you don't know jack

Following on from the last book post and its predecessor, I observed at the end of the Jack Maggs review that its title was the latest in a short series of titles that were just someone's full name. A similar list could be constructed for Jack, its exact composition depending on the rules we decide to specify. Most obviously we could make a list of books whose title is a single word which is clearly someone's given name, or a near-variant or diminutive form of it (Jack Boughton's given name is actually John, for instance).

If we did that, and with the caveat that this may not be exhaustive, since that would require a degree of effort and attention to detail that I can't be arsed with, we'd end up with a list that went something like: Jack, Dalva, Lila, Rebecca, Beloved, Fremder, Clea, Walter, Lolita, Balthazar, Justine. 

If we included single-word names that were pretty clearly someone's surname then we might end up adding these: Ravelstein, Stoner, Mountolive, Demian, Chatterton, Kleinzeit, Utz.

Finally, single-word names that clearly refer to a particular person but which are some sort of nickname rather than strictly a given name: Candide, Fiskadoro, Nostromo, Lanark, Stick, Pilgermann. 

A full analysis, should you require one, of one-word, two-word and indeed many-word titles featured on this blog can be found here.