Sentence:  - - - in a world of mandatory diminutives, a corporation of jolly Bills and Jacks and Herbs and Teds in which an unabbreviable given name like <WSD>Earl</WSD> must have been a minor handicap, "Oat" was the best that could be done for a man with the given name of Otis. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (from=English) from the English noun earl.