Oscar
November 15, 2014 § 3 Comments
ORIGIN:
Possibly from Gaelic, meaning “deer lover”, or from Old English, meaning “divine spear”, or from Old Norse, meaning “spear god” or “spear of god”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Asgar, Asgeirr, Osgar, Oskar, Oskari, Osku, Ossie, Oszkar, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Oscar, Dr. Archie’s regular waiter at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
– Oscar Andersen, Irene’s late husband, who was killed in an explosion, in The Song of the Lark.
WRITERS:
– Oscar Fraley (1914-1994), American author and reporter.
– Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960), American librettist, lyricist, and producer.
– Oscar Hijuelos (1951-2013), Cuban-American novelist.
– Oscar Levy (1867-1946), German-Jewish physician and writer.
– Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951), American author, director, and producer.
– Oscar Millard (1908-1990), English author and screenwriter.
– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish author, playwright, and poet.
Irene
November 15, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Usually pronounced “ie-REEN”, “ie-REE-nee”, or “ee-RE-ne”; from the Greek “Eirene”, meaning “peace”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Arina, Arine, Arisha, Eireen, Eirene, Ena, Ira, Irena, Irenka, Iria, Irina, Irine, Irja, Iryna, Rene, Renee, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Irene Andersen, who rents a room in the home she shares with her mother, Mrs. Lorch, to Thea Kronborg, in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
WRITERS:
– Irene Ibsen Bille (1901-1985), Norwegian novelist and playwright.
– Irene Hunt (1907-2001), American children’s book writer.
– Irène Némirovsky (1903-1942), Russian novelist.
Billy
November 14, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Like “Bill” and “Willie“, etc., a diminutive of “William“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Bil, Bill, Billie, Gwil, Liam, Lyam, Pim, Vila, Vili, Viljo, Ville, Wil, Wilkie, Wilkin, Wilky, Will, Willie, Willis, Willy, Wim, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Uncle Billy Beemer, the benevolent town drunk responsible for Moonstone’s grove of cottonwoods, in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
– Uncle Billy Jeffers, the Creighton’s neighbor down the road, who survived the War of 1812, in Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (1964; set during the American Civil War, 1861-1865).
WRITERS:
– Billy Rose (1899-1966), American impresario, lyricist, and showman.
– Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967), American jazz composer, lyricist, musical arranger, and pianist.
– Billy Wilder (1906-2002), Austrian-American artist, filmmaker, journalist, producer, and screenwriter.
Juan
November 6, 2014 § 2 Comments
ORIGIN:
Spanish form of “John“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Ganix, Jan, Joan, Juanito, Xuan, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Juan Tellamantez (called “Spanish Johnny“), a talented guitar player, one of the Mexican workmen who befriend Thea in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
WRITERS:
– Juan Andrés y Morell (1740-1817), Spanish Jesuit author, critic, humanist, and priest..
– Juan José Arreola (1918-2001), Mexican humorist and writer.
– Juan Benet (1927-1993), Spanish writer.
– Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881-1958), Spanish poet.
– Juan Antonio Llorente (1756-1823), Spanish historian and writer.
– Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena (1282-1348), Spanish writer.
– Juan Francisco Manzano (1797-1854), Cuban author.
– Juan Montalvo (1832-1889), Ecuadorian author and essayist.
– Juan Carlos Onetti (1909-1994), Uruguayan novelist and short story writer.
– Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita (ca. 1283-ca. 1350), Spanish poet.
– Juan Perez Rulfo (1918-1986), Mexican novelist and short story writer.
– Juan Luis Vives (1493-1540), Spanish humanist, scholar, and writer.
– Juan Rodolfo Wilcock (1919-1978), Argentinian critic, poet, translator, and writer.
Some Less-Popular Historical Baby Names
October 22, 2014 § Leave a comment
Proof that there have always been parents who want to bestow “unique” names on their progeny. Pity the poor little Spurgeons and Hildreds of years past!
“If you’re looking for a baby name and want something truly original, but with historical precedent, here’s your list:
The Least Popular American Baby Names, According to Early Records” (click through to see where they ranked, and to see more unpopular baby names of yesteryear!)
