In Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where does "Utterson" in the name Mr. Utterson come from?"Utter" means to cry out, but...

In Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the name "Utterson" may have been specifically
chosen to support the story's plot.

In this case, "utter"
is defined by Dictionary.com as:

readability="5">

to give audible expression to; speak or
pronounce

TheFreedictionary.com
defines "utter" as:

readability="10">

To articulate
(words)

(note—it also says: To send forth with
the voice: uttered a cry; however, in the
context of the story, uttering a cry—as in being
startled—would not apply to Utterson: he is quiet, as you
say).

Cambridge Dictionaries
Online defines "utter" as:

readability="5">

to say something or to make a sound
with your
voice

While some
sites use different definitions, in terms of this story, all three of these definitions
point less to "crying out," and more to speaking out. In Utterson's case, this seems to
be exactly what he does: he becomes the storyteller who shares the
details of what he learns up until the conclusion of the story, adding to the story's
suspense. He is a lawyer who is presented as an ethical professional, and an
intelligent, trustworthy, and credible "witness" to the events he shares from this
strange tale.

However, your point is still
well-taken. This is something I love to see readers do: looking for hidden
symbolic meanings in the story, that allow one to search beneath the surface of the
story, to another level of meaning. Oftentimes names are chosen
very carefully by authors to provide clues, or to support the
overall theme.

So even if "utter" does not fit with "to cry
out," Utterson's name may still be very important. This ties in to
why Utterson would be chosen as the story's narrator. If "utter" means to speak,
articulate, or, in other words, to express oneself, this is exactly
what Utterson does. He becomes the credible voice of reason who collects the confusing
and misleading bits of information that surround the bond between Jekyll and Hyde in an
effort to solve the mystery in the tale.

We
might find irony in the fact that a lawyer is often in possession
of secrets by clients which he cannot share; however, in this case Utterson is a lawyer
with little information who must gather as much as possible in
order for it to make sense to the other characters, but especially to the reader.
Instead of defending a client, he has become the
investigator.

By the end of the story, Utterson is the one
who Stevenson has chosen to "utter" or articulate the events of the story so we finally
understand that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person, and that this has been accomplished
by Jekyll's experiments. Stevenson may have specifically chosen the name Utterson to
reflect that this character would tell the story and answer the readers' questions by
the story's end.

Additional
sources for
definitions:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/utter_1

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/utter

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/utter