Posted in Alternative Names, Baby Names, Druid Names, Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names, Pagan Names, Surnames as First Names, Unisex Names, Wiccan Names, Witch Names, tagged Alma, Anquetin, Ayala, Beale, Beaux, Bellocq, Blair, Brangwyn, Braque, Breton, Carriera, Cassatt, Cézanne, Chase, Chéret, Constable, Copley, Corot, Cosway, Dali, Delacroix, Delaroche, Donatello, Doré, Draper, Durer, Emin, Escher, Etty, Fantin, Gainsborough, Galizia, Gaudi, Godward, Gogh, Gower, Goya, Holman, Hunt, Klimt, Kneller, Lavery, Leighton, Lely, Leyster, Magritte, Manet, Matisse, Merian, Merritt, Millais, Millet, Miró, Monamy, Monet, Moreau, Morisot, Nash, O'Keeffe, Opie, Orpen, Ozenda, Pajou, Paxton, Picasso, Poynter, Quiller, Raffet, Ramsay, Raphael, Redon, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rethel, Rockwell, Rodin, Romney, Rossetti, Rousseau, Rubens, Sargent, Seurat, Singer, Sirani, Sisley, Staël, Steele, Tadema, Tanquy, Titian, Turner, Valadon, Vermeer, Veronese, Vigée, Villon, Watts, Whistler, Yeats, Zoffany on February 13, 2012 |
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Lely
I’ve been musing for a while now on the rich mine of names that are the surnames of artists, poets and writers.
Many of them have a great ring in themselves, as well as carrying strong artistic connotations.
With the most famous, it is as though their names “mean” their paintings.
Say Monet, for instance, and lovely, soft, impressionistc images float into the mind.
Here, then, is my pick of the artists:
- Alma — Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema, Anglo-Dutch (1836-1912)
- Anquetin – Louis Anquetin, French (1861-1932)
- Ayala – Josefa de Ayala Figueira, Spanish (1630-84)
- Beale – Mary Beale, English (1633-99)
- Beaux – Cecilia Beaux, American (1855-1942)
- Bellocq – Gabrielle Bellocq, French (1920-99)
- Blair — Edmund Blair Leighton, English (1852-1922)
- Brangwyn – Frank William Brangwyn, Welsh (1867-1956)
- Braque – Georges Braque, French (1882-1963)
- Breton – Jules Breton, French (1827-1906)
- Carriera – Rosalba Carriera, Italian (1675-1757)
- Cassatt – Mary Cassatt, American (1844-1926)
- Cézanne – Paul Cézanne, French (1839-1906)
- Chase — William Merritt Chase, American (1849-1916)
- Chéret – Jules Chéret, French (1836-1932)
- Constable – John Constable, English (1776-1837)
- Copley – John Singleton Copley, American (1737-1815)
- Corot – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French (1796-1875)
- Cosway – Richard Cosway, English (1742-1821), and his wife Maria Cosway, Italian (1760-1838)
- Dali – Salvador Domènec Felipe Jacinto Dalí I Domènech, Marquis de Púbol, Spanish (1904-89)
- Delacroix – Eugene Delacroix, French (1798-1863)
- Delaroche – Paul Delaroche, French (1797-1856)
- Donatello – Donatello di Nicolo Bardi, Italian (1386-1466)
- Doré – Gustave Doré, French (1832-83)
- Draper – Herbert James Draper, English (1863-1920)
- Durer – Albrecht Dürer, German (1471-1528)
- Emin – Tracey Emin, British (b.1963)
- Escher — Mauritz Cornelis Escher, Dutch (1898-1972)
- Etty – William Etty, English (1787-1489)
- Fantin – Henri Fantin-Latour, French (1836-1904)
- Galizia – Fede Galizia, Italian (1578-1630)
- Gainsborough – Thomas Gainsborough, English (1727-88)
- Gaudi – Antoni Gaudí I Cornet, Spanish (1852-1926)
- Godward – John William Godward, English (1861-1922)
- Gogh – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch (1853-90)
- Gower – George Gower, English (c.1540-96)
- Goya – Francisco de Goya, Spanish (1746-1828)
- Holman – William Holman Hunt, English (1827-1910)
- Hunt – see Holman
- Klimt – Gustave Klimt, Austrian (1862-1918)
- Kneller – Sir Godfrey Kneller, Anglo-Dutch (1646-1723)
- Lavery – Sir John Lavery, Irish (1856-1941)
- Leighton – Frederick, Lord Leighton, English (1830-96), also see Blair
- Lely – Sir Peter Lely, Anglo-Dutch (1618-80)
- Leyster – Judith Leyster, Dutch (1609-60)
- Magritte – René Magritte, French (1898-1967)
- Manet – Édouard Manet, French (1832-83)
- Matisse – Henri Matisse, French (1869-1954)
- Merian – Maria Sibylla Merian, German (1647-1717)
- Merritt – see Chase
- Millais — Sir John Everett Millais, English (1829-96)
