How to Name Your Regency Era Baby (Or Character): Girls and Boys Baby Names
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ค. 2024
- [Subtitulada en español] Ever wonder what Regency Era parents were thinking when they were naming their baby girls and boys? Well, wonder no longer! In this video, I break down the two majors methods parents used to name their children, common Georgian and Regency naming conventions and the sources of common names.
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🧐 Learn More
Christian, N., Author, . T. R., & Yonge, C. M.
(1863). History of Christian names. London.
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🕰 Watching Guide
00:00 How to Name Your Regency Era Baby (or Character) [Intro]
01:04 Where Did Traditional Names Come From?
04:56 Traditional Regency Era Naming Rules
08:11 Fashionable and Romantic Name Route
10:40 Victorian Reaction to Regency Era Names
12:30 Regency Author Naming Tips
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#regencyera #babynames #writingtips #janeausten #prideandprejudice #elizabethgaskell #wivesanddaughters, #babynamesforgirls #babynamesforboys #houseofhanover #royalty #biblenames #howtonamecharacters
Thanks for watching! Interested in learning more about growing up in the Regency Era? Then definitely check out this video on Regency Era Girl's Education: th-cam.com/video/fozorPx6E7c/w-d-xo.html
Totally off topic - You're eyebrows have an amazing arch/ shape but could use a bit of a warmer brown brow liner to blend better with your hair colour (which looks great on you btw) and your fair complexion and subtlety rosey make-up.
How did your name affect your life, if it is really Dashwood?
When did you become aware that you share the name of one of the most famose families in english literature?
Is your first name Electra, or did I see that wrong? I snooped a bit on your website….
My favorite English name was always Elisabeth, even before I knew of Jane Austen. Our teacher in my first ever English class in 5th grade made us choose an english name for our English classes and I chose that.
Regency people: *slaps Bible*
"This bad boy can fit so many names in it."
😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Upon my word! Slapping a holy book?
I just think about regency people carefully considering pious family names from the bible, and then I think about how I was named.
My dad, looking at newborn me: "Wow she's pretty red. ... I've got it!"
Re: Bible names. My friend joked that her husband's prolific Catholic family had already run through Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Simon, Peter, Paul, Joseph, etc. and were starting to consider Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego.
😂 That would be epic!
I 100% back them with those names 😂
It’s called use saint names lol
I know about a little boy that is called Melchior. His father is also catholic. And in Sweden we have an 18:th century musician that often wrote about a man called Mowitz, that has also become a christian namn in one boy I now.
My grand uncle was named Gaspar (as in one of the 3 wise men) and his son (my uncle) was named like his father :)
I used to work with a girl whose name was Amen, and her sisters names were Faith and Hallelujah.
Hallelujah... oh my, poor child....
@@HamelinSong call them Hal for short 😂
NOOOO 😂😂😂
Faith really dodged a bullet!
Did they consider changing their names or...?This is both funny and sad.😂Faith was the lucky one.
My own name is Victoria Jane, and I have sisters named Margaret Katherine, Mary Elizabeth, and Katherine Jane. Too many repeating names, I think, haha!
Wow, all of your names are so pretty and noble sounding!
Haha I'm Katherine Mary! And one of my sisters is Jane Elizabeth :)
That’s so beautiful!
My daughter’s name is Margaret! Margaret Grace, we call her Maggie Grace.
wow
Mr. Darcy's sister Georgiana was perfectly named for the time that her mother lived, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire had been the great society beauty of the 1770's-1790's
And I think that the older Mr Darcy's name was George. George Wickham (his godson) was named after him, I think. Or it would be a strong possibility at least.
Also King George
George and Anne, so Georgiana
@@MaluhXav that's always made me laugh like, Darcy's parents were really out here giving their daughter their own ship name.
@@annarita333 well given that the description of Pemberley given in the novel describes the approach to Chatsworth from Baslow the choice of Georgiana is there to reinforce the connection between Darcy and the Cavendish’s.
Mexican Catholics had it easy when my mom was born-you would have a calendar that told you what saint was born that day, so you'd name your baby after that saint. People are confused by meeting "Jose Maria"s and "Guadalupe"s that are men, but these men were born on the day of the Holy Family, or the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
My own great-uncle was named Jesus Navidad, because he was born on Christmas!
If I lived in Regency times, based on my birthday? I'd be an Agnes 😂
Forgot to add that "compound" first names are quite common amongst the older Mexican/Mexican-American people: Jose Maria, Maria Jose, Juan Maria, etc.!
That's so interesting! My friends dad's name is Juan Carlos, so I guess that explains that. 😃
Portugal was like that too! Now not so much (although we still use a lot of compound names) but i have a really funny story about how my grandmother really wished she was named Mónica bc she was born in Saint Mónica's day, so during primary school she'd sign her tests as Maria Eugénia Mónica and the teacher never noticed 😂
hey, I have a great uncle born on Christmas with basically the same name! Jesus Natal (Christmas in portuguese), but as far as I know, Brazilians didn't really use the same naming traditions. either way, super interesting and a fun little coincidence lol
@@beatrizhg618 not so common in metropolitan areas in Brazil, but I still see this calendar thing in the countryside. By the way, my grandma is named Maria, but she really wishes she were Maria Rita because she was born on St. Rita's day (may 22nd) and she considers her patron saint.
A little bit of a correction: Queen Victoria's mother was a German princess, but her name was not German. She was called Victoire, which is French. The German version of that name is also Victoria, sometimes (but usually not) spelled with a k (Viktoria).
And then, of course, the name Victoria is neither German nor English. It is a Latin word and means victory.
