Donny
August 14, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Donald“, from the Gaelic name “Domhnall”, meaning “world ruler”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Domhnall, Domnall, Domnall, Don, Donal, Donald, Donnie, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Donny Duval, Diana’s older brother, a Korean war vet who has come home (and shows no sign of leaving), in Sleeping Arrangements, by Laura Cunningham (published 1989, set in the 1950s).
– Donny (Donald) McGilvray, Bella’s “crippled” younger brother, who thinks Katy Bennet might be a fairy, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
Isabella
August 14, 2014 § 10 Comments
ORIGIN:
Latinate version of “Isabel“, a medieval variant of “Elizabeth“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Beileag, Bell, Bella, Belle, Belina, Belinha, Ibbie, Ibby, Ilsa, Ilse, Isa, Isabel, Isabela, Isabele, Isabell, Isabelle, Isbel, Iseabail, Isebel, Isebela, Isebele, Isebell, Isebella, Isebelle, Ishbel, Isobel, Isobela, Isobele, Isobell, Isobella, Isobelle, Issie, Issy, Izabel, Izabela, Izabele, Izabell, Izabella, Izabelle, Izzie, Izzy, Libbie, Libby, Sabella, Sabelle, Ysabel, Zabel, Zabella, Zabelle, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Isabella Knightley (called “Bella“), the older of John and Isabella’s two daughters, in Jane Austen’s Emma (1815).
– Isabella Knightley, née Woodhouse, “a pretty, elegant little woman, of gentle, quiet manners”, “a devoted wife, a doting mother”. Emma’s older sister, married to Mr. Knightley’s younger brother John, in Emma.
– Isabella McGilvray (called “Bella“), the daughter of a wash-woman and house-cleaner who lives in the tenement behind Grandpa Bennet’s house, and who Katy befriends, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
WRITERS:
– Isabella Bird (1831-1904), English explorer, naturalist, photographer, and writer.
Katherine
August 14, 2014 § 13 Comments
ORIGIN:
Alternately spelled “Katharine“, “Catherine” / “Catharine”, etc., from the Greek for “pure”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Cadi, Cady, Cait, Caitlin, Caitlyn, Caity, Caren, Carina, Casia, Cat, Catalina, Cate, Catey, Catharine, Catherine, Cathie, Cathleen, Cathrine, Cathryn, Cathy, Catie, Cato, Catrina, Catrine, Catriona, Caty, Catya, Ekaterina, Ina, Jekaterina, Kady, Kaia, Kaisa, Kaitlin, Kaitlyn, Kaity, Kaja, Kalena, Karen, Karin, Karina, Kasia, Kat, Kata, Katalin, Kate, Katenka, Katerina, Katey, Katharina, Katharine, Kathi, Kathie, Kathleen, Kathrine, Kathryn, Kathy, Kati, Katie, Katinka, Katja, Katka, Katri, Katrina, Katrine, Katy, Katya, Kay, Kaya, Kit, Kitti, Kittie, Kitty, Kylee, Kyleen, Nienke, Nina, Rina, Riona, Tina, Tineke, Trina, Trine, Yekaterina, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Katherine Bennet (called “Katy“), who is ridiculous because she is wise, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Grandma Katherine Bennet, for whom Katy is named, and in whose memory Grandpa Bennet remains in their little old house in their increasingly-unfashionable neighborhood, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories.
QUOTATIONS:
– From “Epistle to Earl Harcourt, on his wishing her to spell her name of Catherine with a K“, by an unknown poet (“F—-“), found in A Collection of Poems, Chiefly Manuscript, and from Living Authors (1823), edited by Joanna Baillie: “To Katherines lawfully baptiz’d. / What has not Shakspeare said and sung, / Of our pre-eminence of tongue! / . . . See him the comic muse invoking, / (The merry nymph with laughter choking) / While he exhibits at her shrine / The unhallow’d form of Katherine . . . / So that in Shakspeare’s time ’tis plain, / The Katherines were scolds in grain, / No females louder, fiercer, worse”
WRITERS:
– Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), English author.
– Katherine Paterson (b. 1932), American author.
– Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980), American activist, journalist, and writer.
Grace
August 14, 2014 § 4 Comments
ORIGIN:
From the Latin “gratia”, meaning, well, “grace”, this was one of the “virtue” names created and embraced by the Puritans.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Gracie, Gracelyn, Gray.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Grace, Jenny’s older sister, also Katy Bennet’s cousin, who does not realize little Katy is not ridiculous, after all, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Grace Howe, Major Wade’s greatest comforter before his capture and execution as a rebel, in Lorna Doone, by R.D. Blackmore (written in 1869, set in the 1670s-1680s).
– Grace Irving, a “fallen woman” Sidney nurses in the hospital, in K. by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1914).
– Grace Johnston, Mrs. “Livery” Johnson’s spoiled daughter, who is set up to be a rival for Thea, in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
– Grace Poole, the hired nurse whose presence at Thornfield mystifies and frightens Jane, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
WRITERS:
– Grace Greenwood (1823-1904), pen name of American activist, journalist, and poet Sara Jane Clark.
– Grace Paley (1922-2007), American activist, poet, teacher, and writer.
Katy
August 14, 2014 § 3 Comments
ORIGIN:
Like “Kate“, etc., a diminutive of “Catherine” / “Katherine“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Cadi, Cady, Cait, Cat, Cate, Catey, Cathi, Cathy, Catie, Cato, Caty, Catya, Kady, Kaia, Kaity, Kaja, Kat, Kata, Kate, Katey, Kathi, Kathie, Kathy, Katie, Katka, Katri, Kay, Kaya, Kaye, Kaylee, Kayleen, Kit, Kitti, Kittie, Kitty, Kylee, Kyleen, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Katy (Katherine) Bennet, who is ridiculous because she is wise, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Katy Mears, Molly’s best friend, in “Molly Gair’s New Dress”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories.
