Notes on onomastics in Edmond Rostand’s theater

Edmond Rostand took great care when picking proper names. In his theater, regardless of the status of the characters (invented, referential, or borrowed from the literary tradition), onomastics transmits meaning through cultural references, the etymology of first names and surnames, their possible meaning, or even their sonority. Rostand avoids the opacity and arbitrariness of appellatives, but also the excess of transparency that would result from an overly explicit motivation.