sadly the only thing I remember from this dream is a magazine article that read “Kramer’s friends are surprised he got into modeling, claiming his talents lie elsewhere, although they’re still not sure where.”
The Hidden Meaning of Names in Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek
Okay, so I like names. I like researching them, discovering their meanings and histories, and finding the perfect one for my characters, locations, etc. This means it makes my nerdy little heart happy anytime I discover that someone else put as much thought into their character names as I usually do, and let me tell you, Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek, is a goldmine!
The first name on this list I've known about for a long time, Guadalupe Comillo. Through other sources (mostly Heroes of Olympus if I'm being honest) I knew Lupa was the name of the She-Wolf in Roman mythology who cared for Romulus and Remus, so I already assumed Guadalupe's nickname, Lupe, was a reference to this. But I later learned the actual meaning of the name Guadalupe is "valley of wolves". This was a really fun discovery, but I kind of assumed she was the only character to have a name like this, until…
Lou Talbot.
I happened to fall down a rabbit hole one night regarding the classic Universal Monsters (falling down weird rabbit holes is a favorite pass time of mine!) and I discovered that the titular Wolf Man from the 1941 film happens to be named Larry Talbot. Since Lou was the only other Talbot I knew I made the connection instantly and had a good laugh over it, until it occurred to me that if Lou and Guadalupe both have wolf-themed names, other characters might as well!
The Hunt was on!
After making the Talbot connection I started checking other films and turned up two more connections. Bill Kessler shares his surname with David Kessler, the werewolf in the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London and Julius McQuade shares his name with the protagonist of the 1983 film Lone Wolf McQuade.
A basic search for the name Randall, Ollie and Freddie's surname, reveals that (at least according to this Wikipedia article) it's an anglicized form of a Scandinavian name meaning "shield wolf". (Ironic considering how badly Ollie wanted the wolf dead!)
And a search for Yanni Volkstaia's surname turned up this Reddit post by lemonapplecherry that fit into my hunt beautifully. In this post they explain that Volk is the Russian word for wolf, (easily verified by Google Translate) and Staya is a Russian word denoting a group of animals or a pack if you will!
And according to this article (and several others I forgot to save the links for, oopsy) Sheriff Mahihkan's surname is the Cree word for Wolf!
So, the simple version:
Guadalupe Comillo's first name means "valley of wolves" and (bonus fun fact) her surname means "acolyte". Pretty fitting since she one of the only characters who cares about the wolf's safety!
Lou Talbot shares his surname with Larry Talbot, the werewolf from Universal's The Wolf Man.
Bill Kessler shares his surname with David Kessler, the werewolf from An American Werewolf in London.
Julius McQuade shares his surname with the protagonist of the film Lone Wolf McQuade.
Ollie and Freddie Randall's surname means "shield wolf".
Yanni Volkstaia's surname is a fusion of the Russian words for wolf and pack.
Sherriff Mahihkan's surname is the Cree word for wolf.
These are all of the characters from The White Wolf of Icicle Creek I've been able to draw concrete connections between their names and wolves for, but I'm not convinced they're the only ones! There are still three characters I really expected to find connections for: Chantal Moique, Elsa Sibbelhoth, and Daniel "Trapper Dan" Weisnitz. Based purely on how atypical their surnames are, I was CONVINCED they must also have wolf connections, but I've been completely unable to find any. I've run every wolf-related word I could think of through every language on Google Translate and found nothing. I've searched for literary names connected to wolves with no luck. I've run their names through search engines to no avail. (Google reeeeaaaaalllllllyyyyy thinks I mean Monique when I search for Moique!) And I've done some (admittedly shallow) glancing into different types of wolves and people who have researched wolves, and still haven't found anything.
So, any and all members of the Clue Crew hanging out on Tumblr, I want to know, do you know any wolf connections that I missed? If you let me know of any I'd love to add your findings and credits to this list!/gen
Happy New Year mystery solvers! The Amelia Darnell: Secrets of Silvercrest Village teaser is out now! Enjoy, let us know what your favorite part was and may 2026 be amazing for each of you!
1 of 2 of my contributions to the Nancy Drew Speedathon zine. I made two book cover style illustrations for two of my favourite games. This was such a fun project to work on with so many other talented people. All donations from the Speedathon this year went to advocates for trans equality!
You can go download the zine for yourself for free at https://ndspeedzine.carrd.co/
Access to the Nancy Drew Speedathon Zine pdf and digital merch
Good find! These metro signs are a textbook example of Art Nouveau - here’s an art history lesson no one asked for:
Art Nouveau emerged around the turn of the twentieth century. At a time when industrialization and urbanization were taming and destroying the natural world, Art Nouveau turned to nature for inspiration. It is characterized by floral and animal motifs, with curved lines and asymmetry.
Another key tenet of Art Nouveau was to break out of traditional fine arts (painting, sculpture). Art Nouveau left the galleries and salons to be used in interior design, furniture, graphic arts, jewelry, and more. Paris’s Metro signs are an extension of this idea.
Hector Guimard was hired to design the station entrances to the newly built Paris Metro system ahead of the 1900 World Fair. Many featured arching stems with leaves and red flower bud lanterns (see OP’s picture). The station from DAN looks like the real-life entrance to Abbesses station, whose ribbed glass cover echo the wings of a dragonfly. Guimard chose to paint the iron green to make it look like weathered bronze.
It’s inspiring to recall a time when artists endeavored to bring beauty to everyday life.
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