But I loved this video! So interesting, even if you're not writing a novel at the moment.
Aw, thank you for letting me know!
Also Victoria wasn’t even her first name. It was her middle name. Her first name was actually Alexandria, named for her godfather Alexander the first of Russia.
Queen Victoria's first name was actually Alexandrina.
@@tabby5228 No, her first name was Alexandrina. I checked the two biographies of Queen Victoria that I own.
@ Elisa Fumero you are correct. Thanks for catching my spelling mistake. I forgot the n.
My daughter is named after Elizabeth Bennet! My husband didn't like how long it was though, so we decided on Elsie! It also fits his native language well. She's 3 now :)
Awww! That'll be so cool when she grows up and can enjoy Pride and Prejudice and know she's name after one of the coolest heroines ever!
I love the name Elsie! It’s my great nanna Rowland’s name and I think it’s so pretty 🧡
So is it Elizabeth, and you _call her_ Elsie? Or is it actually Elsie on the birth certificate?
My middle name is Elizabeth but I have an extra t on Bennett!
I love the name Elsie, ever watched a fairy tale? The main character is Elsie and I've always loved it
Once I've read a book called "Jane Austen and Names" (it's on Amazon) in which the author, after researching the trends and thought process of people of the era when it came to baptizing children and meticulously studying how Austen named her characters, concluded that she had a tendency to give latinized / romantic / fashionable names to those she didn't have in great regard (as a way to poke fun on their pompousness) and also to pinpoint how their parents had risen in their social standing (basically nouveau rich people) or had intentions to rise above their ranks. One can see this pattern with her Marias and Louisas, and also in Julia, Augusta, Isabella, Henrietta, Sophia...
I feel like the fashion of names always effects women’s names more. That could be an interesting topic
Definitely
Partially because once names become gender neutral, they become girls only. People name girls "masculine" names to be strong and then people stop using them for boys. Ie: Ashley, Courtney, Stacy, Jocelyn, Morgan, and Loren/Lauren are almost completely flipped. MacKenzie, Robin, Avery, Aubrey. I'm wondering how quickly this will happen with Max and James as they are starting to get used for girls right now. Meanwhile, more creative new names enter the girls name pool to begin with.
I feel like this is the place to mention the "Tiffany paradox", where Tiffany was a name that came from the middle ages! Famous Regency romance writer Georgette Heyer named a character Theophania/Tiffany in her novel The Nonesuch!
Tara became popular because "Tara" was the name of Scarlett O'Hara's family's plantation in _Gone with the Wind._ Emma became popular all of a sudden because Jennifer Aniston had a baby by that name on _Friends._
same with Jessica
My first name, Honora, is from Latin for “honor” and was the name of a saint, St Honoria. I’m the fifth Honora on my maternal line. It was a common name in Ireland in the 1800’s where my 3rd and 4th great-grandmother’s were from.
I love the name Honora, I also like the spelling Annora as well :) do you like your first name?
I only had heard the name Honoria in literature- the mother of Lord Peter Whimsey bears that name, and the headmistress of an exclusive school in an Agatha Christie novel. I so loved the sound of it. :-) Oh, and the meaning, too. :-)
I love the name Honora
Ooo, I've only ever heard this name in a couple of novels. I'm so envious, it's a beautiful and unique name!
Then who is Michelle Weaver??
just name your girl child 'Jane' , that's almost every era.
not really the modern era tbf
@@tealwashablemarker8886 that's a very common name nowadays, just like it was centuries ago
Or Charlotte
Another name that seems timeless is Elizabeth. There's very few girls'/women's names (in English speaking world) that don't date. But if you heard of someone called "Elizabeth So-and-so", she could be a bub of 2 years old, or a young woman of 20, or middle aged woman of 50, older woman of 80, or someone born a century ago, or 2 or 3 centuries ago - virtually no other girls' name (in English speaking world) has that quality! There's quite a few for men though - Thomas, James, William, etc, have been constants for a long time.
That's why my kids are Jane and David
My dad called me Desirée, after my mother and Napoleon's lover Désirée Clary, who became Queen of Sweden (as Desideria Bernadotte) shortly before the Regency Era.
Désirée was quite a common French baby name back then, especially used for long-desired babies (it means "wished for"), so yeah, I mean... I could fit quite well back then: fashionable and traditional at the same time.
Its a beautiful name and i actually considered it as a middle name for Elodie but unfortunately today outside of France specifically in english speaking countries its basically considered a strippers etc name. Like "Trixie" short for Beatrix so while i love the names i know being australian theyd get misspelled butchered pronunciation or jokes or worse be nicknamed which i dont mind nicknames but for romantic french type names it doesnt sound lovely like Dez or Liz for elizabeth or IZ for Isabeau etc and while the nicknames themselves arent usually bad i just yeah id rather short names like Clare so they can have nicknames but it wont shorten the actual name i that makes sense.
Anyway ive comforted myself in the fact that i can use them in books haha.
The Swedish Royal Family to this day uses the name Désirée, so yes, definitely a royal name in Sweden ;)
@@EmmaAppleBerry Elodie?
In France Désiré or Désirée was also the name for unwanted kids.
If a firstborn was named Désiré he was obviously very wanted, but if it was the 7th kids.....
The royal names thing reminds me of a bit in Japanese history where after the shogunate fell, and people were allowed to name themselves whatever they wanted, some folks picked easy last names based on what they did, where they lived, etc... But others decided that because samurai were no longer in power, they could now take someone else's samurai surname for themselves.
So not everyone nowadays who has a samurai name necessarily has samurai ancestry, lol.