YEAR – BOY NAMES & GIRL NAMES
1880 – Handey & Parthenia (Sheesh, parents, what are you trying to get at, naming your son “Handey”?)
1881 – Okey & Erie (It’s okay to admire a canal, but maybe don’t name your daughter after it.)
1882 – Ab & Dove (Because sometimes it just takes too long to write “Abe”.)
1883 – Commodore & Lovey (It’s like they were prepping a 1970s soft-rock group . . . )
1884 – Spurgeon & Kathern (“Um, doctor, I think it’s spelled Katherine–” “Shut up, I know what I’m doing!”)
1885 – Fount & Icy (“Fount”? “Icy”? Was there something in the water?)
1886 – Squire & Texie (For when you hope your child will grow up to be a character in a 1950s movie musical.)
1887 – Bliss & Lockie (“Bliss”? Who knew there were hippies in the 1880s?)
1888 – Boss & Indiana (“We named you ‘Junior’; we named your sister ‘Indiana’!”)
1889 – Starling & Easter (Lived in the same commune as Bliss, and probably Dove.)
1890 – Lawyer & Pinkey (Hmm, I wonder what little Lawyer’s folks hoped he’d grow up to be?)
1891 – Manley & Chestina (Was there a sudden influx of machismo in the 1890s?)
1892 – Little & Odell (Nobody had told Little’s parents that he would, eventually, grow.)
1893 – Orange & Leafy (That commune is still going strong!)
1894 – Flem & Ova (The parents overheard the doctors and nurses discussing cases in the hallway . . . )
1895 – Toy & Sister (Presumably Sister is the youngest of a large brood and the parents had simply run out of ideas. And I hope someone told Toy’s parents that he was, in fact, a real baby.)
1896 – Josephine & Clifford (The year of the Great Gender Switch!)
1897 – Henery & Florance (“Um, doctor, I believe it’s Henry and Florence–” “Didn’t I tell you I know what I’m doing?”)
1898 – Pleasant & Tiny (My, weren’t those parents in for an eventual surprise! Doesn’t everyone know not to tempt fate like that?)
1899 – Fate & Cuba (Speaking of “tempting Fate”, how sick do you suppose he got of jokes like that? Also, here we can see the dangers of choosing a baby name from current headlines . . . )
1900 – Gorge & Electa (“Um, doctor, I believe it’s spelled George— oh, never mind.”)
1901 – Joesph & Buelah (“*cough*Joseph*cough*Beulah*cough*”)
1902 – Rolla & Bama (Time traveling Southerners?)
1903 – Ples & Capitola (“Ples”? “Capitola”? Really?)
1904 – Council & Pearly (Possibly Council is Capitola’s little brother?)
1905 – Son & Wava (Guess what name they’d have gone with if it’d been a daughter? Yeah, probably not “Wava”.)
1906 – Virgle & Carry (Scrawled in pencil in the nurse’s handwriting are the names Virgil and Carrie.)
1907 – Geo & Arizona (Indiana’s daughter?)
1908 – Lillian & Lilyan (Here’s hoping they were twins, because that would be weirdly adorable!)
1909 – Murl & Flonnie (The nurse tried to correct Merle, but didn’t have the faintest idea what to do about Flonnie . . . )
1910 – Lemon & Classie (Orange’s little brother? And something about “Classie” seems like an aspirational choice . . . )
1911 – Wash & Lavada (I’m sensing a real “cleanliness” theme, here, 1911 . . . )
1912 – Christ & Almeta (Taken together, this sounds like a bit inappropriate? Christ Almeta!)
1913 – Louise & Louis (The Great Gender Switch II!)
1914 – Stephan & Vella (1914 was a year for smooth operators.)
1915 – Mayo & Dimple (Pretty sure their parents were preparing for a vaudeville act . . . )
1916 – Green & Golden (And under “What color will you be painting the nursery?” the exhausted parents put “Dudley” and “Millicent“.)
1917 – Elza & Loyce (The nurse thought of correcting it to Ezra and Luce, but at this point she was pretty sure the doctor was just messing with her . . . )
1918 – Curley & Ivory (Possibly Curley’s parents were psychics who foresaw the 1943 Broadway musical Oklahoma!, and Ivory’s parents just really, really liked soap.)
