Carmen (given name)

The name Carmen is a female given name. Its Hebrew and Latin roots originate from enchantment, poetry, song. It's first root, enchantment, resembles Charm", a word with a similar meaning. In the early 20th century slang, it referred to train conductors.

Prescence in Literature

Carmen was a poetically allusional name in Nabokov's Lolita. In this book, he often called his young lover "Carmen", a surprisingly appropriate allusion considering that the book refers to a hotel called "The Enchanted Hunters," a foreshadowing that he would be "Hunting Carmen" near the end. Here is an excerpt of it's subtly misleading poem:

O my Carmen, My little Carmen!

Something, something, those something nights,

And the stars, and the cars, and the bars, and the barmen--

And O my charmin', our dreadful fights.

And the something town, which we so gaily, arm in

Arm, we went, and our final row,

And the gun I killed you with, O my Carmen,

The gun I am holding now.