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).
Emmy
August 1, 2014 § 2 Comments
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Amelia“, “Emma“, “Emilia”, “Emily“, etc.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Amy, Amie, Em, Emmie, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Family nickname for Amelia Sedley, the naive and gentle heroine of Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
QUOTATIONS:
– From the poem “Emmy” by Arthur Symons (from an 1892 collection of poetry): “Emmy’s laughter rings in my ears, as bright / Fresh and sweet as the voice of a mountain brook”
– The same Arthur Symons, in the same poetry collection, includes “Emmy at the Eldorado“: “Child, child, what will you do, / Emmy, now love has come to you?”
Reginald
August 1, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Variant of “Reynold”; from the Germanic for “powerful ruler”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Raghnall, Ranald, Reg, Reggie, Reggy, Reinhold, Reynold, Reynaldo, Renaud, Reynaud, Reynault, Rheinallt, Rinaldo, Ronald, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Reginald Cuff, the school bully Dobbin saves young George Osborne from in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
WRITERS:
– Reginald Hill (1936-2012), English crime writer.
Sophy
August 1, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Alternate spelling of “Sophie“, a diminutive of “Sophia“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Fifi, Sofi, Sofia, Sofie, Sofiya, Sonia, Sonja, Sonya, Sophia, Sophie, Vivi, Zophi, Zophia, Zophie, Zosia, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Sophy Cutler, a girl Joseph Sedley claims to have attracted while in India (possibly, though, entirely imaginary, like Jan Brady’s George Glass), in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Joseph
August 1, 2014 § 10 Comments
ORIGIN:
From the Latin / Greek form of “Yosef”, a Hebrew name meaning “He will add”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Beppe, Giuseppe, Jo, Joe, Joep, Joey, Jojo, Joop, Joos, Jos, José, Josef, Josephus, Josip, Osip, Pepe, Pepito, Peppe, Peppi, Peppino, Pino, Seph, Sepp, Sjef, Youssef, Zef, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Joseph Sedley (sometimes called “Jos“), Amelia’s silly, conceited older brother in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Joseph Scott (called “Joe“), an odorous and odious young man who considers himself a candidate for Virginia Herrick’s heart, in Virginia of Virginia, written by Amélie Rives in 1888.
WRITERS:
– Joseph Addison (1672-1719), English essayist, poet, and playwright.
– Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Polish-English author.
– Joseph Meek (b. 1951), one of the many pen names of American mystery and Western author Robert J. Randisi, who also publishes as “Cole Weston”, “Joshua Randall”, “Lew Baines”, “Paul Ledd”, “Robert Lake” “Spenser Fortune”, “Tom Cutter”, and “W.B. Longley”, among other pseudonyms.
– Joseph Ward Moore (1903-1978), American novelist and short story writer who published under the pen name “Ward Moore.”
QUOTATIONS:
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Elizabeth” (published in 1873, but set in 1701-02; from Tales of a Wayside Inn, Part the Third: The Theologian’s Tale) tells the love story of John Estaugh (1676-1742) and Elizabeth Haddon (1680-1762), with her servants Joseph and Hannah as supporting characters, and Joseph described thusly: “. . . A good lad and cheerful is Joseph; / In the right place his heart, and his hand is ready and willing. / . . . Meanwhile Joseph sat with folded hands, and demurely / Listened, or seemed to listen, and in the silence that followed / Nothing was heard for a while . . . / Inwardly Joseph laughed, but governed his tongue, and was silent. / . . . And not otherwise Joseph, the honest, the diligent servant, / Sped in his bashful wooing with homely Hannah the housemaid . . .”
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.
Rebecca
August 1, 2014 § 4 Comments
ORIGIN:
From the Hebrew name “Rivkah”, meaning “yoke” or “snare”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Becca, Becka, Beckah, Beckie, Becky, Reba, Rebecka, Rebekah, Rifka, Riva, Rivka, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Rebecca Bowdoin, Esther’s mother, who once modeled for a German artist’s painting of Walter Scott’s Rebecca, in “Esther Bodn”, from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Rebecca Moore (called “Becky“), the plain, hard-working farm girl with the heart of a poet in “Mountain-Laurel and Maiden-Hair”, from A Garland for Girls, by Louisa May Alcott, 1887.
– Rebecca Sharp (better known as “Becky“), the clever and self-centered anti-heroine of Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Becky
July 31, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Rebecca“, from the Hebrew name “Rivkah”, meaning “yoke” or “snare”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Becca, Becka, Beckah, Beckie, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Great Aunt Becky, Lily’s elderly relative, who believes her deceased nephew is still alive and living in Alaska because no one in the family has the heart to break the news to her, in Sleeping Arrangements, by Laura Cunningham (published 1989, set in the 1950s).
– Becky Hawkins, a sharp and saucy “parcel-girl” who is as brave and generous as she is quick-witted, in “Becky”, from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Becky (Rebecca) Moore, the plain, hard-working farm girl with the heart of a poet in “Mountain-Laurel and Maiden-Hair”, from A Garland for Girls, by Louisa May Alcott, 1887.
– Becky (Rebecca) Sharp, the clever and self-centered anti-heroine of Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Barbara
July 31, 2014 § 4 Comments
ORIGIN:
From Greek, meaning “strange” or “foreign”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Babs, Barb, Barbary, Barbera, Barbie, Barbra, Barby, Bobbie, Bobby, Varvara, Varvora, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Barbara, a servant at Lowood Academy, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Barbara, a “severe and devout Princess of the House of Bolkum, widow of the monarch of Pumpernickel, where Dobbin, Amelia, Jos, and Georgy stop for a while on their Grand Tour, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Lady Barbara Fitzurse is an heiress who serves as a topic for gossip between Miss Crawley, Rawdon Crawley, and Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair.
– Barbara Pinkerton, the formidable sister in charge of Miss Pinkerton’s Academy for young ladies in Vanity Fair.
WRITERS:
Want to learn more about writers named “Barbara”? Check out this post for starters.
QUOTATIONS:
– “Barbara Allen” is a traditional folk song with origins in England and Scotland in the 17th century, though it has undergone hundreds of variations since it was first recorded by Samuel Pepys in 1666: “In Scarlet town where I was born / there was a fair maid dwellin’ / and every youth cried Well-a-day / For her name was Barb’ra Allen”.
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 