T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot — Eliot / 'Eli'
The Eli in Eliot
Eliot is a surname historically connected with medieval forms of Elias, the name conventionally associated with the biblical Elijah; to mod…
Poets by Name
Poets by Name
When a poet’s name seems to have anticipated the work.
A playful, careful curiosity
Sometimes a poet’s name feels uncannily suited to the poetry — to a recurring subject, a literary identity, or the life that wrote it. This series gathers those correspondences. It is researched and a little amused. It is not a theory of destiny.
- Nominative determinism
- The controversial hypothesis that a name may influence a person’s choices. We use the term sparingly, and never as proof that a surname made someone a poet.
- Aptronym
- A name that happens to be especially appropriate to its bearer — Wordsworth for a poet of words, Frost for winter landscapes. Aptness is not causation.
Some examples here are strong. Others are coincidences or literary wordplay. The difference is marked on every entry.
Connections
James Joyce
James Joyce — joy
Joy, Heard in the Name
To an English-speaking reader, Joyce immediately carries the sound and suggestion of joy. It is a particularly resonant surname for an auth…
Charlotte Mew
Charlotte Mew — Mew
A Mew at the Edge of Speech
Mew is an English word for the cry of a cat, and can also refer to the call of a gull. As a surname, it carries a small, sharp sound: anima…
Myra Viola Wilds
Myra Viola Wilds
At the Edge of the Wilds
Wilds is a transparent English word: “the wilds” suggests uncultivated country, wilderness, and places beyond the settled or domesticated w…
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn — 'behn' and being
Behn, Being, and the Written Self
To a modern English ear, Behn sits intriguingly close to been: the past participle of be, a small word with large philosophical luggage. Th…
John McCrae
McCrae — the crow
The Crow and the Poppy Field
McCrae is traditionally connected with the Gaelic Mac Rath, usually understood as “son of grace” or “son of prosperity.” In Scots usage, ho…
Jessie Pope
Jessie Pope — poetry, patriotism and the 'Pope'
The Exhorting Surname
Pope is an English word with an immediate ecclesiastical charge: it names the head of the Roman Catholic Church and, by extension, can sugg…
Caedmon
Caedmon — the poet who sang
A Name for Song
Cædmon’s Old English name has traditionally been connected with the idea of song or “one who sings.” That reading makes the name strikingly…
Percy Bysshe Shelley
SHELL + EY
A Sea-Shape in the Name
Shelley is not simply the English noun shell, and its surname history should not be reduced to a piece of seaside vocabulary. Still, in Eng…
William Shakespeare
Shake-spear / Shakespearean
The Spear in the Playhouse
“Shakespeare” is transparently legible to modern English eyes as shake spear: a verb of vigorous movement joined to a weapon. The historica…
Max Ehrmann
Ehrmann (“honest man”)
The Counsel of an “Honest Man”
Ehrmann is a German surname meaning roughly “honest man”: Ehre denotes honour, while Mann means man. Like many inherited surnames, it need…
John Milton
Miltonic
When a Surname Becomes a Style
Milton is an English place-name surname, generally understood as “mill settlement” or “mill town,” from Old English elements for a mill and…
John Greenleaf Whittier
Greenleaf
A Green Leaf in New England
Greenleaf is an unusually vivid middle name: a plain English compound of colour, plant life, and the living world. Even before one reaches…
John Clare
Clare / clear
Clare’s Clear Attention
Clare derives from a word associated with clarity and brightness, ultimately related to Latin clarus: “clear,” “bright,” or “renowned.” In…
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Longfellow — “long fellow”
The Fellow with the Long Tale
Longfellow is unusually transparent to an English reader: it appears to divide into long and fellow. As a surname, it need not have origina…
Andrew Marvell
Andrew MARVELL
A Marvell of Metaphysical Ingenuity
Marvell is almost irresistibly read beside marvel and marvellous: words for wonder, astonishment, and an unusually striking thing. In moder…
Banjo Paterson
BANJO Paterson
A Balladeer Called Banjo
Andrew Barton Paterson’s famous literary name, “Banjo,” was adopted from a racehorse. In ordinary English, though, a banjo is also a plucke…
Edgar Allan Poe
Poe-esque
The Making of “Poe-esque”
Poe’s surname has acquired an unusual literary afterlife: Poe-esque is a widely used adjective for work that feels Gothic, macabre, mournfu…
Thomas Hardy
Hardy
Hardy by Name, Unsparing by Art
Hardy is a transparent English word: someone hardy is tough, robust, durable, and able to endure difficult conditions. As a surname, it car…
Robert Burns
BURNS
A Scottish Burn, Not a Firebrand
In Scots and northern English, a burn is a small stream or brook. The surname Burns is commonly connected with this word, often as a name f…
Christina Rossetti
CHRISTINA
A Christian Name, Seriously Read
Christina is the feminine form of Christian: a name denoting a follower of Christ. Its connection to Christianity is direct, ordinary, and…
John Keats
K + EATS
The K Before “Eats”
Keats has no obvious modern-English meaning that neatly announces a poetic vocation. But on the page, it contains eats: remove the opening…
Lord Byron
BYRON → BYRONIC
When Byron Became Byronic
Byron has no obvious poetic or occupational meaning that explains its bearer’s career. Its remarkable afterlife lies instead in the adjecti…
Robert Frost
Robert FROST
A Name Written in Rime
Frost is the familiar English word for the icy crystalline deposit formed in cold conditions, and by extension for freezing weather itself.…