True, think of the very common name Sasaki for instnce.
The same happened in Korea, that’s why there are so many Kims, Lees, and Parks. When commoners had to take surnames, many decided to take the names of the most powerful clans.
It’s a whole other ballpark if your writing about regency era French colonies (Louisiana, Acadia etc.)
I’m a direct descendant of Emerante, Missalena (usually spelled Messalina) Hyppolite, Ovina, Leovina, Isham. The list of names I’ve never heard of goes on!
I actually know a kid named Hippolyte, tho I live in Europe and he’s french so it’s not that weird of a name haha (i presume the parents either rlly liked greek mythology or horses!)
I’ve always wondered in historical paintings children often look exactly like their parents. I have a theory that the children didn’t sit still so the painter just copied their parents’ faces. Much like queen Elizabeth because she had skin issues later in life.
And then you have the new generation of the Windsor kids and all of them ACTUALLY looking like Queen Elizabeth II, regardless of their gender and how their mothers look like xDDD. Yet another reason I'd never marry into the English royal family. No money in the world would compensate me for having my prospective progeny to be burdened with such gobs. Also the threat of them hating me for my remaining life for the bog I've gotten them into as soon as they realized their situation, not just in the appearance department.
@@OstblockLatina Not sure what your issue is, Queen Elizabeth II looks good!
@@OstblockLatina HM The Queen was beautiful as a young woman, and is still beautiful as a 94 year-old. I hope I look that good when I'm 94!
Our family name seems to be Louise. My grandmother was Louise Anne. My mother was Mary Louise. I am Louise Anne. My daughter is Anna Louise. I was the fourth daughter in my family so I wonder why I got the family name instead of my eldest sister? I HATED the name Louise when I was little because it felt too old for me. Plus, I had bright red hair. I just wanted to be a brunette girl named Jennifer and blend in. Now, I like my name and my hair!
My grandma was named Louise and my sister is named Julia Louise. It's lovely! I am also a fan of the old adorable love song "Louise".
Omg, your daughter and I have really similar names! I'm an Ana Luiza, which is basically a latin-america version of Anne Louise haha. Ana is after my father's mother Anna, and Luiza is after my mother's father Luiz. I love it :)
Cool, my older sister is called Anna Louise, but we just call her Anna
I was a super tall redhead named Cynthia in the era of Jennifers. I feel ya.
Haha, my middle name is Ann, after my mom's. Hers is spelled "Anne", but by the decade I was born the E was a little overly fancy and out of style, so it was taken out of mine.
...And as for my first name, it was the only my parents could think of that wasn't an old ex of my dad's or a girl my mom hated, lol.
Oh, and also, my dad is the middle child but has the family name too! Technically his older brother was also John, but his middle name was different from the previous generations. He went by that to avoid same-name confusion.
I think it goes well with the way Anne and Gilbert's children are named in the continuations of Anne of Green Gables (which I think to fall around that time). James Matthew, Walter Cuthbert, twin girls Diana and Anne, Shirley, and Bertha Marilla. They literally Mathew, Marilla and Cuthbert after Anne's adoptive family, Walter, Berta and Shirley after Anne's parents (and Anne's maiden name) and Diana/Anne after Diana Barry and Anne herself to signify their sisterly bond. And James after little Jem's godfather.
Aw, I love that she named some of her kids after Mathew and Marilla! I've never gotten that far into the series. But the names are so cute!
That’s funny, I never realized exactly none were named for any of Gilbert’s family. I will put it down to authorial interest falling all on Anne’s side. 😆
I think Anne of Green Gables takes place in the late Victorian Era. And I always loved how she named her kids after her friends and family, and I remember wishing my own last name was Blythe because it sounded so happy.
@@zetizahara which makes total sense, since Gilbert is barely present in the book series and we don’t even know his parents names.
@@oOEsperiaOo same with Harry Potter’s kids. All named after his family, hero’s and friends. None after Ginny’s side. Author’s interest was clearly in the hero’s side of the family.
My family had George Alfred down my grandfather’s line, but his father was named Alfred George because he was born out of wedlock.
That kind of shocks me because my Nana was born out of wedlock in the 1930s and she was named a family name flipped around as well, so I wonder if that was a naming practice I'm not even aware of? *I'm a name nerd myself*
that's hilarious! like, yeah you're part of the family, but not in the right way so your name isn't in the right way either haha
Another reason why the tradition of turning the surname into a boys given name existed was so the 'family name' can live on for another generation. In many cases a man who had only daughters (who would marry and take on their husband's name) may ask one of his daughters to use his family name as a grandson's given name as this was a way to let the family name (which had in a sense died out because he had no sons to inherit it) live on as sons were often given the same first name as their father.
So to take the example of the Bennet family from P&P, Jane and Charles Bingley would probably name their first son Charles but might choose (or be asked by her father, though Mr Bennet is so lazy I doubt it would occur to him) to name a second son Bennet instead of whatever Mr Bennet's first name is (its never mentioned in the book) so that the Bennet family name will be passed on.
Bennet Bingley? A hoot! ;-)
@@belakovacs708 Bennet Darcy is nice, though.
I've always had this headcanon that Darcy and Elizabeth had at least one son named Bennet Darcy.
Doing this is often done in Scotland to this day. Women in Scotland often kept their family surname even after they married. This went on into the twentieth century.
Mr Darcy's first name is Fitzwilliam because his mom was a Fitzwilliam
I found a name during a family history project that was given to about 10 different girls. Reliance. I am not a particularly religious person so most value names (joy, fairth, hope, grace) I don't care for, but I just really like Reliance.
