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I am currently reading a short Japanese novel targeted at learners of intermediate levels, entitled 野菊の墓. In this novel, multiple times a character is named only by お増{ます}。Based on the below examples I believe that this designates a specific character, probably the family servant/maid but looking for it in either the jisho dictionary or the goo dictionary did not yield more results that the typical "increase, multiply" sense of 増す。

Examples (taken verbatim):

ぼくの家には、母とぼく、兄と兄の妻、家の仕事をするお増{ます}~

ぼくはかばんを一つ持って、民子｛たみこ｝とお増{ます}と一緒に舟の乗り場へ行った。

きっと兄の妻やお増{ます}は、母やぼくたちがいないところで~

Is my understanding correct? What is the exact sense of お増? Is it a common word? Is it associated with a particular politeness level and/or era?

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Urukann
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    Related: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/44670/can-the-honorific-%e3%81%8abe-used-with-a-persons-name/44698#44698 –  Jun 12 '17 at 13:52
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    Are you sure that the 「す」 was in the name? –  Jun 12 '17 at 13:54
  • So you think that 増す would be the maid's name? I hadn't really considered that possibility... – Urukann Jun 12 '17 at 13:55
  • You are right, it is お増{ます} not お増{ま}す, i'll edit the question – Urukann Jun 12 '17 at 13:56
  • 増 would be the part of the maid's first or family name, so お増 would be her nickname. In the case of 民子, someone may call her お民. – Yuuichi Tam Jun 12 '17 at 14:41
  • Thanks for the comments, I hadn't considered this possibility. And sorry for this duplicate then :/ – Urukann Jun 13 '17 at 02:31

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