What does the 'Ado' in 'Ado Annie' mean?

In Green Grow the Lilacs, she's just 'Annie', with no Ado at all, I believe.

My musical theatre teachers gave me two theories, but both were guesses:

1) Ado being a mispronounced form of 'ado' as in 'Much Ado About Nothing'...meaning trouble follows her, I guess.

2) 'I do' becomes 'Ah do' (in dialect) becomes 'Ado'. (She's a yes girl, if you will).

Neither of my teachers had thought about it until I asked them! It was important to me, because... well, guess who I was playing.

Anyways, I think it would be a very interesting bit of trivia, if anyone happens to know it.

EDIT: Oops, I *had* meant to put this on the on-topic board, sorry...

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Updated On: 6/18/07 at 11:08 PM

That's actually a really great question.

I haven't the slightest idea.

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Wow - I was thinking about the name this afternoon.

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True, but I'm interested in the dramaturgy behind it. If they were intending the second, they still tied it in to the Shakespeare reference when they didn't necessarily have to. What's behind specifically making her "Ado" Annie?

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Ok..this is the type of question that makes me google until I find something....LOL

I did find instances of Ado being a name...including a St. Ado, who was a monk...which is actually pretty ironic considering Ado Annie's defining characteristic!

I've managed to find some history from an Oklahoma county historical society newsletter. According to it, the name came from the original playwright, Lynn Riggs.

Riggs was a literary genius at recording the expressions of plain Oklahoma people. Many of the characters in the play were family members and acquaintances from the area. Jud Fry was a man named Jeeter Davis who pulled a knife on a family member. Jeeter' name was changed to Jud in the play. A neighbor of the Riggs became "Old Man Peck." Two daughters of Mary Brice were also represented: Laura became "Laurey" and Willie became "Ado Annie," however the name "Ado" was derived from Lynn's half-aunt Hannah Ada Riggs.
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