INTRODUCTION
by Jean S. Chittenden

Character names have always been of interest to the scholar, since the author's choice of names for his personages may often reveal a great deal about the character himself or about his role in the literary work in which he appears. The work which Professors Morley and Tyler[l] have done in analyzing the names-used by Lope de Vega in his comedias has served to point out the need for a similar study of the names in the comedias of Tirso de Molina.

This study has as its purpose the investigation of the character names in the sixty-one plays known to have been written by Tirso de Molina. Not only will it consider the correlation of name with social status, but it will compare the names used by Tirso with those used by Lope de Vega, and insofar as possible with those in vogue during the time when Tirso was writing.

The plays used are those listed by Professor Morley in an article in Hispanic Review[2], with the addition of two other plays which seem unquestionably to be Tirso's—La firmeza en la hermosura and Quien da luego, da dos veces.[3] Although Esto sí que es negociar and El melancólico are different versions of the same play, both have been included, since the character names are not the same in every instance. Likewise, the three plays of the Santa Juana trilogy have been counted separately, for they have different characters, in spite of the fact that several of the main personages are the same.

The list of characters includes all those who appear or are mentioned in the comedias studied, although historical figures who are merely mentioned are excluded, since Tirso would not have invented their names. In case of doubt as to whether a name is historical, the name is listed. The names of historical figures who actually appear on stage in the plays appear on the lists.

This paper is divided into (1) an alphabetical list of all the names of characters, separated into three groups: (A) names of men, (B) names of women, (C) last names and titles; (2) a complete analytical cast for each play, indicating relationships between the characters; and (3) an alphabetical list of all the categories (of noble rank, profession, nationality, etc.) together with the names of all the characters who fall into each category.

In determining the categories to be included I have followed the procedure of Professors Morley and Tyler, omitting such general categories as galán and cortesano. Madre is the only category of family relationship; it has been included because the relative lack of madres in the comedia makes this category of interest. Only madres whose role as a mother plays a part in the development of the drama are listed. Certain categories overlap--a lacayo, an escudero or a a e is also a criado; a pastor can be at the same time a rústico, a serrano, a labrador, and/or an aldeano, all of whom in fact could be subsumed under the category villano. Separate cate­gories have been set up for these classifications, following the terms used by the author. Often the same charac­ter appears in several of these categories. The designations caballero-criado and dama-criada apply to persons of the caballero or dama station who serve a king or other high-ranking nobleman.

Occasionally it has been impossible to determine the category of a certain name. In this case the name is listed under categoría dudosa o desconocida. The personajes anónimos are enumerated following the reparto of each play; their categories are also indicated.

The names of personages who are mentioned but do not appear on stage are underlined. Names of characters which are not listed in the reparto of the edition of the play utilized are indicated by an asterisk. In some cases the first name may appear in the reparto with the last name given during the course of the play; thus only the last name has an asterisk. For names which are not in the repartos, the page numbers following the name indicate the page on which the name is first found. The numbers follow­ing the various categories in Part I show on which page we are told that the character belongs to that category. The first page number given is that of the volume of the Biblioteca de autores españoles or of the Nueva biblioteca de autores españoles in which the play is found. The num­bers preceded by R I, R II, or R III are the page numbers of the edition of Doña Blanca de los Ríos de Lampérez with the volume number being indicated by the Roman numeral. In regard to Volume I of the Ríos edition, there are two different printings, both published in Madrid by Aguilar, both dated 1946; however in one printing the introduction is numbered with Roman numerals, while in the other it is numbered with Arabic numbers. The earlier printing (with the Roman numerals) was done by Sánchez Leal; the later printing by Gráficas Halar. Since these two printings have different paginations, two numbers always follow R I; the first of these numbers refers to the Gráficas Halar printing, the second to the Sánchez Leal printing. Whenever possible, critical editions of Tirso's plays have been used. Information regarding the texts is to be found in the list of plays following this introduction.