1919 – Metro & Louvenia (Time-traveling hipsters?)
1920 – Berry & Merry (Here’s hoping these were also twins!)
1921 – Reno & Glendora (When there was a short-lived law that all children had to be named after towns in the American Southwest . . .)
1922 – Author & Gaynell (Oddly, Author grew up to be a dentist. And Gaynell was an extra in three Hollywood films in the late 1930s.)
1923 – Burley & Dorathy (Burley’s parents were Manley and Chestina, of course. And the nurse didn’t even try to fix Dorothy, because she felt she was getting far too old for this stuff . . . )
1924 – Dorman & Mardell (Their parents had visions of plush bellhop, elevator operator, or movie theater usher uniforms dancing in their heads.)
1925 – Buddie & Bobbye (Later the stars of a collection of detective novels for children. Gee whiz!)
1926 – Wardell & Willodean (It’s like they were trying to give their children names they could change once they reached Hollywood . . . )
1927 – Estel & Gregoria (The nurse tried explaining to the parents that they could just as easily have named the boy “Gregory” and the girl “Estelle” if they really wanted their children to be named after them, but they were too exhausted and stunned by the arrival of twins to understand . . . )
1928 – Gust & Hildred (We’ll overlook Gust in the commune to note that combining “Mildred” with “Hilda” is something you only do to people you hate.)
1929 – Vester & Jettie (Time-traveling Goths?)
1930 – Otho & Charlsie (Why would you give your children those names? Do you want them to end up in an Agatha Christie murder mystery?)
1931 – Early & Ferne (The commune is fading, but still has some stragglers . . . Also, guess what name Early would have ended up with if he’d been born after 9pm?)
1932 – Dock & Jack (For when you want both of your children to grow up to be hard-boiled detectives in a gritty film noir. None of this namby-pamby “Buddie and Bobbye, Kid Detectives” stuff for you!)
Roy
October 8, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
English version of the Gaelic name “Ruadh”, meaning “red”, or from the French “roi”, meaning “king”. Sometimes used as a diminutive of “Leroy”, “Royal“, etc.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Leroy, Royal, Ruadh, Ruadhan, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Roy, one of the hounds belonging to Sir Peter’s family in The Door in the Wall (written in 1949 and set sometime between 1327-1377), by Marguerite de Angeli.
WRITERS:
– Roy Campbell (1901-1957), South African poet and satirist.
– Roy Heath (1926-2008), Guyanese author.
– Roy Huggins (1914-2002), pen name of American novelist and television writer and producer John Thomas James.
– Roy Lewis (1913-1996), English writer and small press printer.
– Roy Orbison (1936-1988), American singer and songwriter.
Jocelyn
October 4, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Germanic, from the name of the Gaut (or Goth) tribe.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
For girls: Jocelin, Joceline, Jocelyne, Josceline, Joselyn, Joslyn, Josseline, Josselyn, Josslyn, Joyce, Joycelin, etc.
For boys: Gauzlin, Goscelin, Gosslin, Jocelin, Joscelin, Josceline, Joselyn, Joslyn, Joss, Josselin, Josslyn, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Lord Jocelyn, a neighbor of Sir Peter’s who covets the de Lindsay land, in The Door in the Wall (written in 1949 and set sometime between 1327-1377), by Marguerite de Angeli.
WRITERS:
– Jocelyn Brooke (1908-1966), English author.
– Jocelyn Lee Hardy (1894-1958), English army officer and author.
– Jocelyn Playfair (1904-1996), English novelist.
Alfred
October 4, 2014 § 7 Comments
ORIGIN:
From the Old English “Aelfraed”, meaning “elf-counsel”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Aelfraed, Al, Alf, Alfie, Alfredo, Avery, Fred, Fredde, Freddie, Freddy, Fredo, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Alfred, one of the boys Robin plays with during his stay at St. Mark’s, in The Door in the Wall (written in 1949 and set sometime between 1327-1377), by Marguerite de Angeli.
WRITERS:
– Alfred Andersch (1914-1980), German writer, publisher, and radio editor.
– Alfred Austin (1835-1913), English poet.
– Alfred Bester (1913-1987), American author and writer.
– Alfred de Musset (1810-1857), French dramatist, novelist, and poet.
