I always thought the main allusion in the name Quilty is to 'quilt', because he is patched up (among other things) from all those detectives in their convertibles who used to follow Humbert before he invented Quilty ( whom he needed as a victim in the murder scene that even in the novel's 'reality' didn't take place).

best
philip

"D. Barton Johnson" schrieb:

----- Original Message -----

From: LANNAREL@aol.com

  You know how Quilty's name is used in the novel in that French phrase qu'il-t-y. I want to say that Nabokov chose the name just so he could use it in that French pun. He could have picked millions of names, why that one. It must be the only name in  all literature that was chosen just to pun on  in a single but crucially  revealing instance!! Amazing if you think  of it like that. Talk about literary!

Oh, where does that pun occur in the novel? I missed it of course the first time I read it. Yep!
Phil I