Question

[lovestodance]

Did Stevenson mean to change the name of Dr. Jekyll in chapter two? He went from Henry to Harry and back to Henry again. Was it a typo or did he forget the name of his character? Thanks for the help. :nod:

[Aramis]

I read that in my copy of the book, too, but I think we can assume that it was just a typo. If he changed the name of his character, he or one of his editors would have been bound to catch it.

[Sitaram]

I seem to remember something about Harry being a nickname for Henry, analogous to:

My father calls me William
My mother calls me Will
My sister calls me Willie
But the fellows call me Bill

(that sort of thing, but perhaps I am mistaken)

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/richardii/terms/char_2.html

http://www.gdg.org/Research/OOB/Confederate/July1-3/hheth.html


'Harry' for 'Henry' did indeed occur during Shakespeare's time, as shown perhaps most famously by the title character from Henry V referring to himself as 'Harry', but the interchangeable use of these names dates further back to Norman times, with Harry considered the English version and Henry the Norman one. Harry is therefore not strictly a nickname for Henry (in the sense that Billy is a nickname for William), but another linguistic form of the same name. The fact that Prince Charles chose to name his son Harry, quite unheard of in that circle for a long time, indicates that the native English name might be back in vogue.

[lovestodance]

Thank you both so much. I posted in another forum as well and the answer I got was similar to sitram's (sorry if I got the user name wrong. :) ) response. But thank you both for responding. The thing about Harry and Henry is something I'd never heard of. But oh well you learn new things every time you open a book, right? Right! Again Thank You!! :)

[Owl]

I can add a postscript, perhaps. My grandfather, born in the late 19th century was officially Robert Henry but his nearest and dearest (his wife) called him Harry. Owl

[pierre14]

Harry is in fact an alternative to Henry. Much like people named William get called Bill. For instance, Prince Harry was christened Henry.

[leeby_x]

Henry is an alternative just as Dick is to Richard and Bill is to William

:) i know it already says that but i thought id comment anyway!