Glory
August 4, 2014 § 1 Comment
ORIGIN:
From the Latin, “Gloria”, meaning, well, “glory”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Gloria, Gloriana, Glorvina, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Glory (Glorvina) O’Dowd is Major O’Dowd’s unmarried sister in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Guinever
August 4, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Alternate spelling of “Guinevere“, the French version of the Welsh “Gwenhwyfar”, meaning “smooth and white” or “white-cheeked”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Gaenor, Gaynor, Genevra, Geneva, Ginevra, Guenevere, Guenievre, Guinevere, Gwen, Gwenevere, Gwenhwyfar, Gwenni, Gwennie, Gwenny, Gwenyver, Janelle, Jen, Jena, Jenae, Jenelle, Jenessa, Jeni, Jenifer, Jenna, Jenni, Jennie, Jennifer, Jenny, Jinelle, Jin, Jinessa, Jini, Jinifer, Jinni, Jinnie, Jinny, Yenifer, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Guinever Mango, a little girl whose bout with the measles received far less attention from the local doctor than little Georgy Osborne’s case, a testament to the popularity of their respective mothers, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Gwendoline
August 4, 2014 § 2 Comments
ORIGIN:
Variant of “Gwendolen”, Welsh for “white-browed” or “white ring”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Guendolen, Guendoline, Guendolyn, Gwen, Gwendolen, Gwendolyn, Gwennie, Gwenny, Gwin, Gwinn, Gwinne, Gwinnie, Gwinny, Gwyn, Gwyndolen, Gwydoline, Gwyndolyn, Gwynn, Gwynne, Gwynnie, Wendie, Wendy, Windie, Windy, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Gwendoline Mango, a little girl whose bout with the measles received far less attention from the local doctor than little Georgy Osborne’s case, a testament to the popularity of their respective mothers, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
AUTHORS:
– Gwendoline Butler (1922-2013), English novelist.
Genevieve
August 4, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
English / French, possibly meaning “tribe woman”, or (related to “Guinevere“), “white” or “fair”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Gene, Geneva, Geneviève, Genevra, Genia, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Geneviève is the French maid Becky Sharp hires to look after her son Rawdon so she doesn’t have to, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Glorvina
August 2, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Invented by Irish author Sydney, Lady Morgan (1781-1859) for her 1806 novel, The Wild Irish Girl. Possibly a portmanteau of the names “Glory” and “Malvina”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Gloria, Glory, Vina?
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Glorvina O’Dowd (called “Glory” by her brother) is Major O’Dowd’s unmarried sister in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
Giles
August 1, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
From Greek by way of Latin, meaning “shield-bearer” or “young goat”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Gide, Gil, Gilles, Gyles, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– King Giles, Princess Alison Jocelyn’s father, in the fantasy novel The Last Unicorn (1968) by Peter S. Beagle.
– Rev. Giles Jowls is “an illuminated Cobbler, who dubbed himself Reverend as Napoleon crowned himself Emperor”, befriended by Lady Southdown in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Sir Giles Wapshot is a neighbor of Sir Pitt Crawley, in Vanity Fair.
Grizzel
August 1, 2014 § Leave a comment
ORIGIN:
Variant of “Grizel”, the Scottish form of “Griselda”, possibly a Germanic name meaning “grey battle-maid”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Grisel, Griselle, Griselda, Grizel, Grizelle, Grizelda, Zelle, Zelda, Zellie, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Grizzel Crawley (née Binkie) was the first wife of Sir Pitt Crawley, and mother of Pitt and Rawdon, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Lady Grizzel Macbeth, daughter of Lord Grey of Glowry, one of the “best” society dames to befriend Becky through Lord Steyne’s patronage, in Vanity Fair.
Georgiana
July 28, 2014 § 3 Comments
ORIGIN:
One of the many feminine variations of “George“.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Geena, Gena, Georgeanne, Georgette, Georgia, Georgiana, Georgie, Georgine, Gigi, Gina, Giorgia, Giorgina, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Georgiana Darcy, Mr. Darcy’s younger sister in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (written in 1797, published in 1813).
