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What the "Torrance" in Jack Torrance means

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    What the "Torrance" in Jack Torrance means

    I just recently came across this and now it makes me wonder how much thought King put into giving Jack Torrance a surname. Given this information, apparently quite a bit!

    Here's where the last name Torrance derives from. I think it's pretty funny that The Torrance family motto is "I saved the King!" Maybe "The Shining" didn't save the King, but that book was certainly one of the many cornerstones of King's writing career.

    Also, this part: "Locational surnames, such as this, were usually acquired by a local landowner, or by the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, usually in search of work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace." Meaning that it's a perfect name for King's character since he is both searching for work, and in his own mind, he is the destined "lord of the Overlook Hotel manor."


    Last name: Torrance
    Recorded in several forms as shown below, this is an early medieval Scottish surname. It is locational originating from either of the two places in Scotland called Torrance, one near East Kilbride in Lanarkshire, and the other north of Glasgow under the Campsie Fells. The placenames are derived from the Gaelic word "torran", meaning a hillock or mound, with the later addition of the English plural "s". Locational surnames, such as this, were usually acquired by a local landowner, or by the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, usually in search of work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. In the modern idiom the surname can be found recorded as Torrance, Torrans, Torrence, and Torrens. John Torrance was recorded as a tenant of Newbattle Abbey in 1563, and the marriage of John Torrans to Elizabeth Thompson was recorded at Manchester Cathedral, on September 19th 1875. An interesting namebearer, recorded in the "Dictionary of National Biography", was David Torrance (1840 - 1906), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, in America, who was born in Edinburgh. The family Coat of Arms is per pale red and gold, two boat oars in saltire blue, the Crest being a bull's head erased, and the Motto is, "I saved the king". Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

    Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Torrance#ixzz1fgDT5A6p

    Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Torrance#ixzz1fgEOuBQQ


    Taken from: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Torrance

    #2
    Honestly, after reading the links (and inputting the hames "Ullman"--the seasonal lord of the Overlook-- and "Halloran" into the search engine), it is possible, though not probale, that King researched the name that way. An interesting theory to be sure, but not one that, if true, leads me to any new understanding of Jack Torrance's character. I have read that readers come up with notions that an author thinks have merit, but that never occurred to the author in the the first palce. Still, an interesting idea.
    "I'm a vegan. "

    ---Kirby Bliss Blanton , The Green Inferno (2013)

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      #3
      What the "Torrance" in Jack Torrance means

      Originally posted by srboone View Post
      Honestly, after reading the links (and inputting the hames "Ullman"--the seasonal lord of the Overlook-- and "Halloran" into the search engine), it is possible, though not probale, that King researched the name that way. An interesting theory to be sure, but not one that, if true, leads me to any new understanding of Jack Torrance's character. I have read that readers come up with notions that an author thinks have merit, but that never occurred to the author in the the first palce. Still, an interesting idea.

      Yes, I tend to agree King may not have been thinking about this when he wrote it (but who knows?), but it might still seem to "fit" the character.

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