Liam, Lyam, Pim, Vila, Vili, Viljo, Ville, Wil, Wilkie, Wilkin, Wilky, Will, Willis, Willy, Wim, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Willie, the poor lost soul whose grief drives young Roland Mortimer to distraction, and nearly to death, in “The Open Door” (1881), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
– Willie, a shopboy who works at the Chicago shoe factory where Carrie first finds employment, in Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie (published in 1900; set 1889-1890s).
– Willie Gentle, the young minstrel in Captain Cully’s band of freebooters, in the fantasy novel The Last Unicorn (1968) by Peter S. Beagle.
– Willie (Will) Wentworth, a friendly, level-headed Boston boy in “That Little Smith Girl” from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
WRITERS:
– Willie Gilbert (1916-1972), American author and playwright.
– Willie Morris (1934-1999), American editor and writer.
– Willie Rushton (1937-1996), English actor, author, cartoonist, comedian, and satirist.
– Willie Yeadon (1907-1997), English historian.
Janet
August 25, 2014 § 6 Comments
ORIGIN:
Medieval diminutive of “Jane“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Jan, Jana, Janae, Janelle, Janetta, Janette, Janey, Janie, Janice, Janis, Janith, Janna, Jannah, Jannetta, Jannette, Jayna, Jayne, Jaynie, Jean, Jeanette, Jeanne, Jenae, Jenna, Jennet, Jenni, Jenny, Joan, Joanie, Joanne, Joanna, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Janet, the pet name Mr. Rochester occasionally gives to Jane, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Janet, a maidservant in Aunt Mary’s household, in “The Library Window” (1896), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
Agnes
August 25, 2014 § 2 Comments
ORIGIN:
Latinized version of the Greek “Hagne”, meaning “pure” or “chaste”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Aggie, Aggy, Agi, Agnese, Agnessa, Agneta, Agnete, Agnetha, Agneza, Agnieszka, Aigneis, Annice, Annis, Aune, Hagne, Iines, Ines, Inez, Jagna, Janja, Nainsi, Nance, Nancie, Nancy, Nensi, Nes, Neske, Nessie, Nessy, Nest, Nesta, Neysa, Oanez, Ynes, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Dame Agnes, who mends Robin’s clothing in preparation for his journey to Sir Peter’s castle, in The Door in the Wall (written in 1949 and set sometime between 1327-1377), by Marguerite de Angeli.
– Agnes Brendan, a fashionable, stuck-up, ill-behaved Boston girl in “That Little Smith Girl” from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Agnes Canning, Philip’s mother and the subject of the portrait of the title, in “The Portrait” (1885), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
– Agnes (later Canning), the young relative of the elder Agnes, in “The Portrait” (1885), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen.
– Agnes Grant, Kitty’s sister in “Esther Bodn”, from A Flock of Girls and Boys.
– Agnes Johnstone, a pupil at Lowood Academy, who, along with her sister Catherine, is invited to tea with some friends at Lowton, resulting in Miss Temple being chastised by Mr. Brocklehurst for allowing “two clean tuckers in the week” when “the rules limit them to one”, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
WRITERS:
– Agnes Newton Keith (1901-1982), American author.
– Agnes Smedley (1892-1950), American journalist and writer.
– Agnes Strickland (c. 1797-1874), English historical writer and poet.
Philip
August 21, 2014 § 2 Comments
ORIGIN:
From the Greek “Philippos”, meaning “friend of horses”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Felip, Felipe, Filib, Filip, Filippos, Filippus, Flip, Phil, Phillip, Philippe, Philippos, Pilib, Pip, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Philip Canning, the narrator of “The Portrait” (1885), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
– Rev. Mr. Philip Elton, the handsome and seemingly-agreeable vicar of Highbury, who turns out to be rather conceited and inconsiderate, in Jane Austen’s Emma (1815).
– Philip Frederick Ottenburg (called “Fred“), the dynamic young brewing heir who launches Thea’s operatic career, in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
WRITERS:
– Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), American essayist, novelist, philosopher, and short story writer.
– Philip Freneau (1752-1832), American editor, poet, and polemicist.
– Philip Latham (1902-1981), pen name of American astronomer and science fiction author Robert S. Richardson.
– Philip Pullman (b. 1946), British fantasy author and playwright.
– Philip Roth (b. 1933), American novelist.
– Philip Van Doren Stern (1900-1984), American author, editor, and historian.
Henry
August 11, 2014 § 11 Comments
ORIGIN:
From German, meaning “home-ruler” or “leader of the army”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Amerigo, Amery, Anri, Arrigo, Emmerich, Emery, Emory, Enrico, Enrique, Enzo, Hal, Hank, Harald, Harold, Harri, Harry, Heimrich, Heinrich, Heinz, Hennie, Henny, Henri, Hendrik, Hendry, Henning, Henrik, Henryk, Herrold, Herry, Imre, Imrich, Imrus, Ric, Rico, Rik, Rikki, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Uncle Henry, one of the several relatives who always give in to Dolly’s pleading, in “The Youngest Miss Lorton”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Henry Arden, Cannie’s minister father, who lacks the strength for life on a New England farm, in A Little Country Girl (1885), by Susan Coolidge.
– Henry Biltmer, owner of the small ranch Thea visits in Arizona, in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
– Henry Pierre Bowdoin, Esther’s artist father, in “Esther Bodn”, from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Henry Dashwood, father to our heroines Elinor and Marianne, their younger sister Margaret, and their selfish and greedy half-brother John, in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (set between 1792-1797, published in 1811).
– Henry de Lindsay, one of Sir Peter and Lady Constance’s two sons, in The Door in the Wall (written in 1949 and set sometime between 1327-1377), by Marguerite de Angeli.
– Henry Giles, Israel Thomas’ son-in-law, who joins in the watch over the Creighton farm when it’s threatened by Guy Wortman and his gang, in Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (1964; set during the American Civil War, 1861-1865).
– Henry Jameson, “a trader without a heart”, in The Harvester (1911) by Gene Stratton Porter.
– Henry Knightley, the oldest of John and Isabella’s children, the heir of Donwell Abbey should Mr. Knightley never wed and have children of his own, in Jane Austen’s Emma (1815).
– Henry Lynn, one of the Lynn brothers who are members of Mr. Rochester’s social set, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Col. Henry Mortimer, who must solve a ghostly mystery to save his son’s life, in “The Open Door” (1881), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
– Henry Nathanmeyer, the kindly Jewish businessman whose wife serves as Thea’s patroness in Chicago, in The Song of the Lark.
– Mr. Henry Woodhouse, Isabella and Emma’s father, a “much older man in ways than in years”, in Emma.
WRITERS:
– Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918), American historian and writer.
– Henry Beston (1888-1968), American writer and naturalist.
– Henry Cole (b. 1955), American children’s book writer and illustrator.
– Henry Fielding (1707-1754), English novelist and dramatist.
– Henry Green (1905-1972), pen name of English novelist Henry Vincent Yorke.
– Henry James (1843-1916), Anglo-American novelist.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), American poet and educator.
– Henry Lucy (1842-1924), English journalist and humorist.
– Henry Louis (H.L.) Mencken (1880-1956), American editor, critic, satirist, and writer.
– Henry Miller (1891-1980), American writer.
– Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American activist, author, poet, and philosopher.
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 