Damer
August 26, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Variation of the Dutch last name “Dammer”, meaning “lives by the dyke”, or of the German name “Dahmer”, meaning “famous day” or “famous thought”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Dagomar, Dahme, Dahmer, Dammer, Daukmar, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Damer de Rochester, an ancestor of Mr. Rochester, “slain at Marston Moor in the time of the civil wars”, whose tomb Jane notices in the church on her wedding day, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
Fairfax
August 26, 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, from Anglo-Saxon, meaning “fair-haired”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
None, really.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Fairfax is the middle name of Edward Rochester, the moody and passionate master of Thornfield, and the name by which Richard Mason calls him, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
Dionysius
August 26, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Latin spelling of “Dionysios”, derived from the name of the Greek god of wine, dance, revelry, and fertility.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Den, Denes, Denis, Denney, Dennis, Denny, Denys, Deon, Deion, Dinis, Diniz, Dion, Dionisie, Dionisio, Dionysios, Dionyz, Tenney, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Dionysius O’Gall of Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught, Ireland, whose family of five daughters Mr. Rochester pretends he his sending Jane to teach, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
WRITERS:
– Dionysius P.A. O’Brien (b. 1934), American singer and songwriter who goes by the pen name “Tom Springfield”.
Edwin
August 25, 2014 § 4 Comments
ORIGIN:
Old English, meaning “rich friend”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Eadwine, Ed, Edd, Eddi, Eddie, Eddy, Edvin, Edwyn, Ned, Nedd, Neddie, Neddy, Ted, Tedd, Teddie, Teddy, Win, Winnie, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Lord Edwin Vere, the young man Georgiana Reed nearly elopes with, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
WRITERS:
– Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838-1926), English educator, novelist, and theologian.
– Edwin Balmer (1883-1959), American writer.
– Edwin Corle (1906-1956), American writer.
– Edwin Gilbert (1907-1976), German-American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter.
– Edwin DuBose Heyward (1885-1940), American dramatist, novelist, and poet, who wrote under the pen name “DuBose Heyward”.
– Edwin Honig (1919-2011), American poet, playwright, and translator.
– Edwin Palmer Hoyt (1923-2005), American writer.
– Edwin Markham (1852-1940), American poet.
– Edwin Morgan (1920-2010), Scottish poet and translator.
– Edwin Muir (1887-1959), Scottish author.
– Edwin O’Connor (1918-1968), American broadcaster, journalist, and novelist.
– Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935), American poet.
– Edwin Rolfe (1909-1954), pen name of American poet and writer Solomon Fishman.
– Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980), American naturalist, photographer, and writer.
Tedo
August 25, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Theodore“, meaning “gift of God”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Fedir, Fedor, Fedya, Feodor, Fyodor, Tad, Taddie, Taddy, Ted, Teddie, Teddy, Teo, Teodor, Teodoro, Theo, Theodor, Theodore, Theodoros, Theodorus, Todor, Toshe, Tudor, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Tedo (Theodore) Ingram, Blanche and Mary’s brother, one of the elegant people who make up Mr. Rochester’s social set, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
Amy
August 25, 2014 § 2 Comments
ORIGIN:
From the Old French “Amée”, meaning “beloved”. Sometimes used as a diminutive of “Amelia“, “Emily“, etc.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Aimée, Amada, Amata, Amée, Ami, Amie, Emme, Emmie, Emmy, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Amy Eshton, the oldest of the Eshton girls, members of Mr. Rochester’s social set, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Amy Robson, Dora’s saucy, slightly snobbish cousin in “That Little Smith Girl” from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Amy Stanton, a friend of Kitty’s and Laura’s, in “Esther Bodn”, from A Flock of Girls and Boys.
WRITERS:
– Amy Levy (1861-1889), English essayist, novelist, and poet.
– Amy Lowell (1874-1925), American poet.
– Amy Dora Reynolds (1860-1957), American crime author, poet, and romance author who published as “Mrs. Fred Reynolds”.
– Amy Tan (b. 1952), American author.
– Amy Wallace (1955-2013), American writer.
– Amy Witting (1918-2001), pen name of Australian novelist and poet Joan Austral Fraser.
Celine
August 25, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
French feminine form of “Caelinus”, meaning “heaven”, or a diminutive of “Marceline”, from Mars, the Roman god of war, or a variation of “Selene”, the name of a Greek moon goddess.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Caelina, Celena, Celene, Celina, Lena, Lina, Marcelina, Marceline, Marcellina, Marcelyn, Selena, Selene, Selina, Seline, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Céline Varens, the French opera-dancer who was Mr. Rochester’s one-time mistress, and mother of Adèle, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
Sophie
August 25, 2014 § 5 Comments
ORIGIN:
Alternate spelling of “Sophy“, a diminutive of “Sophia“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Fifi, Sofi, Sofia, Sofie, Sofiya, Sonia, Sonja, Sonya, Sophia, Sophy, Vivi, Zophi, Zophia, Zophie, Zosia, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Sophie, Adèle Varens’ French nursemaid, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
WRITERS:
– Sophie Leyton (1928-2009), pen name of English romance author Sheila Walsh.
Adela
August 25, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Germanic, meaning “noble”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Ada, Adalyn, Adalynn, Adel, Adele, Adelia, Adelina, Adeline, Adelita, Adella, Adelle, Adelyn, Alena, Alene, Alina, Aline, Alita, Delia, Della, Delle, Dellie, Delly, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Adela (Adèle) Varens, Mr. Rochester’s ward and Jane Eyre’s pupil at Thornfield, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 