– Georgiana Reed (sometimes called “Georgy“), one of Jane’s spoiled, mean-spirited cousins, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
WRITERS:
– Georgiana Cavendish (née Spencer), Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806), English author, poet, and socialite.
George
July 28, 2014 § 12 Comments
ORIGIN:
English version of the Greek “Georgios”, meaning “farmer”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Gino, Giorgio, Giorgino, Geordie, Georg, Georges, Georgios, Georgi, Georgie, Georgy, Jordi, Jordy, Jorge, Jorgen, Jorgie, Jorgy, Jori, Jory, Jurgen, Yorgos, Yuri, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– George Boulter, “Lord Levant’s son”, married to one of the Mango daughters and one of the “nobs” Mr. Osborne prides himself on being connected to through his daughter’s marriage, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– George Evans, one of the traveling salesmen who appear briefly in the pages of Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie (published in 1900; set 1889-1890s).
– Lord George Gaunt, Lord Steyne’s second son, on whom the family curse of insanity unhappily devolves, in Vanity Fair.
– Master George Gaunt, Lord Gaunt’s young son, in Vanity Fair.
– George Gustavus, Lord Steyne, who is responsible for Becky’s highest heights and lowest lows, in Vanity Fair.
– George Herrick, Virginia’s father, the overseer at Caryston Hall, in Virginia of Virginia, written by Amélie Rives in 1888.
– George (G.W.) Hurstwood, the illustrious manager of Fitzgerald and Moy’s saloon, whose fall from grace counters Carrie’s rising star, Sister Carrie.
– George Hurstwood, Jr., his self-centered son, in Sister Carrie.
– George Knightley, the youngest of John and Isabella’s three boys, in Jane Austen’s Emma (1815).
– Mr. George Knightley, “a sensible man”, “a very old and intimate friend of the family”, and “the elder brother of Isabella’s husband”, who takes it upon himself to be the sole voice of criticism in Emma‘s life.
– George Lawrence, whose son is wounded at Shiloh / Pittsburgh Landing, in Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (1964; set during the American Civil War, 1861-1865).
– Sir George Lynn, a friend of Mr. Rochester, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– George Mac Turk, Lord Bajazet’s eldest son, who claims “that if he had his will when he came to the title, he would do what the sultans do, and clear the estate by chopping off all his younger brothers’ heads at once”, in Vanity Fair.
– George Osborne, the dashing cad Amelia falls for in Vanity Fair.
– George Osborne (called “Georgy“), the son of George and Amelia and the means of somewhat reconciling his mother with his father’s family, in Vanity Fair.
– George Otway, a member of the Otway clan, guests at Mr. and Mrs. Weston’s ball, in Jane Austen’s Emma (1815).
– George Page, Sidney’s father, whose death leaves Anna, Sid, and Aunt Harriet without a reliable income, in K. by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1914).
– George Rivington, friend of the Gray girls and Berry Joy, brother of Tom Rivington, in A Little Country Girl (1885), by Susan Coolidge.
– Sir George Tufto, Lieutenant-General in the army in Vanity Fair.
– George Wickham, the likable rascal in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (written in 1797, published in 1813).
– George Winslow, Anna Winslow’s brother, whose letters from abroad Anna reads for the amusement of the working-class girls at the Union, in “May Flowers”, from A Garland for Girls, by Louisa May Alcott, 1887.
WRITERS:
– George B. Seitz (1888-1944), American actor, director, playwright, and screenwriter.
– George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish author, critic, and playwright.
– George Eliot (1819-1880), pen name of English novelist and journalist Mary Ann Evans.
– George Orwell (1903-1950), English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic.
– George Sand (1804-1876), pen name of French novelist and memoirist Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin.
– George Caryl Sims (1902-1966), American author and screenwriter who wrote under the pen name “Paul Cain”.