K | The Art of Literary Nomenclature

Keren-Happuch

August 22, 2014 § 1 Comment

ORIGIN:
Hebrew, meaning “horn of face paint” or “box of cosmetics”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
. . . I got nothin’.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Keren-Happuch Lemon (so christened in order that her parents can call her “Keren” when she pleases them — which is usual, especially where her father is concerned — and “Happuch” when she is misbehaving), whose bravery and kindness in the face of heartbreak is the topic of her father’s story 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.

Keren

August 22, 2014 § 1 Comment

ORIGIN:
Hebrew, meaning “horn” or “ray of light”. Sometimes used as an alternate spelling of “Karen”, “Carin”, etc.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Caren, Carin, Carina, Caryn, Karen, Karena, Karin, Karina, Karyn, Kerena, Kerr, Kerrie, Kerry, Reena, Rina, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Keren Lemon (christened “Keren-Happuch” in order that her parents can call her “Keren” when she pleases them — which is usual, especially where her father is concerned — and “Happuch” when she is misbehaving), whose bravery and kindness in the face of heartbreak is the topic of her father’s story 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.

Katie

August 18, 2014 § 1 Comment

ORIGIN:
Alternate spelling of “Katy“, etc., a diminutive of “Catherine” / “Katherine“.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Cadi, Cady, Cait, Cat, Cate, Catey, Cathi, Cathy, Catie, Cato, Caty, Catya, Kady, Kaia, Kaity, Kaja, Kat, Kata, Kate, Katey, Kathi, Kathie, Kathy, Katka, Katri, Katy, Kay, Kaya, Kaye, Kaylee, Kayleen, Kit, Kitti, Kittie, Kitty, Kylee, Kyleen, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Katie, housemaid at Mrs. Page’s boarding-house, in K. by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1914).

WRITERS:
– Katie Stewart (1934-2013), English cooking writer and columnist.

Kerr

August 17, 2014 § Leave a comment

ORIGIN:
From a Scottish place name, meaning “rough, wet ground”. Lovely.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Carr, Carre, Ker.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Kerr is one of the names K. Le Moyne considers utilizing as his alias in K. by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1914).

King

August 17, 2014 § 2 Comments

ORIGIN:
From the Old English word “cyning”. Three guesses what it means. Yep. It means “king”. Surprising, no?

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
None, really, unless we count synonyms, like “Royal”, or similar place names, like “Kingston”.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– King is one of the names K. Le Moyne considers utilizing as his alias in K. by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1914).

Kenneth

August 17, 2014 § 1 Comment

ORIGIN:
Anglicized version of either “Coinneach”, meaning “handsome”, or “Cinaed”, meaning “born of fire”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Cainneach, Coinneach, Cinaed, Cionaodh, Ken, Kennet, Kennie, Kennith, Kenny, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Kenneth is one of the names K. Le Moyne considers utilizing as his alias in K. by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1914).

WRITERS:
– Kenneth Anderson (1910-1974), English adventure writer.
– Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932), Scottish writer.
– Kenneth Horne (1900-1975), English writer and playwright.
– Kenneth Millar (1915-1983), Canadian-American crime author who published under the pen name “Ross Macdonald”.
– Kenneth Morris (1879-1937), Welsh author and theosophist.
– Kenneth Roberts (1885-1957), American author and journalist.
– Kenneth Tynan (1927-1980), English critic and writer.

Kit

August 15, 2014 § 1 Comment

ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Christopher” or “Catherine” / “Katherine“.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
For girls: Cadi, Cady, Cait, Cat, Cate, Catey, Cathi, Cathy, Catie, Cato, Caty, Catya, Kady, Kaia, Kaity, Kaja, Kat, Kata, Katey, Kathi, Kathie, Kathy, Katie, Katka, Katri, Katy, Kay, Kaya, Kaye, Kaylee, Kayleen, Kitti, Kittie, Kitty, Kylee, Kyleen, etc.
For boys: Chip, Chris, Christy, Christie, Cris, Kester, Kris, Kristof, Toph, Topher, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Kit, Susy’s little brother, whose marble-playing she envies, in “Susy’s Dragon”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Kit (Christopher) Badcock, the innocent farmer whose young child is murdered while his wife, Margery, is carried off by the Doones, the final outrage which causes the locals to rise up against this scourge in their midst, in Lorna Doone, by R.D. Blackmore (written in 1869, set in the 1670s-1680s).

WRITERS:
– Kit Denton (1928-1997), Anglo-Australian broadcaster and writer.
– Kit (Christopher) Marlowe (1564-1593), English dramatist, poet, and translator.