Wow, Reliance is super cool! I've never heard of that one.
i love the name Hyacinth but for a boy - maybe untraditional to us now, but Hyacinth was originally a greek mythical hero and (male) lover of apollo. when i eventually adopt a child i am absolutely bringing hyacinth to him, at least as a middle name!!
I never knew about it's mythical origins! That's so interesting.
Fun fact: in Portuguese Jacinto (Hyacinth) is really used as a boy's name. Not so popular now, but you'd see several elder men with this name in the countryside.
@mmgold, Think carefully before you do so!
To me, Hyacinth is absolutely a female's name, and most associated with the snobbish but hilarious main character in the English comedy series from the 90s, "Keeping Up Appearances". Brilliant series, but ruined the name "Hyacinth" for me forever!
I like Jacqueline Viana's suggestion Jacinto though, as a great compromise.
@@Amy-ky5wr i love that show! i feel like she's the only female hyacinth in my brain so it doesnt bother me much. plus by the time i end up with children to name, i bet most folks won't remember the show!
You could have mentioned how the Bennetts got to Lydia in the end. The name reflects a few themes in the novel the readers in the 1810s would have instantly understood: 1/ the naming represents Mrs Bennett preferring exotic/ fashionable and possibly frivolous stuff in the late 1790s when Lydia was born, reflecting that Mrs B is also probably frivolous and wouldn't follow conventions; 2. The name is Classical Greek and massive jump from the four other sisters who are all named biblical names - this tells us clearly that this was clearly Mrs B's choice and she probably rankled under naming protocols through four daughters and really lashed out with Lydia; 3/ Lydia will clearly be her mother's favourite which she is.
Lydia is a biblical name, though, so not as "frivolous" as, say, Sophia or Annabella. But it probably represents a detour from the more classical names of Jane, Elizabeth, Mary and Katherine (Kitty).
I don´t think Mrs. Bennet knew what names were biblical and what were Greek.
My mother told me to remember that my kids’ names would eventually be on grave markers so you want the name to look good in print. It’s not as macabre as it seems. Do you really think “Ashliegh Brittany” is an ADULT name? No “soap opera” names!
Haha my parents did something similar with my name - they really liked another name that also started with EL but then they realised that it rhymed with their last name and went "well we don't have to make it Easy for bullies to pick on her, Elisabeth is pretty too" lol
My favourite gravestone seen recently was for Gerty Leak, the beloved wife of Willy Leak
I found a Lily Flower in a cemetery ♥️
@@elizabethwoolnough4358 haha, I would frame a picture of that! 😂
That's not a bad rule of thumb. I haven't got children, but if I did, I think I'd do what I call the "Archbishop of Canterbury" test. (Imagine that, say, little Prince George is being crowned as King one day and the TV commentator is saying, in a solemn voice, "And now, The Right Reverend Ashliegh Brittany Smith-Jones takes the Crown and places it on the head of . . .".) It works the same if you try it with Prime Minister, or any other important-sounding job; if it sounds wrong in that situation, rethink the name - because you never know what babies will grow up to become.
There were also a lot of latinate/greek based names like Euphemia, Sybilla, Lucilla.
that was my thought also, even the created names Clarissa and Pamela have roots in classic languages. I think I would have a compound name, a common first paired with a more stylish second name, Jane Augusta. 🌞
I already have a Regency name - Elizabeth - but my favourite name is Eleanor.
My middle name is Eleanor, but I hated it because it was an 'old woman name'. As was my first name, Pauline. I once complained about that - my mother snippily commented that I could have been named after her mother, "Selma" rather than my father's late mother ! They panicked in the naming thing, because my father would not consider having anything other than a blond BOY ! When he saw me, he insisted that the nurse had brought him the wrong child, a black haired girl! (Although both of my Scandinavian grandfathers had black hair.) I am 70, and THAT is still hilarious ! ! Edit: I've long ago gotten over the, not liking my name thing. Sometime, during high school, one of my best friends -who also disliked her name - observed, that whenever she heard a name, her mind simply saw the PERSON it represented. Great observation ! ! RIP - Iris, - (means rainbow) - talented, smart, funny, courageous, - colorful writer, artist, musician, loyal friend.
My name is Helena but l always loved the name Eleanor (both have the same meaning). So much so that l wanted to call my daughter by that name. Unfortunately my husband (Mark) disliked the name because he said it was an old lady name. We compromised and called her Amelia. I still think Eleanor is the most beautiful name out there.
My name is Elenore! 🥰 but it’s spelt differently than usual
I may be a little biased 😉 but I’m a big fan of Elinor Dashwood’s spelling of the name 😂😂
@@helens403 Never tell him that Amelia is also, an "old" name ! I like Amelia !
Allison isn't originally a boy's name. It was a French diminutive of Alice that became an English given name. The -son ending was an adaption because French added -on to create diminutives and switching the c to an s was logical.
Thank you! One of my biggest pet peeves is when people repeat the “Allison was a boys name” myth. Allison was a feminine name long before the regency era.
@@AlliJuarez It's ridiculous when it's like "You just chose like the one -son name that doesn't mean son of XX."
Fun facts though, Allison is a boy's name in Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking countries. Likely from the surname, which has a separate etymology.
Also, people love adding false etymology to names.
Thanks for letting me know. I did specifically look into Alison, but clearly not close enough.😂 I think it probably does have different cultural histories that make it very confusing.
Marion was originally a diminutive of Mary too.
My great grandmother and my husband’s great aunt were both call Niclas.
