Nan Blythe

Anne "Nan" Meredith (nee Blythe) was the daughter of Anne and Gilbert Blythe, younger sister of Joyce (†), Jem and Walter (†), twin sister of Di, older sister of Shirley and Rilla, the wife of Jerry Meredith and the mother of Diana Meredith.

Early life
Nan and her twin Di were born in 1895 in Ingleside, Glen St. Mary, to Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe. Their grandmother, Mrs. Blythe, visited Ingleside during their birth. Little Nan looked like her father and grandmother. She inherited their brown hair and hazel eyes and looked different as Diana who had red hair and green eyes like their mother.

Childhood
Nan was raised along with her twin and older brothers. Two years later, Shirley, the little brown boy, was born. Her youngest sister Rilla was born, when the twins were four years old.

Nan inherited Anne's imagination and that caused many interesting adventures for her.

Bargains with God
When Nan was about seven she began to make 'bargains' with God, such as 'you-do-this and I'll-do-that'. Some of the things were no use, such as crawling 'round the barn 14 times, but some, such as never complaining about cod-liver oil again were a good use. Nan stopped when she made a bargain with God when Anne got sick. She promised to walk through the graveyard at night, since it would be terrifying. She tried to, and failed, though Anne got better. Nan eventually learned that God gives without asking and only expects love in return.

Personality
Anne, who was always called Nan, was a very blithe and dainty little maiden - Blythe by name and blithe by nature, one of her teachers had said.

Physical appearance
Nan was very pretty, with velvety nut-brown eyes and silky nut-brown hair. Her complexion was quite faultless, much to her mother's satisfaction.

Etymology
Anne is a female given name of Hebrew origin and means He has favored me.
 * Nan was named after her mother, Anne Shirley. She is the second person to be named after Anne, the first being Anne Cordelia Wright.

Behind the scenes

 * Nan and her twin sister, Di, were named after their mother, Anne, and her childhood friend, Diana Barry. Ironically, Anne has red hair and Diana is dark, whereas in the Blythe twins, Nan is dark and Di is redheaded.
 * Nan and Shirley were the only two Blythe children who looked similar to their father Gilbert and also their grandmother Mrs. Blythe with brown hair and hazel eyes. (Jem and Rilla had also Gilbert's eyes, but they were redheaded like Anne.)
 * Although she looked like her father, she had her mother's personality.

Book appearances

 * Anne of Ingleside
 * Rainbow Valley
 * Rilla of Ingleside