M | The Art of Literary Nomenclature

Michael

August 2, 2014 § 5 Comments

ORIGIN:
From Hebrew, meaning “who is like the Lord?”

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Maikel, Micha, Micah, Michail, Michel, Mick, Mickey, Micky, Miguel, Mika, Mikael, Mike, Mikel, Mikelo, Mikey, Mikhael, Mikhail, Mijo, Mikkel, Mikki, Misha, Miska, Mitch, Mitchell, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Michael, one of the servants in the Lorton household, in “The Youngest Miss Lorton”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Brother Michael, the monk who cares for the garden at St. Mark’s, in The Door in the Wall (written in 1949 and set sometime between 1327-1377), by Marguerite de Angeli.
– Michael Eady, Denis Eady’s “rich Irish grocer” father, in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (written in 1911, but set in the 1890s or first few years of the 1900s).
– Michael Mulligan, one of the tenants of the boarding-houses and tenements behind Grandpa Bennet’s home, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories.
– Major Michael O’Dowd (called “Mick” by his wife), commander of the regiment in which George Osborne and William Dobbin go to war, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).

WRITERS:
– Michael Crichton (1942-2008), American author, director, physician, producer, and screenwriter.
– Michael Pollan (b. 1955), American activist, author, journalist, and professor.
– Michael Strange (1890-1950), pen name of American actress, playwright, and poet Blanche Oelrichs.

Matilda

August 2, 2014 § 7 Comments

ORIGIN:
From the Germanic, meaning “strength in battle” or “mighty battle-maid”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Malta, Mathilda, Mathilde, Matilde, Mattie, Matty, Maud, Maude, Maudie, Tilda, Tilde, Tillie, Tilly, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Matilda, Miss Crawley (sometimes referred to as “Tilly”), is the wealthy relative on whom the entire Crawley family, Rawdon especially, pin their hopes, in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Matilda Crawley, daughter of Pitt and Lady Jane, in Vanity Fair.
– Matilda Crawley, one of the Rev. Bute Crawley’s daughters in Vanity Fair.
– Matilda Raggles, the young daughter of former butler Mr. Charles Raggles, able to attend boarding school on the strength of her father’s presumed prosperity as a landlord, in Vanity Fair.
– Matilda Sheepshanks, Lady Southdown, is mother to Lady Jane and her siblings, in Vanity Fair.

QUOTATIONS:
– “Matilda” is a calypso song dating back at least to the 1930s, and recorded by Harry Belafonte in 1953: “Matilda, she take me money and run Venezuela!”
– “Waltzing Matilda” is Australia’s most popular “bush ballad” (folk song), the “unofficial national anthem”, first written in 1895 by Banjo Paterson. The phrase is slang for traveling by foot, carrying your things in a sack (“Matilda”) on your back: “Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, you’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me”

Morton

July 30, 2014 § Leave a comment

ORIGIN:
Anglo-Saxon last name / place name, meaning “village on the moor”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Mort, Mortie, Morty.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Morton Dykes, a sometime-suitor of one of the Gilbreth girls in Belles on Their Toes (1950), written by Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.

Martha

July 30, 2014 § 6 Comments

ORIGIN:
From the Aramaic for “lady” or “mistress”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Madge, Maddie, Maddy, Marita, Mart, Marta, Marte, Marty, Mat, Mattie, Matty, Pat (from Mat, I guess), Patsy, Pattie, Patty, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Martha, the chambermaid hired to work at the orphanage, in “Polly’s Valentine” from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Martha Abbott, a servant Jane once overheard Bessie gossiping with on the subject of presentiments, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Martha Crawley, née MacTavish, the Rev. Bute Crawley’s wife in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Miss Martha Crawley, one of the Rev. Bute Crawley’s daughters in Vanity Fair.
– Martha G., mentioned in the Child’s Guide pamphlet Mr. Brocklehurst gives to Jane at their first meeting, urging her to “read it with prayer, especially that part containing ‘An account of the awfully sudden death of Martha G—, a naughty child addicted to falsehood and deceit'”, in Jane Eyre.
– Martha Gilbreth (b. 1909), the fourth of the dozen Gilbreth children whose upbringing is related in Cheaper By the Dozen (1948) and Belles on Their Toes (1950), written by Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.
– Martha Griswold, one of snobbish Jessica Hurstwood’s schoolmates, who is scorned for her poor family, in Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie (published in 1900; set 1889-1890s).
– Martha Hilton, the kitchen maid Gen. Benning Wentworth married, mentioned in “That Little Smith Girl” from A Flock of Girls and Boys.
– Martha Jocelyn, Angela’s older sister, whose disillusionment has made her slightly bitter, in “An April Fool”, from A Flock of Girls and Boys.
– Martha Langston, David’s dear departed mother, in The Harvester (1911) by Gene Stratton Porter.
– Martha Pierce, the aunt Zeena Frome stays with while in Bettsbridge to see the doctor, in Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome (written in 1911, but set in the 1890s or first few years of the 1900s).
– Martha Sharpe, a friend of Miss Anne Steele’s, with whom she shared many confidences for her sister Lucy to eavesdrop on, in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (set between 1792-1797, published in 1811).

