Nicknames and Acronyms used by H.D. and her Circle

by Louis Silverstein


Copyright Louis Silverstein. This article originally appeared in The H.D. Newsletter, vol. 1, no. 2 (Winter 1987), p. 4-5 and is reproduced here with the kind permission of Louis Silverstein.
Here is an initial listing of names and acronyms surfacing in the correspondence of H.D. and her associates. There are certainly more. Anyone who has corrections or additions to the list, please notify Louis or Eileen Gregory; the HDN will publish an emended version at a later time. [Note: the HDN is no longer being published -- Ed.]

Astrea = H.D. (used by Richard Aldington).
Banabhard = Rachel Annand Taylor.
Bear = Walter Schmideberg.
Beaver = Helen Eugenia Wolle Doolittle.
Big dog = Kenneth Macpherson.
Br = Bryher.
Buddy = Robert Herring.
Calidor = Dorothy Richardson.
Cat = H.D.
Chaddie = Mary Chadwick.
Chang = Bryher (Perdita's name for her).
Chevalier = Norman Holmes Pearson.
Chiron = Havelock Ellis.
Cole = Dorothy Cole Henderson (who published under the name Maud Cole).
Cuth (or Cuthbert) = Richard Aldington.
Dactyl = Marianne Moore.
Deetie = H.D. (her childhood name).
Dogs = Bryher and Kenneth Macpherson.
Dooley = H.D. (used by Richard Aldington).
Dragon [1934 on] = Sylvia Herbert Dobson.
Dryad = H.D.
E.B. = Elizabeth Bergner (acress, a friend of Bryher).
Fido = Bryher.
Frimbo = Bryher.
Hare = Cecil Gray.
Horse = H.D.
Hyacinth = H.D. (used by Havelock Ellis).
I Nov = Ivor Novello.
Kangaroo = Harold Doolittle.
Kat = H.D.
Korshune = John Cournos.
Lady Goat = Hannah Glover Ellerman.
Little dog = Bryher.
Little dragon = Sheila Barnard.
Lizard = Frances Perdita Aldington Macpherson Schaffner.
Lump = Perdita.
Lynx = H.D. (Kenneth Macpherson's name for her).
M.C. = Murray Constantine (Novelist, author of Proud Man; Devil, Poor Devil; and Swastika Night).
Meugles = H.D.
Mimosa = Brigit Patmore.
Mog = H.D.
Mother Monkey = H.D. (used by John Ellerman, Bryher's brother).
Mouse = Blanche Lewin.
Oppy = Doris Oppenheim Leslie.
Polar Bear = Walter Schmideberg.
Possum = T.S. Eliot.
Professor = Sigmund Freud.
Pup = Perdita.
Puss = Perdita.
R = Rachel Barnard (in letters to Sylvia Dobson).
Rats = Dorothy Richardson and Alan Odle.
Rhino = Norman Douglas.
Robin Hood = Sylvia Dobson.
Rover = Kenneth Macpherson.
Scotch Hare = Cecil Gray.
Small dog = Sheila Barnard.
Towser = Bryher.
Turtle = Hanns Sachs.
Wooff = Perdita.


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Nicknames and Acronyms used by H.D. and her Circle, Rev. December 27, 2001 (http://www.imagists.org/hd/hdls121.html) Please send comments and suggestions to hh@imagists.org