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Once a man showed me the opening pages of a novel that he was writing, and he had something of a name. It begins something like this ...

This is from the “Donnellan Lectures” by Lord Dunsany.

I do not understand the meaning of “he had something of a name.”

I would be glad if some one kindly taught me.

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    Which novel was shown to Lord Dunsay and who was it by? Perhaps the name of the novel or its author is famous, and Dunsay is commenting on that? This is just speculation.
    – rjpond
    Commented Oct 14, 2017 at 8:30
  • What begins? The novel or the name? Anyway, you can look up something in a good dictionary and find that it can refer to something “impressive or notable”. Commented Oct 14, 2017 at 13:30
  • As rjpond says, it may mean that he was famous (for his writing). There is an expression "made something of a name for himself" [in a particular area].
    – Livrecache
    Commented Oct 15, 2017 at 3:25
  • Unless more context or further info can be added that clarifies this question, I think it will have to be closed.
    – rjpond
    Commented Oct 16, 2017 at 18:10
  • Following @livrecache above - i think this is archaic in that it refers to "name" in the sense of "reputation". As he/she says there is a phrase "making a name for yourself", meaning becoming well-known and with the implication of it being a favourable reputation. I therefore suspect that "having something of a name" means "mildly famous/well-respected for doing <whatever>" Commented Oct 18, 2017 at 8:08

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It's an odd phrasing, but as Livrecache mentions in his comment, it's most like the English idiom "to make a name for oneself/himself/herself"

Eric was not a particularly noteworthy person, but he did make something of a name for himself in the fast-paced, high-pressure world of competitive Scrabble.

"He had something of a name" is possibly an archaic phrasing, or perhaps a paraphrase of the common idiom. Either way it almost certainly means that the man was somewhat well-known as a writer.

(Side note. The Japanese equivalent 有名 can be similarly, literally translated as "having a name" -- which is to say, "famous")

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