Paulina
November 14, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
Feminine form of “Paul“, meaning “small” or “humble”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Lien, Lina, Paolina, Paula, Pauleen, Paulene, Paulette, Paulien, Pauline, Pavlina, Pol, Polina, Poll, Polly, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Paulina Kohler, Fritz’s wife, who “lived for her men and her garden”, in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
WRITERS:
– Paulina Irby (1831-1911), British activist and travel writer.
Gus
November 6, 2014 § 2 Comments
ORIGIN:
Shortened version of “Augustus”, “Angus”, “Gustave”, etc. Sometimes used as a diminutive of “Constantine”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Guus, Kusti, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Gus Kronborg, Thea’s oldest brother, in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
WRITERS:
– Gus Kahn (1886-1941), American lyricist.
– Gus Tyler (1911-2011), American activist, author, and columnist.
Thea
November 6, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Shortened form of “Althea”, “Dorothea” / “Dorothy“, “Theodora”, etc.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Dora, Dorit, Dosia, Dottie, Dotty, Tea, Teja, Tiia, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Thea Kronborg, the passionate and gifted protagonist of The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
WRITERS:
– Thea Astley (1925-2004), Australian novelist and short story writer.
– Thea Beckman (1923-2004), Dutch children’s book author.
– Thea Leitner (b. 1921), Austrian author and journalist.
– Thea von Harbou (1888-1954), German actress, director, novelist, and screenwriter.
Howard
November 6, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
An English last name, derived either from the Germanic “Hughard”, meaning “brave heart” or “strong mind”, or from Old Norse, meaning “high guardian” or “watchman”, or from Middle English, meaning “herder of ewes”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Howie. That’s pretty much it.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Dr. Howard Archie, Thea’s old friend and confidante in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
WRITERS:
– Howard Fast (1914-2003), American novelist and television writer who also wrote under the pen names “E.V. Cunningham” and “Walter Ericson”.
– Howard Glyndon (1839-1923), pen name of American columnist, journalist, and poet Laura Redden Searing.
– Howard Harris (1912-1986), American film and television writer.
– Howard Horn (1911-1983), pen name of Cornish biographer, historian, lecturer, novelist, poet, and professor Robert Payne, who also used the pen names “John Anthony Devon”, “Richard Cargoe”, “Robert Young”, and “Valentin Tikhonov”.
– Howard Hille Johnson (1846-1913), American activist, educator, and writer.
– Howard Lindsay (1889-1968), American actor, director, librettist, playwright, and producer.
– Howard Phillips (H.P.) Lovecraft (1890-1937), American author.
– Howard Pyle (1853-1911), American author and illustrator.
– Howard Zinn (1922-2010), American activist, author, historian, and playwright.
Nance
October 8, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Shortened version of “Nancy“, or a medieval Cornish place name, meaning “valley”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Nainsi, Nan, Nancie, Nana, Nancy, Nanice, Nannie, Nanny, Nanse, Nansi, Nansie, Nansy, Nenci, Nensi, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Nance, 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.
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 