FayValentine got their homepage at Neopets.com

This is FayValentine, who graciously let me host my page on her petpage.
Last Update: November 18, 2008
Deleting Old Names. Added more to Faerie Queene.
Interested in what is really is considered Old English, Middle English, and Modern English? Click Here!
Interested in the proper use of "thee" and "thou"? Then click Here!

NEW!!!: If you'd like a quote with the name you chose, please neomail me!
I make no guarantees for all the names, but I have the books and can try. ALSO, for most of the names from The Faerie Queene I have the etymology.

An example of a quote is here, here, and here! See, I use the names myself!

Hello there! My name is Veronica aka lost_penelope and I've decided to host a list of available pet names I've come across in my adventures as an English major.

I have not read all of these works (although some I have). So do not take me as the ultimate authority on what all the names mean. When I can I will try to put in info about the name. Oftentimes, the older works will have the same name spelled differently throughout the same work. When this happens, I put up the multiple spellings to provide more options for you!

I order these names according to where I have found them. Thus all the names found in The Canterbury Tales will be grouped together. I have also tried to put them in chronological order, but this is not 100%.

I remove all of the taken names, although I no longer list them on this site. For the first week or so I'll just strike it through so I can keep track of it.

Comments/Questions?: Please neomail me here on my main!

Names from Dante's Divine Comedy
These names come from my English translation. They are probably different in the original language. Also they are actual historical figures although I don't know who most are. Dante's mostly just likes to pick people and assign them to either Inferno, Purgatorio or Paradiso. Wouldn't we all?
Inferno
Rusticucci - "among the blackest spirits" says Ciacco to Dante

Middle English:

The Canterbury Tales
Paramoun - a character in the Knight's Tale of The Canterbury Tales (name available but won't show up as link =P )
Felaweshipe - fellowship or brotherhood in Middle English
Algezir - Algeciras, in Spain, in Middle English, where the Knight fought
Belmarye - Benmarin in Morocco in Middle English, where the Knight fought.
Lyeys - Ayash in Modern Turkey where the Knight fought
Satalye - Atalia in Modern Turkey in Middle English
Tramyssene - Tlemcen near Morroco in Middle English
Palatye - Balat in Modern Turkey in Middle English
Pycardie - a city near Flanders in Middle English where English armies fought
Orewelle - Orwell in the English Coast in Middle English
Poynaunt - spicy, piercing in Middle English
Somonour - server of summonses for an ecclesiastical court in Middle English (he's a jerk in the book)
Rouncivale - hospital at charing cross in Middle English
Symkin - Husband in the Reeve's Tale
Canacee - Woman from the Squire's Tale
Melibeus - The name of Melibee in the tale

