Nama, a daughter of man, beloved by the angel Zaraph. Her wish was to love intensely and to love holily, but as she fixed her love on a seraph, and not on God, she was doomed to abide on earth, “unchanged in heart and frame,” so long as the earth endureth; but at the great consummation both Nama and her seraph will be received into those courts of love, where “love never dieth.”—Moore, Loves of the Angels, ii. (1822).
Namby (Major), a retired officer, living in the suburbs of London. He had been twice married; his first wife had four children, and his second wife three. Major Namby, though he lived in a row, always transacted his domestic affairs by bawling out his orders from the front garden, to the annoyance of his neighbors. He used to stalk half-way down the garden path, with his head high in the air, his chest stuck out, and flourishing his military cane. Suddenly he would stop, stamp with one foot, knock up the hinder brim of his hat, begin to scratch the nape of his neck, wait a moment, then wheel round, look at the first-floor window, and roar out, “Matilda!” (the name of his wife) “don’t do so-and-so;” or “Matilda! do so-and-so.” Then he would bellow to the servants to buy this, or not to let the children eat that, and so on.—Wilkie Collins, Pray Employ Major Namby (a sketch).
Names of Terror. The following amongst others, have been employed as bogie-names to frighten children with:—
Attila was a bogie-name to the Romans.
Bo or Boh, son of Odin, was a fierce Gothic captain. His name was used by his soldiers when they would fight or surprise the enemy.—Sir William Temple.
*** Warton tells us that the Dutch scared their children with the name of Boh.
Bonaparte, at the close of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, was a name of terror in Europe.
Corvi´nus (Mathias), the Hungarian, was a scare-name to the Turks.
Lilis or Lilith was a bogie-name used by the ancient Jews to unruly children. The rabbinical writers tell us that Lilith was Adam’s wife before the creation of Eve. She refused to submit to him, and became a horrible night-spectre, especially hostile to young children.
Lunsford, a name employed to frighten children in England. Sir Thomas Lunsford, governor of the Tower, was a man of most vindictive temper, and the dread of everyone.