Louisa
July 28, 2014 § 4 Comments
ORIGIN:
Along with “Louise”, the feminine variation of “Lewis” / “Louis”, the French version of “Ludovicus”, which is the Latin version of the German “Ludwig”, meaning “famous warrior” or “warrior prince”.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Lou, Lula, Lulu, Luise, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Louisa Box, a girl local to Queen’s Crawley, with a reputation for fighting with her sister, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Louisa Crawley, one of the Rev. Bute Crawley’s daughters in Vanity Fair.
– Louisa Cutts, the girl Edward Dale marries, in Vanity Fair.
– Louisa Eshton, the youngest of the Eshton girls, members of Mr. Rochester’s social set, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Louisa Hurst, Mr. Bingley’s snobbish married sister in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (written in 1797, published in 1813).
– Louisa Bailey Joy, Berry and Tom Joy’s mother, who has much money but little taste or gentility, in A Little Country Girl (1885), by Susan Coolidge.
– Lady Louisa Larpent, Lord Orville’s snobbish, shallow sister, in Evelina, or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World (1778), by Fanny Burney.
WRITERS:
– Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), American novelist and short story writer.
– Louisa Anne Meredith (1812-1895), Anglo-Australian illustrator and writer, also known as Louisa Anne Twamley.
Lydia
July 28, 2014 § 5 Comments
ORIGIN:
From Latin, meaning “a woman from Lydia”, which was an ancient country on the west coast of Asia Minor, once ruled by the famously wealthy Croesus. Perhaps not the most deeply meaningful name origin, but whatevs.
VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Lidia, Liddy, Lidya, Lydda, Lydie, etc.
REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Lydia Bennet, the foolish and frivolous youngest of the five Bennets in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (written in 1797, published in 1813).
– Lydia Creighton (b. 1834), one of “the twin girls, long since married and moved to Ohio” who are among Jethro’s far-distant older siblings, in Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (1964; set during the American Civil War, 1861-1865).
– Lydia Hancock, the aunt for whom Mr. Hancock goes to Mr. Lapham to have a silver sugar bowl made, in Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (written in 1943; set during the years leading up to the American Revolutionary War, 1773-1775).
WRITERS:
– Lydia Becker (1827-1890), English activist, publisher, and scientist.
– Lydia Yudifovna Berdyaev (1871-1945), Russian poet.
– Lydia T. Black (1925-2007), American anthropologist and author.
– Lydia Cabrera (1899-1991), Cuban anthropologist and poet.
– Lydia Cacho (b. 1963) Mexican activist, author, and journalist.
– Lydia Campbell (1818-1905), Anglo-Canadian diarist.
– Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880), American activist, journalist, and novelist.
– Lydia Chukovskaya (1907-1996), Russian/Finnish author and poet.
– Lydia Davis (b. 1947), American essayist, novelist, short story writer, and translator.
– Lydia Gregory (b. 1954), pen name of American children’s book author and novelist Diane Carey, who also publishes as “D.L. Carey”.
– Lydia Grigorieva (b. 1945), Ukrainian poet.
– Lydia Hitchcock (1946-2011), pen name of English romance author Penelope Halsall, who also published as “Annie Groves”, “Caroline Courtney”, “Melinda Wright”, and “Penny Jordan”.
– Lydia Jannsen (1843-1886), Estonian poet who published under the pen name “Lydia Koidula”.
– Lydia Kwa (b. 1959), Canadian novelist, poet, psychologist, and short story writer.
– Lydia Mackenzie Falconer Miller (1812-1876), English children’s book author who also published under the pen name “Harriet Myrtle”.
– Lydia Millet (b. 1968), American novelist.
– Lydia Sargent (b. 1942), American activist, actor, author, playwright, and writer.
– Lydia Sigourney (1791-1865), American poet who published as “Mrs. Sigourney”.
– Lydia Tomkiw (1959-2007), American poet, singer, and songwriter.
– Lydia Wahlström (1869-1954), Swedish activist, author, and historian.
– Lydia Wevers (b. 1950), New Zealander critic, editor, historian, and writer.
– Lydia Zinovieva-Annibal (1866-1907), Russian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer.
The Art of Literary Nomenclature 