- Millet – Jean-François Millet, French (1814-75)
- Miró — Joan Miró i Ferrà, Catalan (1893-1983)
- Monamy – Peter Monamy, English (1681-1749)
- Monet – Claude Monet, French (1840-1926)
- Moreau – Gustave Moreau, French (1826-98)
- Morisot – Berthe Morisot, French (1841-95)
- Nash – Paul Nash, English (1889-1946)
- O’Keeffe – Georgia O’Keeffe, American (1887-1986)
- Opie — John Opie, Cornish (1761-1807) — his wife Amelia was a novelist; Julian Opie, British (b. 1958)
- Orpen – Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, Irish (1878-1931)
- Ozenda — Ozenda, Francçois (1923-76)
- Pajou – Jacques-Augustin Pajou, French (1730-1809)
- Paxton – William McGregor Paxton, American (1869-1941)
- Picasso – Pablo Picasso, Spanish (1881-1973)
- Poynter – Edward John Poynter, English (1836-1919)
- Quiller – William Quiller Orchardson, Scottish (1832-1910)
- Ramsay – Allan Ramsay, Scottish (1713-84)
- Raffet – Denis Auguste Marie Raffet, French (1804-60)
- Raphael – Raffaello Sanzio de Urbino, Italian (1483-1520)
- Redon – Odilon Redon, French (1840-1916)
- Rembrandt – Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch (1606-69)
- Renoir – Pierre Auguste Renoir, French (1841-1919)
- Rethel – Alfred Rethel, German (1816-59)
- Rodin – Auguste Rodin, French (1840-1917)
- Rockwell – Norman Rockwell, American (1894-1978)
- Romney – George Romney, English (1734-1802)
- Rousseau – Henry Julien Félix Rousseau, French (1844-1910)
- Rossetti – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English (1828-82)
- Rubens – Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish (1577-1640)
- Sargent – Sir John Singer Sargent, American (1856-1925)
- Seurat – Georges Pierre Seurat, French (1859-91)
- Singer – see Sargent
- Sirani – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian (1638-65), and her father Giovanni Andrea Sirani (1610-70
- Sisley – Alfred Sisley, Anglo-French (1839-99)
- Staël – Nicolas de Staël, Russo-French (1914-55)
- Steele – Theodore Clement, American (1847-1926)
- Tadema – see Alma
- Tanguy – Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy, French (1900-55)
- Titian — Tiziano Vecellio, Italian (c.1488-1576)
- Turner – Joseph Mallord William Turner, English (1775-1851)
- Yeats – John “Jack” Butler Yeats, Irish (1871-1957)
- Valadon – Suzanne Valadon, French (1865-1938)
- Vermeer — Jan Vermeer, Dutch (1632-75)
- Veronese – Paolo Veronese, Italian (1528-88)
- Vigée – Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun, French (1755-1842)
- Villon – Jacques Villon, French (1875-1963)
- Watts – George Frederick Watts, English (1817-1904)
- Whistler – James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (1834-1903)
- Zoffany – Johann Zoffany, German (1733-1810)
Footnote: Zeffy at Baby Names From Yesteryear’s recent post — The Peale Family — about the family of American artist and naturalist Charles Wilson Peale (1741-1827) demonstrates nicely that naming children after your favorite artists has a long tradition!
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Posted in Baby Names, Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names, Names, Norse Names, Old English Names, Pagan-friendly, Surnames as First Names, Unisex Names, Unusual Names, tagged Auðun, Ámundi, Hámundr, Hodierna, Horace, Horatius, Oakden, Oaker, Oakey, Oakham, Oakley, Oakman, Odam, Odart, Odber, Odberht, Odbert, Oden, Odger, Odhard, Odierna, Odierne, Odin, Offord, Ogden, Ogier, Okey, Olla, Olney, Olton, Oman, Omond, Onslow, Ordmær, Ordmer, Ordric, Ordway, Ordwig, Orford, Ormarr, Orme, Ormseby, Orpen, Orpin, Orrick, Orriss, Orton, Orys, Osen, Osmær, Osmer, Ossell, Ostler, Othen, Oxley, Oxney, Oxton, Ozanne, Ozin on December 3, 2011 |
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Omond
For a letter with fewer names under its belt, O has surprisingly rich pickings when it comes to surnames of Old English, Old Norse and Anglo-French origins, little used as first names:
- Oakden, Ogden — from Ogden in Lancashire. Old English ac “oak” + denu “valley.” Although Ogden is quite well-known from the poet (Frederic) Ogden Nash (1902-1971), it has only once made the top 1000, in 1907.
