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]

Have you? Which character? (*hopes for Tim*)

[elizahonig.livejournal.com]

I wanted to name my youngest daughter Miranda after M.West but my older daughters insisted on Katherine. They said that I already mixed up their names (Margaret and Alice) and if I named this third child an "M" name I'd never keep her and Margaret straight. For what it's worth, they were right--I never call Kate by any other name, though I still confuse the other two. Don't know why.
Maybe one of them will have a daughter named Miranda! I've certainly made my preferences known...

[meirion.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have. Afraid it's not Tim – it's Lois (although with a minor Frenchification by making her Loïs instead!) Clearly I identified rather too much with Lawrie when I was 7 or so.

I'd say that she's the polar opposite of AF's Lois, and yet somehow she isn't. I've never seen Lois as actually evil; rather as someone who makes very poor decisions in the heat of the moment, and genuinely believes she's doing things for the best, and then just doesn't understand why people have such disdain for her. OTOH, my daughter's only 7 so may yet grow out of it!

-m-