Before summarizing the results of the investigation, I should like to comment on certain names. Of particular interest are Tirso and Tarso, the names of graciosos, and the apellido Girón.

The name Tirso or Tarso, which is always re­served for villanos, often refers to the playwright himself. Students of Tirso's theater have observed this autobiographical aspect of his writings. Doña Blanca de los Ríos discusses these two names and notes that in La república al revés it is the shepherd, Tarso, who saves the life of the Empress Irene by taking her place when Andronio comes to kill her.[4] D. Emilio Cotarelo y Mori states in his edition of the same play that often a char­acter named Tirso or Tarso is a sacristán;[5] Tirso's re­ligious affiliation makes the autobiographical element obvious. Several personages of this name are also poets or singers who compose songs appropriate to the drama. In El pretendiente al revés the pastor, Tirso, is a ver­sifier of this type, as is the Tirso of La venganza de Tamar. Occasionally, as D. Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch points out,[6] a character named Tirso receives praises from one of the other characters. The example which Hartzenbusch cites is from La ventura con e1 nombre, when Ventura says of Tirso, "en fin tiene discreción."[7] In like manner, Lucrecia, in La fingida Arcadia, calls Felipe (whose pastoral name is Tirso) "discreto."[8] A complete list of the characters named Tirso or Tarso and of their classifications is found in Part I.

Unlike Lope, Tirso often chose humorous names for his graciosos or made up names for them. Among the names which Lope employed most frequently for his gra ciosos are Bato, Beltrán, Carillo, Crispan, Fabio, Marín, Martín, Roberto, Tello, and Tristán.[9] Whereas Tirso has some graciosos with names such as Alberto, Mingo or Tello, at the same time we find Balón, Caramanchel, Chinchilla, Chirimía, Garbón, Gargueros, Gulin, Marción, Santarén, Tabaco and Trigueros. The significance of these names is sometimes mentioned in the play. For example, in Tanto es lo de más como lo de menos, Gulín says:

Other names such as Tabaco, Cristal, Mercado, Serafina, Carballo, Calvo, and many more often serve Tirso as the subject for a pun. Tamayo, in Cómo han de ser los amigos, gives this explanation of how he happened to be named:

The apellido Girón is of interest in Tirso's writings because of his supposed relationship to the Girón family. The characters Girón in the comedias of Tirso are D. Pedro Girón, who appears in Doña Beatriz de Silva, and D. Rodrigo Girdn, who figures in El castigo del penséque and Quien calla otorga. From the point of view of the frequency of occurrence, there seems to be no particular significance in Tirso's use of the name Girón. Further discussion as to the application of this name, especially in El castigo del penséque and Quien calla otorga, can be found in the writings of Doña Blanca[10] and in an article by William E. Wilson.[11]

Tirso himself was certainly aware of the power of a name, the magic involved in the shaping of reality, both animate and inanimate, by the mere act of naming. The variegated relationship not only between a character’s name and his position in society, but also between a man’s name and his fate, between his name and his own expectations and those he shares with others—these are questions with which Tirso himself was preoccupied in his plays. I shall cite a few representative samples:The relationship between a character’s name and his station in life is well illustrated in a scene from Tirso's El vergonzoso en palacio. The shepherds, Mireno and Tarso, have just traded clothes with Ruy Lorenzo and his lackey, Vasco, and the following conversation takes place:

Upon many occasions the characters comment upon the suitability of their names. In the following passage from La elección por la virtud, Sixto (Felix Pereto) comments about his name:

In La celosa de sí misma, Ventura feels that his name is not appropriate to his fate:

Certain names carry with them connotations of good or evil. For example, in La firmeza en la hermosura, Juan says to Elena:

That certain apellidos are in themselves the sign of nobility is apparent in this quotation from El amor medico:

An analysis of the names found in Tirso's plays reveals that he employed certain names to refer only to caballeros or nobles, whereas others might refer either to caballeros or criados, or even to villanos. Some names he reserved for criados or villanos, and yet another group was used only for villanos. The names are separated below into these various categories.