- Oaker — from ac “oak,” meaning “dweller at the oak.”
- Oakey, Okey — from ac “oak” + (ge)hæg “copse.”
- Oakham — from Oakham, Rutland, and Oakham, Surrey. Old English ac “oak” + hām “homestead,” “village,” “estate,” “manor.”
- Oakley – from one of the places of the name, or simply ac “oak” + lēah “wood,” “woodland clearing,” “glade,” “pasture” and “meadow.” Only just qualifies for this list as it saw intermittent use in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, but it’s got great Pagan credentials, combinine the name of one of the most revered of trees with lēah — indicative, erhaps at a place where once a sacred oak grove was found.
- Oakman — Old English: acmann “oakman.” A very curious and interesting word. Was it given to someone who played the Green Man in pageants, perhaps? Or simply someone who lived in an oakwood, or dealt in the wood of oaks?
- Odam — Middle English: odam “son-in-law.”
- Odart — from the Old German name Odhard; a combination of uod “riches” and hardu “hard,” “hardy.”
- Odber, Odbert — from the Old German name Odberht; uod “riches” + berht “bright.”
- Oden, Othen — from the Old Norse name Auðun (also a byname of Odin), which is actually found in the form Odin in medieval records. It is actually cognate with the Old English Edwin “rich-friend.”
- Odger, Ogier — from the Old German name Odger “rich-spear.”
- Odierne — from the medieval women’s name Hodierna, Odierna, from the Latin hodiernus “of today.”
- Offord — from one of the places of the name. Old English upp(e) + “ford.”
- Olney — from Olney, Buckinghamshire. Old English personal name *Olla + ēg “island.”
- Olton — from Olton, Warwickshire. Old English ēald “old” + tūn “enclosure,” “farmstead,” “estate,” “manor,” “village.”
- Omond, Oman – from the Old Norse personal name Hámundr “high-protection” or Ámundi “protection of great-grandfather.”
- Onslow — from Onslow in Shropshire. Uncertain personal name (the Domesday form of the place was Ondeslow) + hlāw “tumulus,” “mound” and “hill.” Although it is not unknown in the UK (where it is particularly associated with a character in the ’90s sitcom Keeping Up Appearances), it has never featured in the US top 1000.
- Ordmer — from the Old English personal name Ordmær “famous-spear.”
- Ordway — from the Old English personal name Ordwig “spear-warriorr.”
- Orford — from one of the places of the name. Old English uferra “upper” + “ford.”
- Orme — from the Old Norse name Orm “serpent.”
- Ormesby — from one of the places of the name . Old Norse personal names Orm and Ormarr “famous serpent” + bý “farmstead,” “village” and “settlement.”
- Orpen, Orpin — Old French orpin “stonecrap,” a little wildflower once used in herbal medicine.
- Orrick — from the Old English personal name Ordric “spear-ruler.”
- Orriss, Orys — from the Latin family name Horatius, whose best-known member was the poet usually called Horace. Only one example is known of it in Britain in the Middle Ages, when it is found as the name of a priest, probably not of English birth. Whether all bearers of the surname descend from him or a lost Horatius is unknown.
- Orton — from one of the places called Orton or Overton. Old English uferra “upper” or ōfer “over” + tūn “enclosure,” “farmstead,” “estate,” “manor,” “village.”
- Osmer — from the Old English personal name Osmær “fame of (a) God.”
- Ossell — Old French oisel “bird.”
- Ostler — Middle English (h)osteler “inn-keeper.”
- Ottery — from one of the places of the name: Venn Ottery, Ottery St Mary, Ottery St Catchpole… Old English oter “otter” + ēa “river.” Actually the name of a river, after which the places take their name.
- Oxley — from Oxley, Staffordshire. Old English oxa “oxen” + lēah “wood,” “woodland clearing,” “glade,” “pasture” and “meadow.”
- Oxney — from Oxney, Kent. Old English oxa “oxen” + ēg “island.”
- Oxton — from Oxton, Nottinghamshire. Old English oxa “oxen” + tūn “enclosure,” “farmstead,” “estate,” “manor,” “village.”
- Ozanne — from the medieval girl’s name Osanna, from Hebrew hosanna “save now.”
- Ozin, Osen — Old French oisen “gosling.”
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