Hyacinth, a floral name, was reserved for boys during the Regency period. It was beyond rare to hear, if at all, a girl with this name. By the turn of the Victorian Era, a shift in baby name practices occured ( as well as in many other cultural norms of the time) against "everything & anything" Regency. It was now acceptable to use floral names and we're greatly adopted by Victorian Parents of all social classes - this was part in due to the boom of Victorian Floriography. At the Edwardian period floral names had become everyday common names. Such names in use were Primrose Primalia Primula - Edwardians loved ryhme & alliteration even at the point of using variation names twice. I'm loving your channel and binge watching your videos now. 😁
Aw, thank you! And that's super interesting about Hyacinth! Also, Primrose Primalia Primula is such an incredible name. 😂
@@EllieDashwood I thought so too! 😀
Growing up I was always dissatisfied that my name was Anne, until I started reading Jane Austen.
Me whose making a fantasy story:
Yes historical accuracy is is VERY IMPORTANT when naming a character.. 😌👌
So true
I think my name is quite Regency-friendly as it is! I am an only daughter and the eldest child, so the fact that my name is a variation on Anne, a good traditional Biblical mainstay, seems quite appropriate. When I taught English in Russia, where the common tradition of referring to teachers by first name + patronymic didn't easily apply to me, I used to get called "Miss Anna", and it always gave me a slight Regency girl feel...!
You were totally living the Regency life!!!
@@EllieDashwood I sure was!!
My daughters are Catherine and Emily. And Catherine (currently 18 yrs... sticks with the full Catherine and does not shorten it). Emily is after Emily Bronte & Dickinson.
Is Catherine after Catherine Morland? Anyway it is a lovely name.
"Amelia" is not quite French nor Italian, it's probably a latinised version of a Germanic name, Amalie or Amalia. But it became super popular in Germany around 1800 - because of literature.
My name is Juliette, which I suppose is a French literature-y name, not sure on how popular it was at the time but this video is really interesting!
Oh , same name ! In my case my dad is indian and named me Juliette because he wanted a good name not common in our country and saw 'Juliette' in a book and liked it .
So have I got a funny story for you, Miss Dashwood. As I commented on a previous video, I'm a fan fic writer and my recent project(s) involve Austen/Regency. In particular I was trying to figure out a good name for a female in a fic from Emma and I was floundering. So imagine my surprise to find THIS video popped up on my recommended list. Once again you have provided me with helpful content. I just wanna hug you!
Sometimes names are used again for children due to the infant death rate of the period. Therefore a later son might be given a first name of a deceased sibling.
Something noticeable in Austin's books is the use of W last names for the main villains -- John Willoughby (Sense and Sensibility), George Wickham (Pride and Prejudice), Frank Churchill, formally Frank Weston (Emma). The exception seems to be Frederick Wentworth (Persuasion).
I’ve always wondered about the W thing. I was reading recently that one of Austen’s good friends had her heart broken by a “Mr. W.” I wonder if there is any connection... 🤔
Re ~ 3:00 : My husband's family has "Thankyethe Lord" (first and middle names; I don't remember the last name) in their family tree, and I think also someone whose last name was Shepherd and first name was TheLordismy.
If Thankyethe was your first name today you'd probably have issues applying to jobs because of institutional racism...
I’m Elouise Charlotte and my sister is Beatrice Elizabeth but I would love to be named Georgiana think it’s stunning and very fitting with the flowery trend seen here!
Your name is so pretty! And I think Georgiana is a great choice too. 👍
I’ve always felt my name should be Beatrice.
Georgiana is a beautiful name but so is Charlotte. It always makes me think of Charlotte Lucas who is a very nice person.
This explains why there are at least four Charles' in Austen's Persuasion!
😂 It can get so confusing back then with all the name duplicates!
There's such a lovely atmosphere in these comments sections. I think Miss Dashwood and her subject matter inspire civilility otherwise almost unknown on TH-cam.
My name is Elinor and I was so excited the first time I read sense and sensibility, it’s a very uncommon spelling and that was the first time I’d seen it be used by someone else!! It definitely helped cement my love of Jane Austen and Sense and Sensibility as my favourite 😍
That is so cool that you have the same name as Elinor! It really is an unusual spelling. But an excellent one! 😃
It is a lovely name and Elinor Dashwood is a lovely character.
As a child I wished my name was Diana😊 . Which reminds me now of the bit in Northanger Abbey, where it’s mentioned in a humourous way that Catherine’s sister wanted to be called by another name, like so many other girls. And there’s Diana Rivers in Jane Eyre. There must have been people called after Greek and Roman deities? Well, maybe not so many Minervas and Artemis but Diana might have been a common one, especially with people who either had education or wanted to show off their education?
That’s a good question! I actually had someone else talking about Diana too. Greek and Roman names were used and some became popular too because of the “Saint” category. Saint Diana is from the 1200s.
As a Caroline Elinor, with my favourite names for Daughters being Elizabeth, Alexandra and Victoria - I always saw some of these names as being powerful, making me think of the Queen Elizabeths, Queen Victoria, Elizabeth Bennet - and then Alexander is a huge name in my family, predominantly on the male side. I like big, bold names - and even if these are popular names, they just come across this way to me
Thats really interesting. In Germany the names cuntinued flowery and unique. Some of my ancestors names were Rosalind, Ludowika, Anni, Oktavia, and the best: Franziska-Katharina and Luisa-Fredericke. Our Family has kept up the Tradition, with my Grandmothers name Eva-Maria and my Aunts Claudia and Almut Elise.
But the craziest names are the ones of my Portuguese ancestors: Irmelinda, Belida, Quitas, Esmeralda (Portuguese for Emerald) and Antonia Teresa.