WRITERS:
– Martha Finley (1828-1909), American author and educator who sometimes wrote under the pen name “Martha Farquharson”.
– Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998), American journalist, novelist, and travel writer.

Maria

July 28, 2014 § 11 Comments

ORIGIN:
Pronounced either “ma REE’ a” or “ma RYE’ a”, this is the Latin form of Mary.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Maia, Maike, Maja, Malia, Mara, Mairen, Mari, Mariah, Marie, Mariele, Mariella, Marietta, Marijeke, Marika, Mariska, Marita, Mary, Maureen, Maya, Mia, Mimi, Mirele, Moira, Reena, Reeta, Ria, Riele, Riella, Rina, Rita, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Maria, maid-of-all-work for Maggie Bradford’s family in “May Flowers”, from A Garland for Girls, by Louisa May Alcott, 1887.
– Maria Johnson, the farmer’s wife in The Song of the Cardinal, by Gene Stratton Porter (1903).
– Maria Lucas, the younger sister of Lizzie Bennet’s best friend Charlotte in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (written in 1797, published in 1813).
– Maria Mirvan (called “Molly” or “Moll” by her father), Evelina’s dearest friend, with whom she enters into London society, in Evelina, or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World (1778), by Fanny Burney.
– Maria Frances Osborne, the younger of George Osborne’s sisters in Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray (published in 1847-48, but set in the 1810s-20s).
– Maria Porter (called “Ria“), a shopgirl Anna Winslow helps in “May Flowers”, from A Garland for Girls.
– Miss Maria Temple, head teacher and superintendent of Lowood Institute, whose kindness to Jane encourages and consoles her, in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Maria Todd, Miss Osborne’s goddaughter and sister to Osborne Todd, Georgy Osborne’s friend, in Vanity Fair.

QUOTATIONS:
– “They Call The Wind Maria” is a song from the 1951 musical Paint Your Wagon by Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe: “Away out here they got a name / For rain and wind and fire / The rain is Tess, the fire Joe / And they call the wind Maria”. (Obviously, you have to go with the “ma RYE’ a” pronunciation for this song, or it doesn’t really rhyme. Also, I have serious doubts about anyone actually calling fire “Joe”.)
– “Maria” is a song from the 1957 Broadway musical West Side Story by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim: “The most beautiful sound I ever heard. / Maria! . . . Say it loud and there’s music playing, / Say it soft and it’s almost like praying.”
– “(How Do You Solve a Problem Like) Maria” is a song from the 1959 musical The Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II: “How do you solve a problem like Maria? / How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? / How do you find a word that means Maria? / A flibbertigibbet! A will-o’-the-wisp! A clown! / Many a thing you know you’d like to tell her / Many a thing she ought to understand / But how do you make her stay / And listen to all you say / How do you keep a wave upon the sand? / How do you solve a problem like Maria? / How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?”

