The rowing boat takes its name, The Countess of Roussillon, from a character in "All's Well That Ends Well".
'Erasmus' is the name of a character in the play, "Sir Thomas More". The play has multiple authors, one of whom is believed to be William Shakespeare.
Several of the character names come from "A Midsummer Night's Dream". There is a character Demetrius from where Dimitri Erasmus gets his first name. The name, 'Helen Nedarson', likely comes from a line by Egeus in Act IV Scene I: "My lord, this is my daughter here asleep./ And this, Lysander. This Demetrius is. /This Helena, old Nedar's Helena..." (though referencing a daughter, rather than a son). The daughter of Egeus in the play is 'Hermia'. Lady Tania's name is a shortened form of 'Titania'. The name, Ron Greenvale, gets its first name as a shortened form of 'Oberon'. Lee Sandridge's name is derived from 'Lysander'.
'Thessaly Hall', Lady Bede's home, bears a name mentioned by Theseus in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Act IV, Scene I: "A cry more tunable / Was never hollaed to, nor cheered with horn, / In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly".
The title comes from Oberon's line in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Act II, Scene I: "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania"