What’s in a literary surname?
by
Howard Richler
What do the Dickensian character Ebenezer Scrooge,
Shakespearean character Mistress Quickly, and Richard Sheridan’s character Mrs.
Malaprop have in common?
They are all aptronyms. The Oxford Companion to the English Language
defines an aptronym as a “name that matches its owner’s occupation or
character, often in a humorous or ironic way, such as William Rumhole, a London taverner.” The word was coined in 1938 by
American newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams. He rearranged the first two
letters of the word patronym, the naming from one’s father, and arrived at the
word “aptronym” which refers to an “apt” name.
English literature has
brought us some memorable aptronyms. Shakespeare provides several, including
Shallow, Quickly, Bottom, Falstaff and Toby Belch; Henry Fielding, in Tom Jones, presents us with righteous
Squire Allworthy and in Joseph Andrews
with Lady Booby; Paul Bunyan in Pilgrim’s Progress gave us the pair of Mr.
Talkative and Mr. Worldly Wiseman.
Nineteenth-century writers in
particular seemed to have enjoyed creating aptronymic characters. Thomas Hardy
in Return of the Native named a
character Wildeve, R.S. Surtees named a character Leather in Mr. Sponge’s Sporting Tour and Anthony
Trollope unveils the (pre-Kevorkian) Dr. Fillgrave in his novel Doctor Thorne.
Charles Dickens, in particular, was a master of the literary aptronym.
In A Christmas Carol, we find
Scrooge, described as “squeezing, grasping...and hard as flint,” and Old
Fezziwig; Oliver Twist gives us the
trio of the fussy official Bumble, Mr. Grimwig and the burglar, Toby Crackit;
in Hard Times we discover the austere
Gradgrind and M’Choakumchild, who teaches in Gradgrind’s school. From A Tale of Two Cities, we find the
Crunchers, a family of grave-robbers and in David
Copperfield, we meet the villainous Murdstone, whose name suggests “murder”
and “merde,” (“shit,” in French).
In the post- Dickensian era, the practice of naming literary characters
based on their personality, was not overly popular. Of course, there were
exceptions, such as Oscar Wilde’s Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being
Earnest and Shaw’s Candida. More
recently, J.R.R. Tolkien in Lord of the
Rings named Bilbo Baggins' mother Belladonna and presented the reader with
the riddle of whether the name referenced her beauty or her poisonous nature.
James Joyce used aptronyms sublimely. His selection of the name Leopold
Bloom as his protagonist in Ulysses
is a study in irony. “Leopold” means a free man who is strong yet “bloom”
refers to a fragile flower. Also, Bloom’s real surname is Virag and this name
seems to be a play on virago, a word designating a
war-like woman. Then we have Stephen Dedalus. Stephen means a crown and Stephen
is the crown of his family with the burden of making a name for himself in
Dublin society. Stephen is also the name of the first Christian martyr who was
stoned by his peers for his radical beliefs. His surname Dedalus derives from
the character in Greek mythology, Daedalus, a crafty architect who built an
elaborate labyrinth for King Minos of Crete so that he could imprison his
wife’s monstrous son. Later, Daedalus
builds wings, for human flight and this leads to the death of his son Icarus.
It would seem in Ulysses that Dedalus
too wants to “fly away” from the constraints that politics and religion places
on an artist.
If you are a fan of literary aptronyms, you’ll be happy to know that
they returned with a vengeance in the book world thanks to J.K. Rowling's
hugely popular Harry Potter
series. Harry’s nemesis is the evil
Draco Malfoy. Here, both the first and last names describe his character. Draco
is Latin for “dragon” and it was also the name of the “zero-tolerant” seventh
century B.C. Athenian lawmaker who lent his name to the word “draconian.” Mal foi is French for “bad faith” and
the name Malfoy conjures all sort of malicious and malignant words. Malfoy
belongs to the malevolent Slytherin House named after its founder Salazar
Slytherin.“Slytherin” is a blend of the words “sly” and “slithering.” Harry’s
supreme foe is Lord Voldemort whose name does double duty as vol de mort in French means “flight from death” or “theft
of death,” and “vole” is also a type of rat-like rodent.Most of Harry’s teachers at Hogwarts wizardry school
have evocative names. Professor Quirrel is both quarrelsome and squirrelly and
Professor Severus Snape is severe and a cross between a snipe and a snake. Hogwarts professors tend to gravitate to
fields which match their names. Vindictus Veridian teaches a class on curses
and Professor Sprout’s area of expertise is herbology. Professor Remus Lupin
teaches a course “Defense Against the Dark Arts.” Guess what he turns out to
be? Those who know Latin and Roman mythology will be able to divine that he is
a werewolf. According to lore, Remus, the co-founder of Rome, was suckled by a
wolf, and lupus is the Latin word for
“wolf.”
So thanks to J.K. Rowling’s
magical aptronymic characters, literary aptronyms might possibly be making a
comeback.
Richler’s latest book is Wordplay: Arranged and Deranged Wit