Mary

July 28, 2014 § 18 Comments

ORIGIN:
The common Anglicized version of the Hebrew name “Miriam”, which may mean “rebellious” or “obstinate”. Or it may not. No one really knows. By now, “Mary” has more meaning due to connotation than to whatever the denotation may be.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Maaike, Maia, Mair, Mairenn, Mairi, Mairin, Mairwen, Maja, Malia, Maille, Mame, Mamie, Manon, Mara, Mari, Maria, Mariah, Mariamne, Marian, Marianne, Marie, Mariele, Mariella, Marielle, Marietta, Marika, Mariona, Marise, Mariska, Marissa, Marita, Maritza, Marjo, Marjut, Marya, Maryam, Marzena, Maura, Maureen, Masha, Mele, Mere, Meri, Mia, Mieke, Miep, Mies, Mimi, Mirele, Miriam, Mitzi, Moira, Moireen, Moll, Molle, Molly, Myriam, Ona, Poll, Pollie, Polly, Ria, etc. So many variations. So, so many.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Mary, Carrie’s older sister, expected to marry soon, in “Pansies” from A Garland for Girls, by Louisa May Alcott, 1887.
– Mary (b. 1906), the second of the dozen Gilbreth children whose upbringing is related in Cheaper By the Dozen (1948) and Belles on Their Toes (1950), written by Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.
– Mary, wife of John, the manservant at Thornfield (and later, Ferndean), in Jane Eyre, 1847, by Charlotte Bronte.
– Mary, the name of a succession of inept maidservants employed by the Hurstwoods, in Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie (published in 1900; set 1889-1890s).
– Lady Mary, the old woman whose laid-back approach to business nearly ruins her goddaughter, in “Old Lady Mary” (1884), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
– Mary, the Hungarian housemaid at Thea’s boarding house in Chicago, in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).
– Mary, the housemaid at Grandpa Bennet’s, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Mary Arkwright, the friend whose birthday party Dolly Lorton writes about in her diary, in “The Youngest Miss Lorton”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories.
– Aunt Mary Balcarres, whose house lies opposite the College Library, in “The Library Window” (1896), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen.
– Mary Bennet, the serious and often-overlooked third Bennet daughter in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (written in 1797, published in 1813).
– Mary 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).
– Lady Mary Caerlyon, the unhappy wife of Lord Steyne in Vanity Fair.
– Mary Clapp (nicknamed “Polly“), daughter of the Sedley’s landlord, who bestows on Dobbin the nickname “Major Sugarplums” owing to his habit of bringing gifts for all at every visit to the house, in Vanity Fair.
– Mary Ellen Creighton (b. 1844-46), Jethro’s older sister, “pretty as Jenny, only blond and more delicate”, who was killed in a carriage accident caused by a drunken Travis Burdow in 1859, in Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt (1964; set during the American Civil War, 1861-1865).
– Mary Erroll, the beautiful and elegant neighbor who captures Jack Roden’s attention, and Virginia Herrick’s enmity, in Virginia of Virginia, written by Amélie Rives in 1888.
– Mary Fleming, Ally’s cousin, whose actions don’t always reflect her intentions, in “Ally”, from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Mary Garrett, one of Jane’s students at the charity school in Morton, in Jane Eyre.
– Mary Grant, Kitty’s sister in “Esther Bodn”, from A Flock of Girls and Boys.
– Mary Ingram, Blanche’s younger sister, one of the elegant people who make up Mr. Rochester’s social set, in Jane Eyre.
– Mary Jordan, an impoverished woman who turns to Philip Canning for aid, in “The Portrait” (1885), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen.
– Mary King, the young heiress who attracts Wickham’s attentions away from Elizabeth, in Pride and Prejudice.
– Mary Leslie, a little girl who needs to have a better example set for her by the older girls, in “A Little Boarding-School Samaritan”, from A Flock of Girls and Boys.
– Lady Mary Mango (daughter of the Earl of Castlemouldy), to whom Amelia is favorably compared in Vanity Fair.
– Mary Marcy, a shrewd, spirited girl whose Quaker mother isn’t enough to keep her from wanting to fight back against injustice, in “An April Fool”, from A Flock of Girls and Boys.
– Mary McGuire, one of Sidney’s patients at the hospital, in K. by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1914).
– Mary, Lady Middleton, Mrs. Jennings’ daughter and Sir John’s wife, an elegant, though dull, woman who has little to offer besides devotion to her children and to the politesse of hostessing, in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (set between 1792-1797, published in 1811).
– Mary Peters, wife of local farmer Amos Peters, in The Harvester (1911) by Gene Stratton Porter.
– Mary Porter (called “Molly“), a shopgirl Anna Winslow helps in “May Flowers”, from A Garland for Girls.
– Mary Rivers (later Wharton), one of St. John’s sisters, who befriend Jane after she leaves Thornfield, in Jane Eyre.
– Miss Mary Scott, the pleasant old lady who hopes to see a rare flower bloom in “Water Lilies” from A Garland for Girls.
– Mary Sedley is Amelia Sedley’s mother (although later her husband refers to her as “Bessy“) in Vanity Fair.
– Mary Turner, Ed’s wife and Sam’s mother, in Across Five Aprils.
– Mary Vivian, Lady Mary’s goddaughter, who is nearly left destitute through simple procrastination, in “Old Lady Mary” (1884), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen.

WRITERS:
– Mary Cowden Clark (1809-1898), English author and scholar.
– Mary Higgins Clark (b. 1927), American novelist.
– Mary Boykin Chesnut (1823-1886), American diarist and socialite.
– Mary Stewart Doubleday Cutting (1851-1924), American activist and author.
– Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), American activist, author, and critic.
– Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958), American mystery novelist.
– Mary Shelley (1797-1851), English writer.
– Mary Somerville (1780-1872), Scottish science writer and polymath.
– Mary Stewart (1916-2014), English author.
– Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), English activist, philosopher, and writer.

QUOTATIONS:
– Classic nursery rhymes such as “Mary, Mary, quite contrary” and “Mary had a little lamb“. Probably the most popular girl’s name for nursery rhymes, really. When it comes to rhyming, Mary is very ordinary.
– “Bring Flowers of the Rarest” is a hymn to the Virgin Mary, written by Mary E. Walsh in 1871: “Oh! Thus shall we prove thee / How truly we love thee, / How dark without Mary / Life’s journey would be. / O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today, / Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May!”