I spotted the name of former Duke University president Nannerl “Nan” Keohane in an article recently, and (of course) was intrigued by her first name. Where does it come from?
According to Nannerl’s biography, her “parents, who were great music lovers, named her after Mozart’s musically talented sister, Nannerl.”
Wolfgang Mozart’s sister was actually named Maria Anna (no doubt after her mother, Anna Maria). She was born in Salzburg in 1751, five years before her famous brother. Out of seven siblings, they were the only two to survive infancy.
Maria Anna Mozart — a talented pianist whose musical career ended when she turned 18 and became eligible to marry — was known as “Nannerl” to family members. The nickname is an Austrian-German diminutive of Anna.
Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud had a similar nickname, Annerl, for his youngest daughter, Anna.
The Austrian-German suffix –erl is much like the German suffix –chen, so Nannerl and Annerl are more or less equivalent to the German diminutives Nannchen and Annchen.
What are your thoughts on the name Nannerl?
Sources:
- Nannerl O. Keohane – Duke University Libraries
- Rusch, Elizabeth. “Maria Anna Mozart: The Family’s First Prodigy.” Smithsonian Magazine 27 Mar. 2011.
- Maria Anna Mozart – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from President Nannerl O. Keohane at Computer, 1995 by Duke University Archives under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.