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 Alternative Names, Baby Names, Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names, Names, Pagan-friendly, Provencal Names, Unusual Names, World Names, tagged Adelaide, Agatha, Alaïs, Alice, Anaïs, Baptist, Bartholomew, Berenger, Bridget, Calendai, Chantal, Charles, Clare, Claude, Claudia, Clotilda, Cyprian, David, Delphine, Edward, Eleanor, Elizabeth, Elodie, Emile, Eulalia, Fanfan, Fleur, Flora, Frederick, Gabriel, Geoffrey, George, Hugh, Isabella, James, Jane, Josephine, Luke, Madeline, Magali, Margaret, Marie, Mary, Max, Mirèio, Natalie, Oliver, Pascal, Peter, Raphael, Robin, Rosalie, Rose, Silvanus, Solange, Sophia, Stephanie, Stephen, Theodore, Thomas, Titus, Victor, Vincent, Xavier, Yolande, Zoe on October 10, 2011 |
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For the last month, I have been in France — for much of that time, in Provence.
It is a region with a much deserved reputation for spectacular scenery and picturesque villages. In the region where we stayed, these clung as though by magic to impossibly steep hillsides gazing idly down dramatic gorges, draped in pines, evergreen oaks, olives and vines.
It is also an exceedingly historic region, always set a bit apart from the rest of France. Once, the people didn’t even spoke French, but Provençal, a dialect of Occitan — a language closer to Catalan than to French — although Provençal is sometimes used to refer to Occitan in general, and the langue d’Oc of medieval troubadours.
Unsurprisingly, it has a whole collection of names and variants of names unique to the region.
And it was in Provence that names like Isabella and Eleanor first arose.
During our stay, I kept my ears open, but was disappointed that, by and large, the names I encountered — particularly among the children — were little different to the rest of France. The fashion in France at present is for names of foreign origin, and the favored region for more unusual native monikers is Brittany.
But we did encounter some, especially among my own generation.
I love the fact so many Provençal girls names end in -o; it makes a refreshing change, and is very contemporary.
Here is a selection of my personal favorites. Some, like Zouè, are relatively recent — others, like Azalaïs, are medieval.
GIRLS:
- Agato — Agatha
- Aïs — diminutive of ANAÏS and/or ALAÏS
- Alaïs — Alice (features in Kate Mosse’s 2005 novel Labyrinth); ultimately from Adelaide
- Alienor — Eleanor
- Anaïs — in Provence, used as a form of Anne or Agnes — not actually found prior to the nineteenth century
- Anetoun — a double diminutive form of Ano (Anne)
- Azalaïs — Adelaide (Alice)
- Babeleto — diminutive of Eisabèu/Isabèu (Elizabeth/Isabella)
- Bergido — Birgitte
- Bielo — diminutive of Gabrielo (Gabrielle)
- Bregido — Bridget
- Celino — Celine
- Chantaloun — diminutive of French Chantal
- Clareto, Claroun — diminutives of Claro
- Claro — Clare/Claire
- Cloutildou — Clotilda
- Delaïdo — diminutive of Adelaïdo (Adelaide)
- Eliso — diminutive of French Élisabeth (Elizabeth)
- Estefano — Stephanie
- Fanfan — probably a diminutive of ESTEFANO. Made fairly well-known (at least in France) by the 1952 film Fanfan la tulipe (remade in 2003) — in which Fanfan is a man — and Alexandre Jardin’s 1985 novel Fanfan, filmed in 1993.
- Fino — diminutive of Delfino (Delphine) and/or JÒUSEFINO
- Flour — Flora/Fleur
- Glaudio — Claudia
- Ioulando — Yolande
- Janetoun — double diminutive of Jano (Jane/Jeanne)
- Jòusefino — Josephine (the name of our villa’s housekeeper!)
- Jóuselet — variant/diminutive of JÒUSEFINO
- Laïdo — diminutive of DELAÏDO
- Lali, Lalìo — diminutives of Eulalìo (Eulalia/Eulalie)
- Laloun — diminutive of LALI
- Lìo — diminutive of names ending in -lìo, such as Eulalìo (Eulalia/Eulalie), Natalìo (Natalie), Rosalìo (Rosalie)
- Lisoun — diminutive of ELISO
- Lodi, Loudi — diminutive of Eloudìo (Elodie)
- Madaloun — diminutive of Madaleno (Madeline)
- Magali, Magari — probably Magaret, but possibly a variant of Madaleno (Madeline — from the original Magdalene)
- Maïoun — diminutive of Marìo (Mary/Marie)
- Marioun — diminutive of Marìo (Mary/Marie)
- Melio — Emilia
- Mirèio — coined by the poet Frederic Mistral for his poem Mirèio (1859). From the Occitan mirar “to admire.”
- Naïs — diminutive of ANAÏS
- Ninoun — pet-form of Catarino (Katherine)
- Rieto — pet-form of Enrieto (Henrietta)
- Roso – Rose
- Soufio – Sophia/Sophie
- Soulanjo – Solange
- Talìo — diminutive of Natalìo (Natalie)
- Teldou, Tildeto — diminutives of names containing -tild- or -teld-, like CLOUTILDOU
- Vitòri – Victoria
- Valorì — Valeria/Valerie
- Zeto, Zetou — diminutives of JÒUSEFINO
- Zouè – Zoe
BOYS:
- Amiel – said to be the Provençal form of French Emile
- Audouard – Edward
- Bartoumiéu – Bartholomew
- Berenguié — Berenger
- Calendau — from the Latin kalends, used of the first day of a month and, in Provence, for Christmas Day. The hero of Mistral’s poem Calendau (1867)
- Charle — Charles
- Charloun — diminutive of CHARLE
- Ciprianet — diminutive of Ciprian (Cyprian)
- Dàvi — David
- Deri — diminutive of Frederi/Federi (Frederick)
- Dovi — dimunituve of Ludovi (Ludovick/Louis)
- Estève, Estiène – Stephen
- Gabrieù – Gabriel
- Glaude, Glàudi — Claude, Claudius
- Jaufret — Geoffrey
- Jaume – James
- Jòrgi — George
- Lu — Luke
- Luquet — pet-form of LU
- Maïus — curious name of uncertain origin. In use in Provence since at least the late nineteenth century. Possibly conceived as a masculine form of MAÏOUN.
- Mas — Max
- Miquèu – Michael
- Oulivié — Oliver
- Pascau – Pascal
- Pèire — Peter/Pierre
- Pierroun — diminutive of French Pierre
- Rafèu – Raphael
- Roubin — Robin (yes, the English Robin — one of the foreign names embraced by the French in the twentieth century)
- Savié — probably Xavier, but possibly Savior (best known as a name in the Spanish form Salvador)
- Silvan — Silvanus
- Simoun — Simon
- Teoudor – Theodore
- Titoù – Either Titus or a diminutive of Batit (Baptist)
- Titoun — diminutive of TITOÙ
- Toumas — Thomas
- Ugue, Ugues — Hugh
- Vincèn – Vincent
- Vitour – Victor
- Zavié — variant of SAVIÉ
- Zé — diminutive of Joùseù (Joseph)
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Nook of Names
