What Is in A Name, Maeve?

Published March 26, 2020 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hello all,
I know this would be too late for the Telegraph, but I just had to share.

Since I have some time on my hands, I decided to google my way through the names of the characters of Westworld. A lot were simple interesting, but some were startling. For instance, did you know Dolores means sorrow/pain? Abernathy means mouth of the river Nethy – possible a reference to her flowing out of the park? Peter means rock, as in “you are my rock” although rock and a hard place may be appropriate. And Maeve means ‘she who intoxicates’? Millay means noble, but also soft – soft hearted about her daughter? Bernard means bear-hard or brave as a bear. Lowe is a location surname for a hill, barrow or burial mound – oh my.

Meanwhile Akecheta means fighter in Souix and Musashi basically means warlord in Japanese. To the narrative in the parks, they are only background, extras, NPCs and therefore don’t rate a distinctive name.

The humans are a mixed bag. William means resolute protector, which is what he might have started as before he turned to the dark side. I can’t find his surname, so they might be deliberately hiding something about that or just can’t come up with anything more ominous than Man in Black. Charlotte means free, not much to go on there.
Caleb Nichols is very interesting. Caleb mans loyal (and dog) and Nichols means to conquer people. Dempsey means arrogant and Liam is a derivative of William.

While searching thru the cast names I also found that Hector’s lost love was Isabella, which is what he called Maeve in Warworld. I completely forgot about Isabella being his cornerstone.

I made a rather long list of characters and the meanings of their names, these are just a few high points.

Yes, I have some time on my hands.

Susan
State College

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