Names most frequently used for caballeros or nobles:

Names used for both caballeros (nobles) and criados, and even for villanos:

Names that are never (or very infrequently)used for caballeros (nobles):

Names used exclusively for villanos (some very rarely used):

Although Juan and Pedro are generally reserved for caballeros or nobles, Professor Morley points out[13] that both Lope and Tirso have villanos with names such as Juan Pascual, Juan de Monroy, Juan Rojo, Pero Alonso, or Peribáñez. Gil, usually a villano name, plays an interesting role in Don Gil de las calzas verdes, since it is the nombre fingido of several of the characters, although in reality there is no Don Gil.

The female names can be classified according to the same criteria as were the male names. The following groups of names show the distinctions which Tirso observed in regard to feminine names:

Names most frequently used for damas or nobles:

Names used for both damas (nobles) and criadas and for villanas:

Names that are never (or very rarely) used for damas (nobles):

Aldonza (always villana)
Camila
Co(n)stanza (always villana)
Cristina
Dominga
Fenisa (always villana)
Firela (always villana)
Gila (always villana
Leonisa (always villana; 2 noble later EstoSí, Melanc)
Mari-
Marina (always villana)
Melisa (always villana)
Menga (always villana
Olalla
Polonia (always criada)
Tomasa (always villana)
Torilda (always villana)

Names used exclusively for villanas (some infrequently used) :

Professors Morley and Tyler observe that Lope did not use the title don or doña with certain names, although the characters involved were clearly of caballero or dama rank.[14] It is interesting to note that Tirso seems to have followed the same procedure, for he does not use don with Alberto, Andronio, Carlos, Casimiro, Celio, César, Césaro, Criselio, Fabio, Decio, Felicio, Filipo, Grimaldo, Julio, Lilio, Leonelo, Liberio, Liseno, Ludovico, Marcelo, Marco Antonio, Octavio, Otón, Pinabel, Pinardo, Pompeyo, Próspero, Ricardo, Roberto, Roselio, Rugero, Teodoro, and Valerio. Many of these coincide with the names used without don by Lope. Among the feminine names which are not found with doña are Alejandra, Armesinda, Arminda, Aurora, Carola, Celia, Clavela, Clemencia, Diana, Estela, Fabia, Isabela, Laura, Leonora, Lorena, Lucrecia, Marcela, Matilde, Narcisa, Octavia, Rosela, Sabina, Sirena, Teresa—many of the same ones which appear without doña in Lope's writings. The reason for the playwrights' failing to use don or doña with these names is not clearly evident. The only factor that might be of importance in the case of Tirso is that many of these names are used in referring to caballeros or damas of countries other than Spain or Portugal. A great many of these personages are italianos, franceses, flamencos, etc.

The names which appear most frequently in Tirso's comedias are names which were common in his time and in many cases names which are very common among Spaniards today.[15] The Golden Age playwrights in Spain, who created a genuinely popular theater, employed such names to good advantage. The most common Spanish names are Carlos, Diego, Domingo, Felipe, Fernando, Francisco, Jorge, José, Juan, Manuel, Pablo, Pedro and Rodrigo.[16] Tirso used all of them, although certain ones do not appear often. The fact that Tirso wrote during the reigns of Felipe II, Felipe III, and Felipe IV, as did Lope, probably accounts for the scarceness of characters of that name in both of their works. There are not very many personages named Francisco, except for those who are historical figures. Tirso, like Lope, tends to avoid the name José, probably for religious reasons.