– Alfred de Vigny (1797-1863), French playwright, poet, and novelist.
– Alfred Döblin (1878-1957), German doctor, essayist, and novelist.
– Alfred Hartmann (1814-1897), Swiss writer.
– Alfred Hayes (1911-1985), English novelist, poet, and screenwriter.
– Alfred Edward (A.E.) Housman (1859-1936), English poet and scholar.
– Alfred Jarry (1873-1907), French writer.
– Alfred Kazin (1915-1998), American critic and writer.
– Alfred Kerr (1867-1948), German-Jewish critic and essayist.
– Alfred Lansing (1921-1975), American journalist and writer.
– Alfred Henry Lewis (1855-1914), American editor, journalist, lawyer, novelist, and short story writer.
– Alfred Lichtenstein (1889-1914), German writer.
– Alfred Masson-Forestier (1852-1912), French writer.
– Alfred Neumann (1895-1952), German writer and translator.
– Alfred Noyes (1880-1958), English playwright, poet, and short story writer.
– Alfred Ollivant (1874-1927), English novelist.
– Alfred Perlès (1897-1990), Austrian writer.
– Alfred Reynolds (1907-1993), Anglo-Hungarian writer.
– Alfred Percy Sinnett (1840-1921), English author, journalist, and Theosophist.
– Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), English poet.
– Alfred Williams (1877-1930), English author and poet.
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: “Alfred, who quell’d th’ unsurping Dane, / And burst, indignant, from his chain; / Who slaves redeemed, to reign o’er men, / Changing the faulchion for the pen, / And outlin’d, with a master’s hand, / Th’ immortal charter of the land; / Alfred, whom yet these realms obey”
Hubert
October 4, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Germanic, meaning “bright heart” or “bright mind”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Hobart, Hubertus, Hubrecht, Uberto, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Brother Hubert, a monk at St. Mark’s, in The Door in the Wall (written in 1949 and set sometime between 1327-1377), by Marguerite de Angeli.
WRITERS:
– Hubert Aquin (1929-1977), Canadian activist, essayist, filmmaker, and novelist.
– Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918), American ethnologist and historian.
– Hubert Butler (1900-1991), Irish essayist.
– Hubert Crackanthorpe (1870-1896), English writer.
– Hubert Fichte (1935-1986), German novelist.
– Hubert Lampo (1920-2006), Flemish author.
– Hubert Harrison (1883-1927), West Indian-American activist, critic, educator, orator, and writer.
– Hubert Selby, Jr. (1928-2004), American writer.
Geoffrey
October 4, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Alternate spelling of “Jeffrey”, from the French version of a Germanic name, meaning “peaceful land” or “peace of God”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Fredo, Geffrey, Geoff, Geoffroi, Geoffroy, Gjord, Godfrey, Godfried, Goffredo, Goraidh, Gottfrid, Gottfried, Jef, Jeff, Jefferson, Jeffery, Jeffrey, Jeffries, Jeffry, Jep, Jepson, Seafra, Sieffre, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Geoffrey Atte-Water, the little boy who. like Robin, must use crutches, and who gives Robin the nickname “Crookshanks”, in The Door in the Wall (written in 1949 and set sometime between 1327-1377), by Marguerite de Angeli.
WRITERS:
– Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100-1155), Welsh cleric and chronicler.
– Geoffrey the Baker (died c. 1360), English chronicler, also known as Walter of Swinbroke.
– Geoffrey Blainey (b. 1930), Australian academic, commentator, historian, and philanthropist.
– Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400), English poet, philosopher, alchemist, and astronomer, the “Father of English literature”.
– Geoffrey du Breuil of Vigeois (active 1170-1184), French cleric and chronicler.
– Geoffrey Elton (1921-1994), Anglo-German educator, historian and writer.
– Geoffrey Green (1911-1990), English sports writer.
– Geoffrey Household (1920-1988), English novelist.
– Geoffrey Jenkins (1920-2001), South African journalist, novelist, and screenwriter.
– Geoffrey Moorhouse (1931-2009), English author and journalist.
– Geoffrey Trease (1909-1998), English author.
– Geoffrey Willans (1911-1958), English author and journalist.
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 