Учебно-методический комплекс дисциплины дн(М). 2 «Ономастика»

Практические задания

1. 
   авторов Возрождения;
   
2. 
   представителей эпохи классицизма;
   
3. 
   сентименталистов;
   
4. 
   романтиков;
   
5. 
   авторов «готического романа»;
   
6. 
   писателей-реалистов;
   
7. 
   английского фольклора.
   

Works of literature can have a profound influence on name choices. The widespread influence of Arthurian legend on European naming has already been mentioned. The names of some of Shakespeare’s heroines were used as given names, for example Rosalind, Olivia, Portia, Perdita, Imogen, Juliet, and Cordelia. However, on the whole, the names of Shakespeare’s characters have been less influential than might have been expected. Many Shakespearean names are those of historical or supposedly historical characters (Hal, Troilus, Macbeth); others are Italianate (Antonio, Claudio, Viola); others, especially male names (Florizel, Prospero, Hamlet), seem to have been simply too outlandish to have achieved popular status.

Other writers have influenced particular names. Thus, Pamela and Clarissa probably owe much if not all of their popularity to novels by Samuel Richardson; Amelia to Henry Fielding; Nicol to Sir Walter Scott; Justine to Lawrence Durrell; Leila to Byron and Lord Lytton; Christabel to Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Maud and Vivien to Alfred, Lord Tennyson; and Pippa to Browning. In the 19^th century, the given name Shirley (which is derived via a surname from a placename) changed sex, becoming a conventional female name after publication of Charlotte Brontё’s novel ‘Shirley’ in 1849.

Literary influence is not, of course, confined to the English language. In Italy, for example, the same phenomenon may be observed in the name Loredana, which was coined by Luciano Zuccoli for a novel published in 1908, and Ornella, in Gabriele d’Annunzio’s ‘Figlia de Ioro’ (1904). The phenomenon is long established, as the influence of Dante and Petrarch on the names Beatrice and Laura bears witness.

The literary quality of a work is a less influential factor than its wide readership and ability to capture the popular imagination. All the writers mentioned above have enjoyed perennial popularity, but in addition some more ephemeral works have played a major part in establishing certain names. Paul Leicester Ford’s novel ‘Janice Meredith’, published in 1899, is little read nowadays, but the name Janice owes its popularity to that work.

The most striking example of the influence of a work of literature on the choice of names is Margaret Mitchell’s novel ‘Gone with the Wind’ (1936), which was made into a popular film in 1939. The names of most of the characters were invented by the author, so their adoption as conventional given names can be pinpointed precisely and attributed to this work. It was largely or wholly responsible for the names Bonnie, Rhett, Scarlett, and Careen among others.

When the Bible was more widely and regularly read, biblical names had rather more meaning than they have today. Certain names immediately suggested the characters of the persons who bore them. An anonymous poet made use of this fact in his tribute “To the pious memory of Dame Dorothy Selby”: