Wikipedia
lists 54 works written by the Scottish author James Matthew Barrie
(who was born on this date in 1860). But I have only ever heard of
one of them: Peter Pan.
Now
that I look at that list, I see several Peter Pan “extras”—perhaps
sequels or maybe even prequels—that I didn't know existed. They
include Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, When Wendy Grew
Up, and Peter and Wendy.
Actually,
many of Barrie's writings and plays were successful, although Peter
Pan was SO successful that it overshadowed his other works to some
extent even during Barrie's lifetime. However, Barrie earned so much
fame during his life, he was made a baronet by George V—so that's
Sir J. M. Barrie, thank you very much!
Before
he died, Barrie gave the rights to the Peter Pan works to a London
hospital. What a wonderful legacy—one that continues to help the
hospital!
Another
legacy of Barrie's most famous play is the name Wendy. Before Peter
Pan burst onto the world stage in 1904, Wendy was a very unusual and
almost entirely unknown name. It is quite likely that Barrie had
never heard the name before; he said that he “thought up” the
name because a young daughter of one of his friends, who couldn't
pronounce her “R”s, playfully called Barrie her “fwiendy-wendy.”
The name Wendy became more and more popular in the next few
generations, and although it isn't all that common now—it is
roughly the 600th most common girl's name—it is still
familiar to all of us. I know one adult Wendy...and of course the
character Wendy in Peter Pan!
You
can find out how common names are and have been using The Baby Name
Wizard, which creates graphs about the popularity of each name over
time. Check out the chart for Wendy. Then check out your own
name!
For
more on Peter Pan, check out this earlier post.
Also
on this date:
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