A | The Art of Literary Nomenclature

Ally

August 30, 2014 § Leave a comment

ORIGIN:
Alternate spelling of “Allie”, etc.; diminutive of “Alice“, “Alison“, “Alexandra”, other names beginning with “Al-“.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Ailis, Ale, Aleid, Aleida, Alex, Alexa, Alexina, Ali, Alida, Alis, Alisa, Alix, Aliz, Alli, Allie, Alyx, Lexa, Lexie, Lexine, Lexy, Ola, Sandie, Sandy, Xandra, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Ally (Alice) Fleming, a little orphan girl who can’t seem to find her place in the world, in “Ally”, from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).

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.

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.

Adele

August 25, 2014 § 2 Comments

ORIGIN:
Variation of “Adela“, meaning “noble”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Ada, Adalyn, Adalynn, Adel, Adela, Adelia, Adelina, Adeline, Adelita, Adella, Adelle, Adelyn, Alena, Alene, Alina, Aline, Alita, Delia, Della, Delle, Dellie, Delly, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Adèle Varens (sometimes called “Adela“), Mr. Rochester’s ward and Jane Eyre’s pupil at Thornfield, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.

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.

Amos

August 22, 2014 § 1 Comment

ORIGIN:
Hebrew, meaning “burden” or “bearer of a burden”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Um . . . Amy? Actually, no, probably shouldn’t do that.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Amos Peters, a local farmer, in The Harvester (1911) by Gene Stratton Porter.

Alexander

August 22, 2014 § 14 Comments

ORIGIN:
Latin version of the Greek “Alexandros”, meaning “defender of men”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Ace, Al, Alasdair, Alastair, Alastar, Ale, Alec, Alejandro, Aleks, Aleksander, Aleksandr, Alessandro, Alex, Alexandre, Alexandros, Alexis, Alick, Alisander, Alistair, Alister, Ally, Eskandar, Iskandar, Lexi, Olek, Oleksander, Oleksandr, Sacha, Sander, Sandor, Sandy, Sandro, Sascha, Saunder, Sawney, Sender, Shura, Sikandar, Skender, Xander, Xandinho, Zander, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Middle name of James Alexander Creighton (1849-1852), one of the three young Creighton boys who died of “paralysis” the year Jethro was born, in Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (1964; set during the American Civil War, 1861-1865).
– Alexander Herron, Ruth Jameson’s grandfather, “who made a concession”, in The Harvester (1911) by Gene Stratton Porter.

WRITERS:
– Alexander Brown (1843-1906), American historian and writer.
– Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757- 1804), American essayist, economist, and political leader.
– Alexander King (1899-1965), Austrian-American humorist and memoirist.
– Alexander Mollin (b. 1947), pen name of English author Jim Williams, who also publishes as “Richard Hugo”.
– Alexander Pope (1688-1744), English poet.
– Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), Russian author and poet.
– Alexander Ross (c.1590-1654), Scottish writer.
– Alexander Scott (c.1520-1582/83), Scottish poet.
– Alexander Scott (1920-1989), Scottish poet and scholar.
– Alexander Tayler (1870-1937), British author and historian who published under the pen name of “Alasdair Tayler”, and often published jointly with his sister, Hetty.
– Alexander Wilson (1893-1963), English writer and spy.

Anthony

August 22, 2014 § 4 Comments

ORIGIN:
English version of the Roman last name “Antonius”, meaning unknown. It has been sometimes linked to “anthos”, meaning flower, but that’s Greek, so probably not the original meaning.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Akoni, Anakoni, Andon, Andony, Antal, Antanas, Ante, Anto, Antoine, Anton, Antonello, Antoni, Antonie, Antonij, Antonije, Antonio, Antonis, Antonius, Antono, Antony, Antoon, Doncho, Teun, Teunis, Theun, Theunis, Ton, Tone, Tonci, Toni, Tonino, Tonio, Tonis, Tono, Tony, Toon, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Anthony Butter (called “Tony“), the gardener at Amhurste Hall, who narrates “A Brother to Dragons” (written in 1886, set in 1586), and is made fun of by Humfrey Lemon and Bered Turnip for his envy of their large broods, in “The Farrier Lass o’ Piping Pebworth” (written in 1887, set circa 1600), from A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old Time Tales (1888), by Amélie Rives.
– Anthony Styles, the shoemaker who passes Sibyl’s message on, in “Sibyl’s Slipper”, a story of the American Revolutionary War, from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).

WRITERS:
– Anthony Armstrong (1897-1976), Anglo-Canadian writer, dramatist, and essayist.
– Anthony Bailey (b. 1933), English writer and art historian.
– Anthony Browne (b. 1946), English children’s book writer and illustrator.
– Anthony Burgess (1917-1993), English writer and composer.
– Anthony Gilbert (1899-1973), one of the pen names of English novelist Lucy Beatrice Malleson.
– Anthony Horowitz (b. 1955), English novelist and screenwriter.
– Anthony Powell (1905-2000), English novelist.
– Anthony Trollope (1815-1882), English novelist.

Augusta

August 21, 2014 § Leave a comment

ORIGIN:
Feminine form of “Augustus”, meaning “majestic” or “venerable”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Gus, Gussie, Gussy, Gusta.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Augusta Brocklehurst, the second daughter of the formidable and hypocritical supervisor of Lowood Institute, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Augusta Hawkins, the vain and self-important younger daughter of a Bristol merchant, who Mr. Elton selects for his wife after being disappointed in his first choice, in Jane Austen’s Emma (1815).

WRITERS:
– Augusta, Lady Gregory (1852-1932), Irish dramatist, folklorist, and theatre manager.

Arthur

August 13, 2014 § 4 Comments

ORIGIN:
Possibly Celtic, meaning “noble” or “king”, or “bear-hero”, or from Norse, meaning “Thor’s eagle”, or from a Roman last name. No one really knows. Your guess is as good as mine. Unless you are very, very bad at guessing, in which case, mine might be a little bit better.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Art, Artair, Arther, Arthie, Arthy, Artie, Arto, Artur, Arturo, Arty, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Rev. Mr. Arthur Villars, guardian to both Evelina and her mother, Caroline, in Evelina, or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World (1778), by Fanny Burney.

WRITERS:
– Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008), English writer, inventor, and explorer.
– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), Scottish author.
– Arthur Miller (1915-2005), American essayist and playwright.
– Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944), English critic and writer.
– Arthur Ransome (1884-1967), English author and journalist.
– Arthur Stone (1931-2015), pen name of American crime author Ann Rule, who also published as “Andy Stack” and “Chris Hansen”.
– Arthur Stringer (1874-1950), Canadian novelist, screenwriter, and poet.

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