MorteDarthur - death of Arthur, written by Sir Thomas Malory

The Faerie Queene (The Faerie Queene could be Early Modern English, but Spenser goes out of his way to use archaic words so he'd be happy in Middle English)
Mortdant - A knight lured into the Bower of Bliss and then poisoned by Acrasia after Amavia rescues him from there. His name equates him with death.
Gondelay - A gondola
Cymochles - fights against Sir Guyon. Name derived for the word for wave which suggests his unstable nature. Brother of Pyrhochles. Pyrrhochles - Fights against Sir Guyon. Name obviously association with fire & a fiery disposition. Brother of Cymochles.
Pyrhochles - Another spelling of Pyrrhochles. Both appear in the text.
Agdistes - Also Genius, a giant in the Bower of Bliss (not a positive character).
Braggadocchio - A man who steals Sir Guyon's horse and pretends to be a knight. A braggart.
Braggadochio - Braggadocchio, both spellings are correct.
Kirkrapine - Middle English; church robber
Arthegrall - Knight of Justice, 'equal to Arthur
Arthogall - same as above
Artegall - same as above.
Lots of variations, make up your own!
Dynevowre - Dynevor castle, seat of the princes of South Wales.
Eumnestes - 'well-remembering' An old man who knows the past.
Anamnestes - a young boy who helps Eumnestes.
Humilta - the porter of the House of Holiness.
Gardante - denotes loving glances upon beauty, a bad knight of Malecasta's castle.
Iocante - 'courtly play', bad knight of Malecasta's castle.
Basciante - 'to kiss', bad knight of Malecasta's castle.
Noctante - hmmm, inappropriate. Bad knight of Malecasta's castle.
Fiordispina - although not in The Faerie Queene, is Ariosto's equivalent of Malecasta
Gonorill - one of King Leyr's daughters (eventually Shakespeare's King Lear)
Cordeill - one of King Leyr's daughters (eventually Cordelia in Shakespeare's King Lear)
Columbell - Squire of Dames' mistress
Corflambo - in Book IV, pursues Placidas
Cormoraunt - Giant of Book VI (rule of thumb, giants are almost always bad)
Cymoent - Marinell's mother, Book III
Decetto - Deceit. Attacks Timias in Book VI.v.13
Despetto - Spite. Attacks Timias in Book VI.v.13
Defetto - An offense of blame. Attacks Timias in Book VI.v.13
Guizor - killed by Artegall, son of Dolon
Blandamour - literally flattering lover. Wins the false Florimell.
Bracidas - Few possessions (or possessions thrown up [by the sea]). V.iv.18
Amphisa - "Of double nature;" Mother of Chrysogonee and thus grandmother of Amoret and Belphoebe. Of the Faerie race.
Orimont - based on actual knight the Earl of Ormond; participates in the tournament for Florimell
Bellisont - wager of war; knight who participates in the tournament for Florimell
Ecastor - from Castor, breaker of horses, knight participating in tournament for Florimell
Armeddan - from armada - armed one. Participates in tournament for Florimell.
Bellodant - given to war; Radigund loved him and he rejected her.
Radigund - Queen of the Amazons, ultimately dies at Britomart's hand.

Misc. Modern English
Mephastaphilis - Mispelling of demon (Mephastophilis) in Doctor Faustus (apparently he's also in the Ghost Rider)
Mefastophilis - same as above
I myself used Mephestaphilis
Amphilanthus - chapter in Urania titled "Pamphilia to Amphilanthus" by Mary Wroth
Moulsworth - from The Memorandum of Martha Moulsworth
Cantiche - Another name for canticas or the chapters in Dante's Inferno
Penseroso - John Milton's Il Penseroso roughly meaning "The Thoughtful person
Pensieroso - From Milton's Il Penseroso how Penseroso typically would have been spelled.
Cambuscan - From Il Penseroso, referencing Chaucer's Squire's Tale.
Algarsife - From Il Penseroso, referencing Chaucer's Squire's Tale.
Namancos - From Milton's Lycidas, city in Spain.
Massachur - Massacre; from Milton's "On the late Massachur in Piedmont"
Areopagitica - by John Milton

Paradise Lost
Busirus - the generic name Milton gives the Pharoah of Exodus
Heronaim - City taken by Sihon, the king of the Amorites.
Hesebon - City taken by Sihon, the king of the Amorites
Asphaltick - the "Asphaltick Pool" is the Dead Sea.
Sittim - City where Israelites were led to worship Baal-peor, god of Moab.

Oroonoko
Imoinda - a slave in Oroonoko

Volpone
Corbaccio - Character in Ben Johnson's Volpone
Servitori - Character in Ben Johnson's Volpone
Flahertie - from Oscar Wilde's full name Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wilde

Adopt Me:
Unfortunately the pets listed here were all frozen when Neopets froze the pets that were abandoned while the pound was down. It doesn't look like they'll be coming out so I decided to take this down.

To be continued!
Link back?
I'd appreciate any linkage! It's optional by all means, but it helps spread the word about the page and let's me know this page isn't being wasted.