Katherine

August 14, 2014 § 13 Comments

ORIGIN:
Alternately spelled “Katharine“, “Catherine” / “Catharine”, etc., from the Greek for “pure”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Cadi, Cady, Cait, Caitlin, Caitlyn, Caity, Caren, Carina, Casia, Cat, Catalina, Cate, Catey, Catharine, Catherine, Cathie, Cathleen, Cathrine, Cathryn, Cathy, Catie, Cato, Catrina, Catrine, Catriona, Caty, Catya, Ekaterina, Ina, Jekaterina, Kady, Kaia, Kaisa, Kaitlin, Kaitlyn, Kaity, Kaja, Kalena, Karen, Karin, Karina, Kasia, Kat, Kata, Katalin, Kate, Katenka, Katerina, Katey, Katharina, Katharine, Kathi, Kathie, Kathleen, Kathrine, Kathryn, Kathy, Kati, Katie, Katinka, Katja, Katka, Katri, Katrina, Katrine, Katy, Katya, Kay, Kaya, Kit, Kitti, Kittie, Kitty, Kylee, Kyleen, Nienke, Nina, Rina, Riona, Tina, Tineke, Trina, Trine, Yekaterina, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Katherine Bennet (called “Katy“), who is ridiculous because she is wise, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Grandma Katherine Bennet, for whom Katy is named, and in whose memory Grandpa Bennet remains in their little old house in their increasingly-unfashionable neighborhood, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories.

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: “To Katherines lawfully baptiz’d. / What has not Shakspeare said and sung, / Of our pre-eminence of tongue! / . . . See him the comic muse invoking, / (The merry nymph with laughter choking) / While he exhibits at her shrine / The unhallow’d form of Katherine . . . / So that in Shakspeare’s time ’tis plain, / The Katherines were scolds in grain, / No females louder, fiercer, worse”

WRITERS:
– Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), English author.
– Katherine Paterson (b. 1932), American author.
– Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980), American activist, journalist, and writer.

Katy

August 14, 2014 § 3 Comments

ORIGIN:
Like “Kate“, etc., a diminutive of “Catherine” / “Katherine“.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Cadi, Cady, Cait, Cat, Cate, Catey, Cathi, Cathy, Catie, Cato, Caty, Catya, Kady, Kaia, Kaity, Kaja, Kat, Kata, Kate, Katey, Kathi, Kathie, Kathy, Katie, Katka, Katri, Kay, Kaya, Kaye, Kaylee, Kayleen, Kit, Kitti, Kittie, Kitty, Kylee, Kyleen, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Katy (Katherine) Bennet, who is ridiculous because she is wise, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Katy Mears, Molly’s best friend, in “Molly Gair’s New Dress”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories.
– Katy Malony, the Irish chambermaid who works for Aunt Cathy, in “Susy’s Dragon”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories.

WRITERS:
– Katy Butler (b. 1949), American journalist and author.

Kate

August 4, 2014 § 4 Comments

ORIGIN:
Diminutive of “Catherine” / “Katherine“.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Cadi, Cady, Cait, Cat, Cate, Catey, Cathi, Cathy, Catie, Cato, Caty, Catya, Kady, Kaia, Kaity, Kaja, Kat, Kata, Katey, Kathi, Kathie, Kathy, Katie, Katka, Katri, Katy, Kay, Kaya, Kaye, Kaylee, Kayleen, Kit, Kitti, Kittie, Kitty, Kylee, Kyleen, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Kate, a rather sharp, though kind-hearted, young lady in “Water Lilies” from A Garland for Girls, by Louisa May Alcott, 1887.
– Kate Crawley, one of the Rev. Bute Crawley’s daughters in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Kate Fleming, Ally’s aunt, whose misunderstood remark leads to trouble, in “Ally”, from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Kate Gray (née Catherine Van Vliet), the kind-hearted, motherly woman who accepts her cousin’s daughter, Candace, as one of her own, in A Little Country Girl (1885), by Susan Coolidge.

WRITERS:
– Kate Atkinson (b. 1951), English author and playwright.
– Kate Chopin (1850-1904), American author.

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: “Then cast it in a Grecian mould, / Once modell’d from a living scold; / When from her shelly prison burst / That finished vixen, Kate the curst! / . . . Nor was it even then too late, / When crown’d and register’d a Kate; / When all had trembling heard, and seen, / The shriller voice, and fiercer mien”
– “Kiss Me, Kate“, a song from the 1948 Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter, has Petruchio singing to Katherine: “So, kiss me, Kate, thou lovely loon, / Ere we start on our honeymoon. / So, kiss me, Kate, darling devil divine, / For now thou shall ever be mine.”

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