The following are the most frequently used names in Tirso's comedias:

A comparison of the names used by Tirso with those used by Lope reveals that many names are used freely by both dramatists.[17\ Juan, Pedro, Diego, Carlos, Luis, Enrique, Gonzalo, Alfonso, Alonso, Antonio, Fernando, García, Julio, Rodrigo, Alberto, Alejandro, Álvaro and Fabio are among the names used by both authors. Women's names which are favorites of both are Inés, Isabel, Elvira, Juana, Leonor, Beatriz, Laura, Leonora, Diana, Lucrecia, María and Dorotea.[18] It is interesting that María appears in second place on Tirso's frequency list, while it is toward the botton on Lope's,[19] although both playwrights employed it rarely except for historical personages and for the Virgin Mary. Tirso used Maria six times (from a total of thirteen) for the Virgin Mary and two times for historical figures. There are several villanas and criadas bearing names such as Mari-Pablos, Mari-Ramirez or Mari-Hernández in Tirso's works, however.

Certain names which are seldom used by Lope are encountered with relative frequency in Tirso's plays. Marco Antonio appears only once in Lope, and Jaime only three times. Martin, Filipo, Ludovico and Gil are also more favored by Tirso than by Lope. Feminine names which are employed more by Tirso are Clemencia, Melisa, Mari-, Olalla, Menga, Sirena, Elena, Teresa, Gila and Catalina.

Three names which are found often in Lope's comedias—Belardo, Lucinda, and Belisa—are completely lacking in Tirso. Since these names had a special signifycance for Lope, the failure of Tirso to use them is easily understood. Other names which are common in Lope but lacking in Tirso are Albano, Arnaldo, Leonardo, Camilo, Bernardo, Fineo, Lucindo, Leonido, Tristán, Rufino and Tancredo, for men; Leonarda, Julia and Teodora, for women.

Since Helen Parish has compiled a list of names which supposedly wer e popular in Tirso's time,[20] a comparison between the names of Tirso's characters and those on this list reveals some significant facts. For example, the following masculine names appear often in Tirso but are lacking on the Parish list; Gil, Fabio, Filipo, Ludovico, Marco Antonio, Tirso. Scarce on the list, but used frequently by Tirso, are Alberto, Alejandro, Julio. Among the names common in his time but rarely (or never) used by Tirso are the following: Agustín, Baltasar, Bartolomé, Bernardino, Bernardo, Cristóbal, Gabriel, Gaspar, Gregorio, Jacinto, José, Lorenzo, Matías, Nicolás, Pablo, Salvador, Simón, Sebastián, Tomás and Vicente. High in frequency on both lists are Alfonso, Alonso, Álvaro, Antonio, Carlos, Diego, Enrique, Fernando, Francisco, García, Gonzalo, Jaime, Juan, Luis, Martín, Pedro and Rodrigo.

Feminine names that are common in Tirso but lacking on the Parish list are Gila, Leonora, Diana, Olalla, Sirena, Clavela, Clemencia, Melisa; scarce on the Parish list are Elena, Laura, Dorotea, Lucrecia. Of frequent appearance on the Parish list but scarce or lacking in Tirso are Ana-María, Ángela, Antonia, Bernarda, Francisca, Jacinta, Jerónima, Josefa (Jusepa), Luisa, Manuela, Mariana, Mencía, Micaela. Common on both lists are Inés, María, Isabel, Elvira, Juana, Leonor, Beatriz, Teresa, Catalina and Margarita.

For the most part there are not a great many unintentional variants in the names found in the comedias of Tirso. Perhaps the most obvious case of the author's having forgotten the name he designated for a particular character is that noted by Professor Gerald E. Wade in Don Gil de las calzas verdes.[21] Doña Juana (as Doña Elvira) says that her father's name is Don Rodrigo de Cisneros and that her lover's name is Don Miguel de Ribera. Later Doña Inés (after having repeated the name as it originally was given) refers to the lover as Don Miguel de Cisneros. Later, Don Pedro also refers to him as Don Miguel de Cisneros. In No hay peor sordo, Don Diego is first called Don Diego Ortiz de Fonseca, and later Don Diego de Acebedo. In the same play, Don García is referred to as Don García de Silva and as Don García Ponce, Silva y Solís.