I have the feeling, that my ancestors were not sooo adventurous. Maybe depends on the social stand? My grandma's where both named Anna Maria, my grandpa's Wilhelm and Georg. But I don't know about my other ancestors. Only thing I know, that you notice that we come from a catholic family. Georg is a really biblical name, same Anna Maria.
@@MrsNanaBlue There is no George in the Bible, though? Are you thinking of a saint?
It becomes even more interesting once you mix both languages. My great grandpa emigrated from Austria to Brazil in the 20s. His passport and older documents say that he was called Rochus. Once he assimilated here he decided to go by as Augusto Rochus, later changed to Augusto Roque, which sounds so odd...
@@MrsNanaBlue On the German side of my family we mostly come from welthy, East Prussian gentry and country nobility.
My Portuguese ancestors were mostly merchants and military. Both sides of my family were Catholic, wich is why most had middle names like Maria, Markus, Georg, Eva, Fátima, Lukas, Johannes and Martha.
A big trend in grandmothers family was giving girls Roman or Roman sounding names, for example my aunt Claudia my great aunts Laurentia and Aurelia, my great grandmothers middle name Cordelia and my middle name Amalia.
@@sweetsandcharades8383 yes. Georg the killer of the dragon. I believe he was a saint.
So we can assume that there is at least a chance that the Bennett daughters grandmothers were named Jane and Elizabeth?
My name is Elizabeth and I go by Lizzie, a pretty Regency name, and I like it so, I'll stick with it (:
Going by some of the naming patterns I've found in my family, I'd say that was a good possibility. I've seen similar things in my family, although the "pattern" varies sometimes. For instance, my 3xgreat-grandparents had 11 children - the first son named after the maternal grandfather, first daughter after paternal grandmother, second son after paternal grandfather, second daughter (randomly) after her mother's sister (although the aunt in question had died nine months before that particular baby was born), and the third daughter after the maternal grandmother. The fourth daughter was Elizabeth (so could have been after an aunt on either side, or her father's grandmother). Only when the third son is born did they get round to naming him after his dad! (And because the third and fourth daughters died young, when the next two girls came along, they were named after their deceased siblings.) It's reached the point now where, if I'm trying to trace an ancestor's parents, I've started to look for couples with the same names as that ancestor's eldest children!
Eleanor! I'd want my name to be Eleanor in Regency times. Love that name.
That being said, I'm quite happy with my name (Marilena) in modern times. 😄
You're so talented at researching and explaining things so clearly, while still making it interesting and entertaining! :)
My regency name would definitely be Alice. Both my grandmothers are named Alice, and I am the eldest daughter. Second daughter would have my mom's name, so the third daughter could introduce a new name to the family!
I’m so glad I found your channel! Your history subjects, videos and overall content is RIGHT up my alley - to a T. Wild 🤓
Thank for this video! It’s interesting how the Italian/French female versions of common English names became more popular in the UK during this era but the male versions did not.
Some of this applies to place names too. I live near Charlotte, NC which was chartered in 1768. Not only was the city named after Queen Charlotte but the county was called Mecklenburg after the area she was from. Somebody was really trying to impress royals. I've wondered how that went a few years later after the Revolution. "Yeah, that's me. The guy from the town named after the queen of the country we rebelled against. Don't look at me that way!" Maybe naming stuff after royals isn't such a good idea.
But the name stuck, didn´t it?
Actually Allison is interesting, it's french and the suffix means "little", like it was a diminutive name. Pretty sure it's been given to girls since it's inception! Either way great video, very interesting stuff!
That's interesting! I researched it while making this video and sources were super mixed on the topic. I wonder if part of it could be the usage of the name in different places and cultures.
This repetitive naming is very tricky when tracing family tree and trying not to muddle generations up! The maiden name thing is interesting to keep connection with the women’s family. My great great grandmother’s maiden name has been passed down to the sons middle names, all the way down to my brother.
I’ll like AND comment. Your content is so quality and pleasant and positive. Thank you!
I'm the third Lidia in my family. I guess my parents are pretty traditional 😅
the family name thing is so confusing but I love it. about a thousand people on the Dutch side of my family tree are named Henrik or Hendrik and I'm tempted to bring it back
It just occured to me that according to the traditionalist route, Mrs Bennet may have been born Jane Gardner
Loved the video. We used tradition to name all our kids. First name was traditional and the middle name was a family member, specifically my husbands grandmother and great aunt, who raised him.
If I was living in the Regency era I would hope my name would either be Elizabeth or Charlotte, these are my two favorite Regency names.
I love simpler, classic first names (Elsie, Jane, Emily, Anna, Katie, etc.) but I also love fancy-shmancy middle names (Octavia, Aurelia, Esmeralda, etc.)I'd love to give my kids names that are tasteful and functional, and easy enough to spell, but also ornamental so they feel special.
This is so helpful!, cause I live in the regency era and I’m pregnant. My husband is Christian (but I’m not). He told me to call our child whatever I want because we think it’s going to be a girl so Thankyou this helps!
Update: I’m going to call her Cordelia! My husband is a bit mad at me cause apparently it had nothing to do with the bible but I reminded him that he said that i’m allowed to call her whatever I want! Not too long to go until I have her too! Can’t wait!
I was struggling with this. THANK YOU!
Love your videos!
This was super helpful!
I'm a novelist and found this video interesting and useful. Thanks, Ellie.