– Katy Malony, the Irish chambermaid who works for Aunt Cathy, in “Susy’s Dragon”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories.
WRITERS:
– Katy Butler (b. 1949), American journalist and author.
Patrick
August 14, 2014 § 4 Comments
ORIGIN:
From the Latin “Patricius”, meaning “of noble birth”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Paddy, Padraic, Padraig, Padrig, Pat, Pate, Patric, Patrice, Patricius, Patrik, Patrizio, Patryk, Patsy, Patty, Pherick, Rick, Rickie, Ricky, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Patrick, one of the servants in the Lorton household, in “The Youngest Miss Lorton”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
WRITERS:
– Patrick Carman (b. 1966), American writer.
– Patrick Hamilton (1904-1962), English novelist and playwright.
– Patrick F. McManus (b. 1933), American humorist and writer.
– Patrick O. McGuire (1926-2002), pen name of English crime fiction author and screenwriter James Mitchell, who also wrote under the pen name “James Munro”.
– Patrick Robinson (b. 1940), English novelist and columnist.
– Patrick Taylor (b. 1941), Irish novelist.
– Patrick White (1912-1990), Anglo-Australian novelist.
Mark
August 14, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Variant of “Marcus“, from a Roman last name derived from Mars, the god of war.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Marc, Marcas, Marco, Marcos, Marcus, Marek, Markie, Marko, Markos, Markus, Marky, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Mark Burney, Prescott Burney’s father, an investor in the Good Luck silver mines, in “The Youngest Miss Lorton”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Mark Tourin, Marty’s older brother, who aspires to be just like Howard Cosell, in Sleeping Arrangements, by Laura Cunningham (published 1989, set in the 1950s).
WRITERS:
– Mark O’Brien (1949-1999), American activist, journalist, and poet.
– Mark Rutherford (1831-1913), pen name of English civil servant, translator, and writer William Hale White.
– Mark Twain (1835-1910), pen name of American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
– Mark Van Doren (1894-1972), American poet, writer, and critic.
Prescott
August 14, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Old English place name, meaning “priest’s cottage”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Prescot, Prestcot, Prestcott.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Prescott Burney, a young man who, unfortunately, believes Dolly Lorton’s idle gossip, resulting in trouble for the Lorton family, in “The Youngest Miss Lorton”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
Richard
August 14, 2014 § 4 Comments
ORIGIN:
Germanic, meaning “strong ruler” or “brave power”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Dickey, Dickie, Dickon, Dickson, Dicky, Dicun, Dix, Dixon, Rhisiart, Ric, Ricard, Ricardo, Rich, Richie, Rick, Rickey, Rickie, Ricky, Rico, Ritchie, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Richard, a cousin of the two Miss Steele’s, who stay with his family in their London home in Bartlett’s Buildings, in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (set between 1792-1797, published in 1811).
– Sir Richard Blewitt, a local magistrate in Lorna Doone, by R.D. Blackmore (written in 1869, set in the 1670s-1680s).
– Richard 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.
– Mr. Richard Lorton, whose failure to teach his youngest daughter to curb her chattering results in much trouble for the whole family, in “The Youngest Miss Lorton”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Richard Mason (called “Dick“), Bertha Mason’s brother, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
WRITERS:
– Richard Allen (1922-1993), pen name of Anglo-Canadian pulp novelist James Moffat, who also published under the pen names of “Etienne Aubin” and “Trudi Maxwell”.
– Richard Bach (b. 1936), American writer.
– Richard Cargoe (1911-1983), pen name of Cornish biographer, historian, lecturer, novelist, poet, and professor Robert Payne, who also used the pen names “Howard Horn”, “John Anthony Devon”, “Robert Young”, and “Valentin Tikhonov”.
– Richard Hugo (b. 1947), pen name of English author Jim Williams, who also publishes as “Alexander Mollin”.
– Richard Lovelace (1618-1657), English poet.
– Richard Matheson (1926-2013), American author and screenwriter.
– Richard Price (b. 1949), American novelist and screenwriter.
– Richard Pryor (1940-2005), American actor, comedian, critic, director, and writer.
– Richard Raine (1923-2006), pen name of English author Raymond Sawkins, who also wrote under the pen names “Colin Forbes”, “Harold English”, and “Jay Bernard”.
– Richard Russo (b. 1949), American author and screenwriter.
– Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), Irish playwright and poet.
– Richard Wilbur (b. 1921), American poet.
– Richard Wright (1908-1960), American writer and poet.
Sally
August 14, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Alternately spelled “Sallie”, diminutive of “Sarah“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Sadie, Sal, Sallie, Sairey, Sairy, Sarey, Sari, Sary, Suri, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Sally, a maid in the Huckabuck household, in Lorna Doone, by R.D. Blackmore (written in 1869, set in the 1670s-1680s).
– Sally, one of the Lexington girls clamoring to partner with Rab at the Silsbee country dance in Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (written in 1943; set during the years leading up to the American Revolutionary War, 1773-1775).
– Sally, a servant at Barton Park, in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (set between 1792-1797, published in 1811).
– Sally Snowe, one of Farmer Nicholas’ three lively, comely daughters, in Lorna Doone.
– Sally Ware, the friend who takes Dolly Lorton to task for her gossiping and rumor-mongering, in “The Youngest Miss Lorton”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 