Text Link will look like this:
Name found at: Veronica's Amazing Literary PetNames

<a><img src="http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k57/lostpenelope/banner-1.png" height="57" width="205" border="0"></a>

<a><img src="http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k57/lostpenelope/banner2.png" border="0" width="145" height="128"></a>

It takes me a lot of time and work to look up these names. The Faerie Queene itself is very long and I am going through the back and alphabetically finding names, then having to flip through the book to find the meaning. Linking back would help spread the word and let me know my work is for something.

A bit of history:
What many people think of as "Old English" such as Shakespeare and other literature with words like "thee" and "thou" is actually not Old English. That is considered Modern English, albeit Early Modern. Old English actually must be translated before any common person can read it - actually very few people can read Old English. This is an example from Beowulf - many people have read this but few realize that it has been translated from Old English:
Hw[ash]t! we Gar-Dena in geardagum,
[th]eodcyninga [th]rym gefrunon,
hu [th]a [th]pelingas ellen fremedon!
Can you read that? Me neither. There were a ton of invalid characters so I named them (ash is the ae together, roughly like the 'a' in at; [th] is either a thorn or an ash... see below). Some of that you can sort of sound out the modern word. Hw[ash]t becomes What... see?
If Shakespeare isn't Old English, can't he be Middle English? Unfortunately no, Middle English is still considerably harder to read than Modern English. Shakespeare is able to be read and understood by most people - Middle English takes more work and words still needed to be "glossed" or translated before you can just read it. Here's an exerpt from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer:
Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Can you read this now? Good. Still confusing though. I'm taking a class on the Canterbury Tales, so imagine an entire book of that. It's also harder to read because they didn't really have a written version of English yet (this was 1300's) so words can be spelled differently within the same book. Let's compare to Shakespeare's famous "Sonnet 18":
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Looks a lot easier now, doesn't it? This is in the 1600's, almost 300 years later! If you're wondering what happened to transform English from Old to Modern - Old English came mostly from Anglo-Saxon German. When the Vikings came from Normandy, they brought French. Hence we added Latin-based words. They fused together to form Middle English and eventually Modern English.

Now you know! Correct use of 'Thou' and 'Thee:
Have you ever wondered how to properly use words like 'thou' and 'thee'? Well, here's what you may have not known: there is actually a difference between the two. But in order to get it right, you need to learn a bit of grammar:
The Lupe bit the Chia
Ignore your bias to the above sentence! In that sentence Lupe is the subject, bit is the verb, and Chia is the object. So the Subject Verbs the Ojbect. How does this relate to 'thou' and 'thee'? Well 'thou' is used for a subject and 'thee' is used for the object. Let's see an example:
Correct: Thou are silly.
Incorrect: I hate thou.
Correct: I hate thee.
Incorrect: Thee are silly.

Oddly enough, this also differentiates between 'who' and 'whom' in case anybody has a question with that.
Here's also something else that you may not know. I have seen a lot of people using 'thou' and 'thee' as if they were speaking to someone formally. But that's actually incorrect. If you were speaking to someone in a formal manner, you'd use 'you'. If you were speaking to someone informally, a friend for example, you'd use 'thou'. This is a common mistake, but that's how it's supposed to be.

Where do 'thee' and 'thou' come from? Old English has these letters called the 'eth,' and the 'thorn' which you can look up since they don't show up correctly here. Modern English pronounces this with the (th) sound. There are actually two sounds that (th) make but we won't worry about that (the small difference between 'think' and 'thin'). In Old English there were cases call the nominative and the accusative cases which we don't use now but which break down roughly to when you're talking about the subject or object respectively. When you would say 'you' in the nominative case (our 'thou') it was [th]u or [thu] with the u more like a 'uh'. In the accusative case (our 'thee') it was [th]e or [the] with the e pronounced like 'eh'. That's roughly how we get 'thou' and 'thee' (both the eth and the thorn were more or less used interchangeably so I wouldn't worry too much about that).
Now you know!