I'm an Elizabeth Katherine myself. (It's a long one, but I love how ridiculously flowery it is) Needless to say, my name fits right in with the Regency period; my middle name was passed down and my mom is a huge Jane Austen fan, as Elizabeth Bennet was one of my namesakes:)
And Throckmorton sounds Elizabethan!
About honoring grandparents names, I have an uncle and an aunt, siblings, both called Francisco and Francisca. First my aunt was born and when my uncle came, right after her, they decided to reuse the same name again, for much better honoring since that time it was a boy.
Wow! That’s super interesting.
If I consider where my family lived back in those times, I’m looking at Gudrun or Thordis. 🤷♀️
No, you would definitely not have Gudrun as your name (I'm guessing that you have Swedish ancestors?) Maybe Thordis but I doubt it, it would have been ridiculed. I think. No, the swedish names were similar to those in England like Anna, Katarina, Maria, Margareta, Kristina, Charlotta. There were also variants like Maja for Maria and Märta for Margareta but they were not the "given namn"
@@marianaeriksdotterbergkvis4798 I’ve come across the names I suggested in my family history but for all I know these women were teased for their names. Sadly there is also a Sigurbjorg. I’m willing to consider the possibility that my ancestors were total nerds lol.
@@annikabjornson998 Are your ancestors swedish? Interesting that those were your ancestors name. I think ther might have joined somerthing that was called "Götiska förbundet" that among other things placed the garden of Eden in Scandihavia.
@@annikabjornson998 I can imagine them coming up in the mid to late 19th and early 20th centuries during the era of Scandinavism and Norse revival (in Denmark and Norway you see old names like Thyra and Harald making a comeback because people became obsessed with everything belonging to the old Nordic). But prior to that in the late 18th and early 19th century, it’s very unlikely that you would see Norse names. The upper and middle classes were still being fashionable with French and German names and the poor stuck to the Scandinavian versions of classic Christian names; Maren, Sille, Karen, Margrethe, Kirsten. As a matter of interest when did these names occur on your family tree?
@@BexMatthies Thordis was in 1836, Gudrun was born in 1795. Both in Iceland. There is a Katrin in the early 1800s.
I love YOUR name. It seems so Austenesque already!
Didn’t realize I gave my daughter a regency baby name! She’s Margaret Grace, we call her Maggie Grace.
Just found your lovely channel and had to subscribe this was fun! Oh my from that time period it would be hard. My grandmother was an Eleanor but I kinda like Kitty and Elizabeth probably why my daughter is Caitlyn Elizabeth.
Thank you so much for this cool video! I write fan-fic and love having details on names and places!
Will you be doing any of the other Austin book/movie reviews and breakdowns? My personal favorite is Persuasion...book and movie w/ Amanda Root...I just wish someone would the actual ending of the book!
Keep up the good work!
Aw, thank you! That's a great idea. I actually was just thinking about doing more movie reviews last night and the first one I thought of was Persuasion. I'll have to add it to my list.
Are you writing, like, historical or regency AUs? Or original period fan-fics of historical narratives? Because that would be super cool and I'd love to read some!
I’d like to be named Eleanor or Lydia (not because I like the Pride and Prejudice character, but I just love the way it sounds).
And Eleanor is a lovely name. It reminds me of Eleanor Tilney who is such an adorable character.
Please make a video on naming an estate (like Longbourn, Pemberley, Netherfield and so on) if you haven't already! :)
My family is the same name over and over. I went on Ancestry and it's George and Herman and George and Herman and George and Herman and George and Herman.
😂 At least it shows you’re still in the same family tree!
My family definitely followed these schools of thought for first and middle names. We've got romantic variations on Catherine and Alexander, Victoria, a Rachel and Sarah (Bible names), a Cassandra, Olivia 😂
Love that!!!
It wasn't uncommon for the youngest male child of a generation in aristocratic/ gentry families to be named Benjamin in England at this time, this was due to the fact that the biblical Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob.
Also, I'm pretty sure it around the regency/ late Georgian period when aristocratic/ gentry families started giving the second son the father's first name as middle/ first middle name
That’s super interesting!
I've read a few analyses that predict Mrs Bennet is called Jane and Mrs Gardner is called Mary (we know she's an M). Perhaps Mrs Philips or one of Mr Bennett's relatives was called Elizabeth??
In the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Gardiner at one point calls his sister, Mrs. Bennet, Fanny. I'm not aware that Jane Austen referred to her as Fanny but maybe I should re-read the book! Fanny seems like a more Victorian or early 20th century than Regency name to me.
@@jodiknight2820 No, because there's Fanny Dashwood in Sense & Sensibility
I like to think Mrs Gardiner's name is Madeline
@@elizabethwoolnough4358 I forgot about Fanny Dashwood!
@@jodiknight2820 And Fanny Price from Mansfield Park.
That Aliviyah at the end had me howling😂😂 took me a hot second to get it
Amelia suits you exceptionally well, I declare!!! :)
My mother was called Elizabeth Charlotte and I quite like Elizabeth. This also reminds me of "Sisi", the Austrian empress. lol. Her life was quite fascinating too, but I would prefer the Regency era. lol.
Well, with a pen and paper, we can be everything and everyone we like. :)
😂 So true. Writing brings in so many possibilities!
Third generation “Alicia” here … 💖
Kept the regency romantic tradition
Nice! 👍👍👍
Would parents also go for old greek or roman names because of the renewed interest in antique aesthetics? Or was that too fancy?
My English husband has three older brothers. Three of my parents-in-law's four sons share names with former kings of England and the fourth is named after an apostle. They're just very traditional, rather than particularly religious :D
Hey, I spotted my name! My parents chose my name for traditional reasons, but I guess it would have been very fashionable if I was 200 years older (and English).
