Regency names

Upstart Joined: 22 Jan 2008 Posts: 24

I am currently trying to write a historical novel set in the Regency period. I have found some names for the times but not very many. If anyone else has any idea as to where to find some I would be happy to know where.

I submitted one chapter to a critique group and was told that my hero's name was not a regency name. So now I'm wondering how in the world do you tell what name is a regency name and what wasn't.

Any help would be great.

Thank you,
Michelle
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I told him I was falling.....and he whispered....I have wings

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:41 pm Post subject:

Names are funny things. Some of them may sound very modern to people, like the name Tiffany, and yet they have been around for centuries. So your critique group may be wrong, but then again, if the name SOUNDS too modern, even if it isn't, you might want to steer clear of it.

There is a book called Names Through the Ages that I use sometimes. It is chronologically arranged to show what names were in common use, from the early Middle Ages to the present. You might look for that one
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Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:17 pm Post subject:

You can also do a census search for the time period or google birth records.

And then there is the ole' handy baby name websites that tell you when the name was most popular.

Because I'm curious, what is/was the name?

Upstart Joined: 22 Jan 2008 Posts: 24

Thank you Candice I will definitely look for that book. You have been such a big help, you really don't know how much I appreciate it.

Havenrich, thank you for your suggestion also. I have searched the internet for baby's names and have yet to find a site that tells me when the name was popular before the 1900's and even those are in the 1950's. I don't know if I'm missing it or what.

The name of my hero is Drake and I am absolutely in love with that name but was told it was not a regency name. The lady that critiqued it for me is a published author and she writes regencies. I know that you have to be historically accurate as much as possible but was wondering also if as a writer you can sometimes get away with things like names not being historically correct, or is that really only allowed with established authors? Are new writers restricted to a certain guideline? I have been told over and over again NOT to use words that end in LY...yet I have read many regencies that have plenty of LY words and it FEELS right for the time period.

I'm sorry to bable...I guess I have just gotten discouraged and there seem to be so many rules and I just don't know what is right or wrong.

Again thank you ladies very much for your time and help.

Michelle
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I told him I was falling.....and he whispered....I have wings

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:37 pm Post subject:

Michelle, you have described exactly why I think historical romances -- especially Regency historicals, because there are so many of them -- often sound alike, and why so many critics decry the homogenization of the genre. Unique author voices are often being stripped bare of anything unique by well-meaning people who attempt to impose all sorts of "rules" on writers.

There ARE no rules. Period. There are conventions which you should keep in mind, primarily regarding a believable romance that leads to a hopeful ending. With historicals, I think since we choose to set our books in a specific time period we should use that period to add an additional level of escapism for the reader, ie to give readers a well-defined world in which to escape. To my way of thinking, that means we should use our setting wisely and well, otherwise why write about the period at all? We certainly don't need to know, or deliver, everything about the period. But we should make an effort not to include egregious and obvious errors of historical accuracy. (Like the infamous traditional Regency that included a camera, or one I remember where the heroine had visited the Eiffel Tower. Rolling Eyes

)

Other than that, go for it. You want a hero named Drake, then make that a family surname that was given to your hero as his first name. BTW, Drake is a very, very old English word, Middle English in fact, that derives from Dragon. So I say use it, and let everyone else be damned.

I get SO tired of people saying this or that couldn't possibly have happened in the Regency. Were they there? How do they know? And besides, we're writing FICTION. If you are dying to use a situation that EVERYONE tells you is wrong, like having an illegitimate son inherit, then figure out a way to make it work for your story. Everything is possible in ficiton. Don't allow your well-meaning critique group to water down your story, or your prose, until it sounds just like everyone else. Follow your own muse and your own voice.

Climbing off my soap box now ...
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Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1100

I made a quick and dirty list from "Who's Who in Late Hanoverian
Britain" and my 1779 edition of the Peerage, and the same names show
up over and over and over:

William
John
George
Henry
Thomas
Charles

Then we have a few names, which while no where near as popular as
those above, still show up quite a bit:

Frances/Francis
Edward
Samuel
Richard
James
Robert
Frederick
Philip

Then there are a smattering of names that still seem "normal", but
show up only once or twice:

David
Adam
Jeremy
Joseph
Edmund
Gilbert
Daniel
Arthur
Harry
Hugh
Hugo
Douglas
Basil

And then there are the fun ones, many of which seem like surnames
used as first names to me (these are the kinds of names lots of us
seem to choose, LOL):

Cuthbert
Horatio
Theobald
Granville
Richmal
Sydney
Spencer
Rowland
Peregrine
Heneage
Washington
Vere
Willoughby
Anne-Holles (!) yes, first name for a man
Sackville
Brownlow
Spencer

I've seen quite a few men given their mother's maiden name as their Christian name, resulting in some very strange names if, for some reason such as an inheritance, said man were to take on his maternal family's surname as well. I came across a Pryse Pryse that I just can't stop giggling over (and Heyer has her Carlington Carlington, which I’ve always loved).

When I look up the origin of the name Drake, it turns out to be quite an ancient English surname, so it's perfectly reasonable--and historically correct--for it to be used as a first name during the Regency.

Feel better?
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-Kalen
w/a Isobel Carr
Ripe for Pleasure, May 2011
Book 1: The League of Second Sons
www.isobelcarr.com

Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1100

All of which Candice already said. *sigh* That's what I get for not reading her whole reply. And just to make you feel even better, using a "normal" name can get you kicked too. I used "Georgiana" in my first book, one of THE MOST COMMON names because I wanted to avoid the whole "Lady Candy" thing (names that just sound wrong) and what did I get for my trouble? Kicked in a review for using the same name as another author who was published the month before me.

There's no way to win.
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-Kalen
w/a Isobel Carr
Ripe for Pleasure, May 2011
Book 1: The League of Second Sons
www.isobelcarr.com

Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1100

Upstart Joined: 22 Jan 2008 Posts: 24

Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1100

Write it the way it flows naturally then go back and see if you can strengthen the "showing" by changing the "ly" bits to deeper, more active prose. Lots of people do this. Some authors write what looks like a play first, all dialogue, and then go back and fill in the narrative. It's all about what works FOR YOU. I do this myself with dialogue tags. I go through and add physical tags in place of the "s/he said" tags wherever I can.

Or just remember what Capt Barbossa says: “The code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.”
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-Kalen
w/a Isobel Carr
Ripe for Pleasure, May 2011
Book 1: The League of Second Sons
www.isobelcarr.com

Upstart Joined: 22 Jan 2008 Posts: 24

Viscountess of the Manor Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 1100

Upstart Joined: 22 Jan 2008 Posts: 24

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 7:58 am Post subject:

I second everything you guys said. Wink

I'm a plain and humble reader, and quite aware it's fiction I'm reading. Anyone who writes a book has a right to make stuff happen anyway they want, I'm just there to go along for the ride. Smile

Besides, if you really think about it, all of us have said at least once in our lives, if not more, that reality is stranger than fiction -- and it's probably a good chance that plenty of stuff that was written in fiction (paranormals, time travels etc not counted) probably happened once or twice in history anyway, so who's to say it's not plausible. LOL Smile

Lois
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:21 pm Post subject:

A book you might find helpful is Jane Austen and Names by Maggie Lane. It's a interesting little book that includes chapters on "Names in Jane Austen's Time" and "Naming Patterns and Practices." It concludes with a glossary of names used in Jane Austen's novels. The author cites several books that she found useful: The History of Christian Names by Charlotte May Yonge, The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names by E. G. Withycombe and First Names First by Leslie Alan Dunkling (which has a focus on how people perceive names in their own era and not what they might have meant originally).
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