What's in a name?

It was a convention in medieval plays to name characters for the traits they represented. “Truth”, “Temptation” and “Virtue” are examples of characters whose names told the audience exactly what to expect. 

As playwrights in Shakespeare’s era (that’s Early Modern, for you scholars) moved toward creating more rounded and realistic characters they nevertheless continued to give hints about personality and behaviour through the character’s name.

This practice has never gone out of style, although some authors are more – or less – subtle about it. In the 18^th century Richard Sheridan’s hilarious comedies featured characters like “Lydia Languish” and “Mrs. Malaprop” and “Sir Antony Absolute”.

Symbolic naming of characters continues to the present day. Every author thinks long and hard about the association between name and personality. As readers or viewers, we expect somebody named “Limonjelo” to be very different from someone named “Bob”. (Names are important in real life, too! Trendy associations with names can make choosing a babyname a fraught experience for modern parents.)

The Two Gentlemen of Verona uses names as clues to personality. The character designations are either job descriptions (1^st Outlaw, Duke, Host) or references to sources/origins that tell us something about the characters.

Valentine The first association for modern audiences is probably St Valentine who is so strongly associated with messages of romantic love. While this is appropriate to a certain extent for Valentine in 2 Gents (as when Launce says, “There’s not a hair on his head but 'tis a Valentine.”) the underlying derivation of the name comes from the Latin valentia = worth. Our word value has the same root.

Proteus Proteus was a minor Greek sea god who could change his appearance whenever he wished. English has an adjective protean = changeable, readily taking on different forms or shapes. It’s easy to see how this applies to Proteus in 2 Gents. (Apparently if you simply ignored the hijinks of the original Proteus, he eventually gave up and resumed his normal form – possibly foreshadowing the remarkable turnaround at the end of 2 Gents.)

An audience with a classical education would be confused by the names of the two heroes as they watched the 1st scene: Proteus seems unswervingly devoted to his Julia, and Valentine is decidedly sceptical about love. The journey by boat to Milan (not remotely practical in reality, but geography was never Shakespeare’s strong suit) brings about a “sea change” in both young men that reveals the accuracy of their names.

Julia This name is less obvious in its significance, although it probably derives from the Latin for “young” (from which we also get the English word “juvenile”).

Silvia The “earthly paragon” gets her name from the Latin for “forest” (see our English adjective sylvan), so I wonder if her name is a clear pointer toward the place where Valentine goes to grow up (and where the play ends).

Launce Short form for “Lancelot” (Launcelot) the best friend of King Arthur and lover of Arthur’s wife Guinevere. How does the “best knight in the world” wind up in Shakespeare as a clown? (see also Launcelot Gobbo in Merchant) And could the author have been unaware that lance is a synonym for spear?

Antonio This is a really popular name in Shakespeare: there are Antonios in Twelfth Night, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing and The Tempest as well as in 2 Gents. It probably derives from the name of an ancient and respected Greek king, but it was a very common name in Europe in Shakespeare’s day. It was thought, mistakenly, to come from the Greek for “flower” anthos – which resulted in the added ‘h’ and the creation of the name “Anthony” in the 17^th century.

Lucetta A diminutive (familiar, or pet name) for “Lucy”, this name comes from the Latin lux = light – which is exactly what this loyal friend tries to shed on Julia’s situation!

Speed Well, this one’s obvious, isn’t it? Speed can out-think and out-run almost everyone else – especially his/her master, Valentine. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that this name refers to the pace at which the actor should deliver Speed's lines!

Eglamour Sir Eglamour is the hero of his own Medieval “romance” (story). A tale of lovers separated by a cruel father, Sir Eglamour of Artoys pits two models of marriage against each other: marriage for love vs. marriage for status. The relevance to 2 Gents is obvious, and makes Sylvia’s choice of Eglamour as her confidant very appropriate. Too bad Shakespeare's Sir E. can't equal his namesake when put to the test: no slaying of giant boars and dragons here.

Ursula In the original, Ursula is a non-speaking character, so it’s quite unusual that Shakespeare gives her a name. Why isn’t she just “Lady” or “Gentlewoman”? Anyway, the name is Latin and means “little she-bear”…

Panthino I’m not aware of this name occurring anywhere else in literature. It seems to have no Latin/Greek derivation. The closest guess for a source might be Italian puntino = aim or bet. Even better, it could also be pantano = bog :)

Thurio There was a Greek settlement in Italy called Thurii that eventually became a completely dependent Roman colony… A reference to Thurio’s relationship with the Duke?

Sebastian is another popular character name in Shakespeare. In 2Gents this is the name Julia chooses for her boy disguise. Sebastians also occur in The Tempest and in Twelfth Night. In both these latter plays the major characteristic would be “brother to a more significant character”. The name has a Greek origin and relates to the word for “revered” – kind of ironic in Julia’s case.

Crab Why is the dog named after a sea creature? More likely the name is a reference to small, tart “crab” apples. Launce says, “I think Crab, my dog, be the sourest-natured dog that lives.”  

Trivia: Shakespeare mentions dogs frequently in his plays, but Crab is the one and only canine to make an onstage appearance. Shakespeare probably learned his lesson after experiencing firsthand the old theatre adage "never act opposite a small child or a dog"!

By the way, the phrase “to be dog at” (as in “I’m dog at singing/cooking/Guitar Hero 3”) is an old way of saying you’re very good at something. See Launce’s line, “a dog at all things” 2G 4.4.