Another case which is impossible to explain is that of a character whose name is abbreviated "Mur." and who speaks in La fingida Arcadia, Jornada I, Escena III. This is the only reference to this personage in the entire play.

Printer's errors apparently account for some of the variations in names; however it is difficult in such cases to know for certain whether the mistake is Tirso's or the printer's. The following list shows some of the differences noted:

Antonio de Barcelo-Antonio de Barcelos, VerPal
Cañizares-Gañizares, LealE
Cecilia (reparto)-Celia, SJuanaI
Diaguito-Dieguito, EscPCu
Domingo (reparto)-Domingo, PeñaFr
Enrique (reparto)-Enrico, PreRev
Florilo-Florino, RepRev
Garci-Hernández-Garci-Fernández, GallMH
Ifacio (reparto)-Isacio, ArbMF
Isabel-Isabela, CautCC
Leoncio-Leocio, RepRev
Mari-Pascuala-María Pascual, SJuanaII
Nájara-Nájera, AmarPS
Segismundo-Sigismundo, VentCN

As is evident from the following pages, there is a great variety of names in the comedias of Tirso. For the most part, both he and Lope used names which were common during the period in which they were writing, and a comparison shows that many of the same names were popular with both. Some of the differences in their choice of character names are interesting because of what they reveal about the author. Just as Tirso used the name Tirso (or Tarso) to refer to himself, so Lope used Belardo for himself, and Lucinda and Belisa for two of his loves. Further study of the names used by other playwrights will tell us more about the whole problem of character names in the Spanish Golden Age drama.

Notes

1. S. Griswold Morley and Richard W. Tyler, Los nombres de personajes en las comedias de Lope de Vega, Editorial Castalia, Valencia, Spain, 1961.

2. "Character Names in Tirso de Molina," XXVII, Number 2; April, 1959; pp. 222-227.

3. The problem of authorship in regard to the plays attributed to Tirso has been considered by Professor Morley in two articles in the Bulletin Hispanique: "The Use of Verse-Forms (Strophes) by Tirso de Molina," VII; 1905; pp. 387-408; "El uso de las combinaciones métricas en las comedias de Tirso de Molina," XVI; 1914; pp. 177-208.

4. Obras dramáticas completas de Tirso de Molina, M. Aguilar, Madrid, 1946, Vol. I, p. 1566, p. 1452a.

5. Nueva biblioteca de autores españoles, Bailly­Baillière e Hijos, Madrid, 1907, Vol. 9, p. 90b.

6. Biblioteca de autores españoles, Ediciones Atlas, Madrid, 1944, Vol. 5, p. 533c.

7. Acto III, Escena III.

8. Jornada I, Escena II.

9. Morley and Tyler, op. cat., Vol. I, p. 23.

10. El enigma biográfico de Tirso de Molina, Tipografía de Alberto Fontana, Madrid, 1928, pp. 22-26.

11. "Did Tirso Hate the Girones?", Modern Language Quarterly, V, 1944, pp. 27-32.

12. A list of the abbreviations of play titles follows this introduction.

13. "Character Names in Tirso de Molina," pp. 226-227.

14. Op. cit., Vol. I, p. 24.

15. More details concerning names popular in Tirso's time appear in the discussion of the Parish list on pages xxv-xxvi.

16. Morley and Tyler, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 17.

17. In the following statistics the reader should bear in mind that the results of the Morley-Tyler study are based upon 316 plays, as opposed to 61 of Tirso in my study.

18. The fact that Celia appears near the top among Lope’s feminine names (Morley and Tyler, op. cit. Vol. I, p. 25) but is not on Tirso’s frequency list may strengthen the theory that, for Lope, Celia is related to Micaela Luján.

19. Morley and Tyler, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 26.

20. This study appears as an appendix to Morley and Tyler, op cit., Vol. II, pp. 706-709.

21. “On Tirso's Don Gil," Modern Language Notes; Vol. LXXIV; 1959, pp. 609-610.