Having now watched the original BBC 1990 series of House of Cards, I've also recently started watching the modern America reboot version. The original is set in post-Thatcher Britain c.1989, while the new version is transported across the Atlantic into the modern world. But it's the change in names that I have found interesting, even while the characters themselves are, for the most part, very similar in story-arc/personality.
Francis Urquhart has become Francis Underwood; his wife Elizabeth is now Claire, intrepid reporter Mattie Storin has been transformed into Zoe Barnes; right-hand man Tim Stamper is now Doug Stamper, cheeky-Irish chappy Roger O'Neill has become Pennsylvanian Peter Russo and his put-upon girlfriend Penny is now Christina.
For the most part, these name changes work. A 30-something Roger from Pennsylvania living in Washington in 2013 just doesn't work, though I'm perplexed why Elizabeth needed to change. I was a little sad at the change from Mattie to Zoe, as part of the original character's arc was that she was a woman with a man's name (someone even says "I thought Mattie was a man") in a male-dominated world, and this works for her and is commented on. They still allude to Zoe's similar gender struggle, but with no tie to the name. An update like Casey or Andi would have worked better for me.
Foster
It was a relief to finally finish my research into the top 200 names in England and Wales in 1850, even though it was a wonderful delve into historical records. I had to cut off somewhere -- 200 might even seem a bit profligate -- but even then, there were so many interesting names that got cut off just below the #200 line: Elvira, Asenath, Euphemia, Virtue, Newton, Silvanus, Orlando, Price... and Foster at #222.
Combining the sounds of top 20 favourites Freddie, Oscar and Oliver, and adding the fusty charm of Chester, Foster is a surname that has great potential as a given name. The surname itself is fascinating and has multiple origins: a shortening of Forester -- a keeper of a forest; a woodworker; or a scissor maker. It currently ranks at #2707 in E&W.
Hedley
As I started with the top 200 in 1900 and worked backwards, it was also interesting to see which names that ranked in the later decades, weren't "on the map" in 1850. One absence that is particularly noticeable is Hedley, which ranked #150 in 1860, #175 in 1870, #188 in 1880, #172 in 1890 and #157 in 1900, but wasn't registered at all in 1850.
The reason for this is that the name Hedley came into use as an honour-name thanks to one man: Hedley Vicars, a British Army officer who was killed in action during the Crimean War in 1855. The Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars was published in 1856. It had a large circulation and was even translated into French, German, Swedish and Italian.
Between 1840-1855, only 23 babies were registered with the name in E&W. In 1857, the year after the memorial was published, the name was registered on 30 boys. This usage continued (as we can see from the rankings above), with many boys being given the name "Hedley Vicars" as both a first and middle name. The name saw a revival in popularity during the Boer War (1899-1902) when honour-names and war-hero names became fashionable.
Not only does Hedley have a great surname-style in the vein of popular Harley, Finley and Riley, but it also makes a great throw-back heritage option.
Cherry
My little sister, Miranda, is getting married next April! So much excitement, including getting to go wedding dress shopping. We went to the the lovely Bea's Bridal Studio in Harbury on Saturday and were assisted by a wonderful and very helpful member of their staff named Cherry.
As soon as she introduced herself, I was immediately struck by how well her name suited her obviously sunny and bubbly personality, and wondering why we don't see more Cherrys around.
Cherry was at #1392 (13 births) in E&W in 1998, and gradually rose to its peak of #583 (69 births) in 2011, which was most likely thanks to the many lighthearted BBC documentaries made by presenter Cherry Healey in 2010-2011 including Cherry Has A Baby, Cherry Goes Drinking, Cherry Gets Married and Cherry's Parenting Dilemmas.
Cherry has since declined to #1362 (24 births) in 2015 but could also be used as a fruit-inspired nickname for names such as Bianca, Stella, Florence, Annabella and Victoria, which are all varieties of peach.
Osric
Actor Osric Chau caught my eye this month. Well, not so much the Canadian actor himself (not that he doesn't seem like a perfectly decent chap), but more his fabulously unusual name. According to IMDb, his father is from Hong Kong and his mother from Malaysia, and yet he sports a long-forgotten Old English name (from os "a god" and ric "power, rule, authority") which was once borne by many an Anglo-Saxon king.
Perhaps his parents were inspired by literature, as Osric is used as the name of a courtier in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
Lunève
While on one of my regular rabbit-hole-name-searches, I came across this post on a French pregnancy and baby forum and was immediately struck by Lunève -- a combination of fashionable Luna and Eve. It's extremely rare even in France, and the comments on the forum are mixed, but most label it as poetic, mysterious, magical and feminine. I agree!
Harlan
This month, American website CafeMom posted a list entitled "21 Forgotten but Handsome Baby Boy Names From the Roaring '20s" where they took a sample from this post from Laura Wattenberg at babynamewizard. There are some fabulous names on the list, which I enjoyed skimming through (even though the slideshow format drives me ABSOLUTELY UP THE WALL!!!). To save your frustrated clicking, here are all the names from the post:
| Boys: Giles Lawton Warner Denver Hardy Boyd Jules Kermit Orin Regis Wallace Truman Alvin Conrad Edison Florian Harlan Mack Newell Rupert Sumner |
Girls: Fern Avis Millicent Opal Zenobia Margery/Marjorie Harriet Petra Adele Delta Bette Althea Clarice Iola Maida Roma Virginia Josefina Geneva Vita Eloisa |
(Credit goes to my FB friend Geri who had the patience to click through them all. I gave up clicking after four)
Some of these names are very different to contemporary British choices. Warner, Truman, Regis and Kermit feel charmingly American to British ears.
Harlan is the name that particularly stuck out to me. In the US, it was an honour name -- much like Hedley here -- after Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911). Historically, it has been rare as a given name in Britain, despite its surname origin. The variant Harland was always more common as a given name, and even that was always extremely uncommon.
And yet, Harlan fits perfectly with current British trends. It's a surname; two syllables; has the fashionable 'ar' sound and the trendy -n ending. And, as Harley and Harvey are #52 and #50 respectively, there seems to be definite room for Harlan to rise above its current position in E&W of #656.
