The spirit of Francis Scott Fitzgerald  is alive and well.  In the baby name world, Gatsby is one of the new attention-grabbing names on the block.  In the world of entertainment, there is the theater piece Gatz, and now there’s eager anticipation for the latest version of The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Lurmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Isla Fisher,which is  scheduled to open at the end of the year.  A propitious time, then, to look at the author’s approach to literary  names.

Fitzgerald’s novels and stories are populated with people with ordinary names like Nick and Dick, with typical Jazz Age period choices such as Bernice and Rosalind and Marjorie for girls, Chester and Percy for men, and a number of sophisticated Princetonesque surnames.  He played with name changes reflecting shifting identities as well—Jay Gatsby having been born James Gatz.

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