Olwyn has been a middle name in my family for four or 5 generations although I am one of the first to not have it as a middle name which I'm disappointed about. I did get Elizabeth as a middle name instead, after my grandmother. I plan on including Olwyn in my daughter's name though 😂
Wow, that's such a unique and original name. It's so cool that its been in your family so long!
It’s a Welsh girl’s name.
You should be proud of your name Elizabeth.
Could you do a personal Q&A video? I just found this channel 5 minutes ago, fell in love with it immediately, and I’d love to know about you. Is your name really Ellie Dashwood? Like, did you parents name you that? Just wondering. 😊
Aw, welcome to the channel! You're the first person to ever request a personal Q&A video! And the second person ever to ask me about my name. 😂 Ellie is actually short for my middle name Electra. Electra sounds more like a I should be a superhero or in a sci-fi movie rather than talking about classic literature so I decided to shorten it. Though electradashwood.com still leads to my website. Dashwood is because everyone tells me that I remind them of Elinor Dashwood (though I'm not sure why). Also, because ever since I was 10 years old and I discovered authors had pen names and actors had stage names I wanted one. 😂 As for the Q&A video, I will add it to my list of video ideas!
@@EllieDashwood nice! I hope to be published one day. I would have preferred to use my original name, but I’ll probably end up using a pen name because there is an MTV reality tv star with my name who published books and I don’t want there to be any confusion. Lol
Family name traditions are crazy! my family likes to joke that every generation, we had a Rachel marrying a John and giving their first born her maiden name as a middle name
Hey! An Allison here to tell you that Allison has been a feminine name as far back as the 1300’s. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales has two women named Allison in it.
Thank you, I immediately was like, Allison isn't like other "son" names! It's the exception, lol.
Thank you so much! This is so interesting, because I did specifically check on Alison because it gave me pause. I think there is very mixed information out there about that name it appears. But that is so cool about Chaucer's tales. Thanks for letting me know!
Yea for always being in fashion with my name! Elizabeth it’s a great name :)
That's awesome! It's so cool you have the same name as Elizabeth Bennet!
I'll second that!
I would want to be Victoria for sure! And Isabella is a close second.
my grandmother's name was Alice Coleen and my mom's name is Alice Marie. my grandmother's birth certificate i think just listed Coleen, but she added Alice later on in memory of her father's sister (at least, that's the story i was told).
according to my mom, i was named for one of my dad's great aunts or something. mom wanted to name me Elizabeth Jane. i could've rocked as an Eliza!
Your mom had such great taste! What could be better than Elizabeth Jane? BTW, isn´t Coleen Irish?
Me writing a sorta horror/creepy/death thing set in northern england at somewhere in 18th. My historian friend shoved me here cause she got annoyed at my namings😂and I was fiercly defensive over the boys names I picked cause I liked them so much and then got to breath in relief cause they both fit the saint naming part!
reminds me of all the names in the village my grandparents were living in, there were like 6 families tops. but names of their children... we had Stanislav from Jan, Stanislav Sigmound, Stanislav brother of Sigmound, Stanislav Stasik, Stanislav Cherry-man, Stanislav Silesian. i was very small when they were almost all deceased and never could remember about which Stanislav my grandma is talking!
My dad's family is Dutch, and pretty much all the men throughout the family pre-20th century were named after eachother in different ways (and they were all saint names). So a loooot of Johns as first and middle names. My dad is the only "The 3rd" I've actually known in this day and age.
My father's family was in Canada by the Regency period, but they brought over some intense names - Theophilus, Azubah, Clytemnestra and Augustus to name a few. My something-great grandfather James Murray had three daughters during the time period whose names were Aurelia, Isabella and Eliza. He apparently had a rather fiery temper, was adventurous and was a prolific diarist, so the more romantic names make sense to me. If I ever had a daughter, I'd love to name her Aurelia (Rei for short).
I've always felt like I would fit a name starting with an E like Elizabeth or Eleanor, but I still wish I could use my own name then (Valeria de los Ángeles), although it would probably be too latin/spanish for the regency era
The English translation of your name would be Valerie but i don't know how long ago it was used. In the 19th century a lot of people who moved from other countries to England kept their home spelling and pronunciation (and lots of English women used a French name to sell fashion or beauty related things as a dressmaker calling herself Madame Marie seemed like she would know the latest French fashions better than if she had stayed Mary Smith) but others chose to translate it into the nearest English equivalent.
Does your name translate to English as 'Valerie of the angels' ? That would be precious.
@@paulinelarson465 Yes, it does haha Thank you for de compliment ☺️. It’s because I am Costa Rican and our patron saint is a Virgin Mary depiction called Our Lady of the Angels, so I am named after her :)
Valeria de Los Ángeles is a great name for the protagonist of a period telenovela. You'd rock it 😎😍
@@JacquelineViana Omg haha, thank you for the compliment ☺️✨
Reading through these comments are fascinating, seeing all the little tidbits about family history and names :p
My name is from the bible, Magdalen, and I was named after a grand parent, can't say it was particularly popular in Regency Era though. But I do love it and wouldn't want to change it :D
Honestly, I’m surprised I never heard any royals named Nicole. Nicholas I hear constantly for royal boy names. The names mean “victory to the people, or victorious people” so it seems fitting to name a royal baby those names.
I looked up family names using the Name Age Calculator, and found that my grandmother, mother, and maternal aunts typically used popular names, while my father's family repeated family names. My father was able to persuade my mother to give family names to the first and second boy and first girl they had, but after that, my mother took over and gave the rest of us popular names.