Val's day

[tabouli.livejournal.com]

It being Valentine’s Day and all, I feel the time has come to muse on Val Longstreet, and AF names in general. I was taken aback to learn Val’s full name was Valentine, partly because it’s comically incongruous with her character, and partly because I’ve never met or even heard of a real person called Valentine. I’d assumed her name was Valerie (rare but not unheard of). Was (or is) there a particular time and/or demographic in the UK where 'Valentine' was a reasonably common name?

The names of ongoing characters were an aspect of her books that AF couldn't shift to suit the different timeframes of her books, which must make for some interesting clashes in fashion. Being Australian, I don't know that much about what names would have been popular in schools like Kingscote in the eras when the books are set, but I'd guess, for example, that having two Margarets in a small class of girls might have been likely at the time of Autumn Term, but would have been unlikely by Attic Term.

It's also interesting to look at which names seem dated and which don't. 'Nicola', 'Rebecca', 'Karen' and 'Jenny' are as current as ever, at least to my Australian eye, but 'Erica', 'Lois', 'Virginia' and 'Barbara' seem of an earlier generation. I also suspect (again, without much knowledge of the context in posh UK circles at the time) that by Attic Term, AF chose names for new minor characters (e.g. the 'infants' in Ann's dorm) which were fashionable at the time when the novel was set. Then there's ones like 'Thalia', 'Pomona' and 'Unity', where I suspect AF was deliberately picking offbeat names.

Any thoughts from people who know more than me about UK naming fashions through the ages?

Comments

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

Well I want to lay claim to some kind of superiority here, for I have actually met someone called Valentine. He is (or may now possibly be retired) a professor of English at Oxford and occasionally contributes to things on Radio 4. And he's definitely male, as was the original St Valentine.

I've always liked the name Rowan for a girl, though in light of the present Archbishop of Canterbury, I've gone off it slightly.

When I was at boarding school in the eighties, there were Nicolas, Virginias, Jennys, Mirandas and Sarahs but I don't remember any Ericas, Loises or Barbaras. And obviously not Thalia or Pomona. Has anyone ever met a Bunty?

The Marlow naming strategy has always struck me as rather odd. Karen, Ann and Nicola are good solid, dependable names while Rowan, Virginia (and Lawrence, though we at least have a reason for that) as much more flighty.

[antisoppist.livejournal.com]

Leslie Dunkling's Guinness Book of Names has tables for each decade. From what I remember before my copy vanished, Karen and Nicola were not at all common names in the 1940s. They became popular in the 60s. I imagine AF's Karen being pronounced the Danish way as in Karen Blixen and being thought of as terribly foreign and exotic.

I think the only Marlow name AF *meant* to be ordinary and boring when she started writing was Ann, which ties in with her opinion of the character. It doesn't explain why the Marlow parents took one look at the baby and decided not to give her an unusual name like all the others though.

I have a second cousin who was known as Bunty as a child, although her real name was Frances. My mother was also sometimes called Bunty by her brother although again it's not her name. I can't imagine anyone being christened it.

[(Anonymous)]

In The Archers, Shula's ex-mother-in-law is Bunty Hebden. Don't know what her real name is.

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

Impressive knowledge!

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I kind of hope there's a Great Aunt Ann out there who is refusing to communicate with the rest of the family because of a Queen Mum / Mrs Simpson-like hatred of Madame Orly, but who will leave Ann something in her will. Preferably an independence, and a small cottage somewhere with a really good piano.

[the_antichris.livejournal.com]

Even Virginia she chooses an odd shortening for. All the Virginias I've known shortened to Ginnie.

[richenda.livejournal.com]

I know a Nichola who was born in 1943, but the spelling suggests that she might have been named after her father - she was born after his death, and I don't know what his name was.

Wasn't or isn't there a children's comic called Buntie? And has Baby Bunting, as in the nursery rhyme, got anything to do with it - a baby nickname?

[lurkingcat]

I have a Great Aunt who is still referred to as Bunty, although her real name is Jessie.

[smellingbottle.livejournal.com]

Val Cunningham of Corpus Christi, a repellent old bigot, from my infrequent dealings with him. But definitely male, yes.

[tabouli.livejournal.com]

Has anyone ever met a Bunty?

Only in a favorite childhood book about two rabbits called Billy and Bunty, so I've always thought of it as a rabbity name...