P | The Art of Literary Nomenclature

Popocatepetl

August 24, 2014 § 1 Comment

ORIGIN:
From an Aztec myth, meaning “smoking mountain” in the Nauhuatl language.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Well, it seems “Popo” is an option . . .

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Popocatepetl Page (called “Popo“), a young servant at Caryston Hall, in Virginia of Virginia, written by Amélie Rives in 1888.

Popo

August 24, 2014 § 1 Comment

ORIGIN:
As I’ve seen it used so far, a shortened version of “Popocatepetl“, from an Aztec myth, meaning “smoking mountain”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
. . . No idea. None, maybe.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Popo (Popocatepetl) Page, a young servant at Caryston Hall, in Virginia of Virginia, written by Amélie Rives in 1888.

Patience

August 22, 2014 § Leave a comment

ORIGIN:
One of the “virtue” names created by the Puritans. Guess what it means? If you guessed, “patience”, you’re right! If you did not guess “patience”, you are . . . not right.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Possibly Pat / Patti / Pattie / Patty? Paysh? Payshie? Possibly?

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Lady Patience Lennox, Lady Elizabeth’s first daughter, a beautiful, elfin creature who was inaptly named, in “Nurse Crumpet Tells the Story” (written in 1887, set circa 1630s-1669), from A Brother to Dragons, and Other Old Time Tales (1888), by Amélie Rives.

Philip

August 21, 2014 § 2 Comments

ORIGIN:
From the Greek “Philippos”, meaning “friend of horses”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Felip, Felipe, Filib, Filip, Filippos, Filippus, Flip, Phil, Phillip, Philippe, Philippos, Pilib, Pip, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Philip Canning, the narrator of “The Portrait” (1885), from Stories of the Seen and Unseen by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant.
– Rev. Mr. Philip Elton, the handsome and seemingly-agreeable vicar of Highbury, who turns out to be rather conceited and inconsiderate, in Jane Austen’s Emma (1815).
– Philip Frederick Ottenburg (called “Fred“), the dynamic young brewing heir who launches Thea’s operatic career, in The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (written in 1915 and set in the 1890s).

WRITERS:
– Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), American essayist, novelist, philosopher, and short story writer.
– Philip Freneau (1752-1832), American editor, poet, and polemicist.
– Philip Latham (1902-1981), pen name of American astronomer and science fiction author Robert S. Richardson.
– Philip Pullman (b. 1946), British fantasy author and playwright.
– Philip Roth (b. 1933), American novelist.
– Philip Van Doren Stern (1900-1984), American author, editor, and historian.

Palmer

August 17, 2014 § 1 Comment

ORIGIN:
An English last name, meaning “pilgrim”, derived from the Latin word for “palm tree”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Not sure that there are any, really.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Palmer Howe, Christine Lorenz’s “wild” fiancé, in K. by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1914).

Patty

August 15, 2014 § 1 Comment

ORIGIN:
Alternate spelling of “Pattie” or “Paddy”; originally a variant of “Martha” (via “Mattie” / “Matty“), now commonly used as a diminutive of “Patrick” or “Patricia”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
For girls: Maddi, Maddie, Maddy, Madge, Mart, Martie, Marty, Mat, Matt, Matti, Mattie, Matty, Maud, Maude, Maudie, Midge, Pat, Patsy, Patti, Pattie, Tilda, Tilde, Tillie, Tilly, Trecia, Tresha, Tricia, Trish, Trisha, etc.
For boys: Paddy, Padraic, Padraig, Padrig, Pat, Pate, Patric, Patrice, Patricius, Patrick, Patrik, Patrizio, Patryk, Patsy, Pherick, Rick, Rickie, Ricky, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Patty, maidservant to Mrs. and Miss Bates, in Jane Austen’s Emma (1815).
– Patty Dunbar, a clever, sensible girl, one of the founding members of the children’s society for the prevention of cruelty to cats in “The Kit-Kat Club”, and originator of the idea to have a shop and sell doll clothes to raise money for the family, in “The Little Dunbars, and Their Charming Christmas Plans”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).

Patrick

August 14, 2014 § 4 Comments

ORIGIN:
From the Latin “Patricius”, meaning “of noble birth”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Paddy, Padraic, Padraig, Padrig, Pat, Pate, Patric, Patrice, Patricius, Patrik, Patrizio, Patryk, Patsy, Patty, Pherick, Rick, Rickie, Ricky, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Patrick, 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).

WRITERS:
– Patrick Carman (b. 1966), American writer.
– Patrick Hamilton (1904-1962), English novelist and playwright.
– Patrick F. McManus (b. 1933), American humorist and writer.
– Patrick O. McGuire (1926-2002), pen name of English crime fiction author and screenwriter James Mitchell, who also wrote under the pen name “James Munro”.
– Patrick Robinson (b. 1940), English novelist and columnist.
– Patrick Taylor (b. 1941), Irish novelist.
– Patrick White (1912-1990), Anglo-Australian novelist.

Prescott

August 14, 2014 § Leave a comment

ORIGIN:
Old English place name, meaning “priest’s cottage”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Prescot, Prestcot, Prestcott.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Prescott Burney, a young man who, unfortunately, believes Dolly Lorton’s idle gossip, resulting in trouble for the Lorton family, in “The Youngest Miss Lorton”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).

Poll

August 13, 2014 § 2 Comments

ORIGIN:
Shortened version of “Polly“, a variant of “Molly“, which is a diminutive of “Mary“. Sometimes used as a diminutive of “Pauline“, “Paulette”, etc.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Moll, Mollie, Molly, Paula, Pol, Pola, Pollie, Polly, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Family nickname for Polly Branghton, the youngest child of Madame Duval’s (and Evelina’s) cousins, the crude, ill-mannered Branghton clan, in Evelina, or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World (1778), by Fanny Burney.

Pierre

August 13, 2014 § Leave a comment

ORIGIN:
French version of “Peter“, from Greek, meaning “stone”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Boutros, Peadar, Pedro, Pejo, Petri, Petruccio, Petruchio, Petrus, Piero, Pierrot, Piers, Piet, Pieter, Pietro, Piotr, Peer, Per, Pere, Pero, Pyotr, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Pierre Baudouin, the art critic and lecturer whose attention makes all the difference in Esther’s life, in “Esther Bodn”, from Nora Perry’s A Flock of Girls and Boys (1895).
– Monsieur Pierre Du Bois, Madame Duval’s friend from France, who falls in love with the wrong woman, in Evelina, or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World (1778), by Fanny Burney.

WRITERS:
– Pierre Barbet (1925-1995), one of several pen names used by French author Claude Avice.
– Pierre Loti (1850-1923), pen name of French novelist and naval officer Julien Viaud.

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