Brave Stutely said then....
“This infant was called John Little,” quoth he;
“Which name shall be changêd anon;
The words we’ll transpose, so wherever he goes
His name shall be called Little John.”
Ritson, Robin Hood Ballads, ii. 21 (before 1689).
Little John (Hugh). John Hugh Lockhart, grandson of Sir W. Scott, is so called by Sir Walter in his Tales of a Grandfather, written for his grandson.
Little Marlborough, Count von Schwerin, a Prussian field-marshal and a companion of the duke of Marlborough (1684-1757).
Little Nell, a child distinguished for her purity of character, though living in the midst of selfishness, impurity, and crime. She was brought up by her grandfather, who was in his dotage, and having lost his property, tried to eke out a narrow living by selling lumber or curiosities. At length, through terror of Quilp, the old man and his grandchild stole away, and led a vagrant life, the one idea of both being to get as far as possible from the reach of Quilp. They finally settled down in a cottage overlooking a country churchyard, where Nell died.—C. Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop (1840).
Little Queen, Isabella of Valois, who was married at the age of eight years to Richard II. of England, and was a widow at 13 years of age (1387-1410).