The Name I Chose Is…..

Well, last’s week blog asking for name suggestions for the main female character in my next book was so much fun! I loved interacting with you all on this! I loved reading all of your name suggestions and I wrote down every single one! Filled two legal size notepad pages! Check out the photos at the end of this post to see all of the wonderful names!

For those that read the blog and knew that I had initially narrowed my own choices down to Susannah, Rachel & Marion - it was a tie between Susannah & Marion. But they only edged out Rachel by one vote!

So that brings us to the most popular names that you all suggested. I say names, plural, because again there were multiple names earning tie votes. The two most popular names suggested were Abigail & Prudence. I must say that as I watched Prudence tally up the votes my heart sank. If there is one name I absolutely cannot tolerate…it’s Prudence! So this one was a bit hard for me to swallow from you all! For awhile there I was cheering Abigail on desperately!

Second place gave me Emma, Charlotte and Patience. Interesting choices but nothing that jumped out to me as THE ONE.

Third place finishers were Victoria, Beatrice, Cecily, Penelope, Olivia, Emily, Catherine & Hannah. Solid, but still not it.

Fourth place was pretty full. Ruth, Elizabeth, Bethany Anne, Rebekah, Charity, Agnes, Edith, Helene, Isabel and Sarah. I must say a lot of you did your homework. If you do an online search for Medieval or Old English names quite a few of the fourth place finishers show up. So nicely done my band of fellow researchers!

Rounding out the list of the most popular were the following names that all got at least two votes: Grace, Nellie, Anne, Eleanor, Constance, Hattie, Clara, Arabella, Eliza, Christina, Mercy, Margery, Violet, Phoebe, Ursula, Pearl and Adeline.

But that still wasn’t all. There were a whopping 111 other names submitted!

There were the names you would expect, what I like to call the Attribute names: Patience, Charity, Comfort, Mercy, Grace & the dreaded Prudence.

There were lots of Biblical names, Deborah, Ruth, Jerusha, Miriam, Judith, Sarah, Esther, Hannah, Joanna, Rebekah and Selah.

There were plant/flower names, Violet, Rose (Rosetta, Rosa & even a Hunter Rose!) Jasmine, Camille, Posey, and Willow.

There were the typical “English” names, Victoria, Elizabeth, Mary, Virgina, Regina, Catherine, Philippa, Beatrice, and Margaret.

There were a slew of names that just made me think of the 1940’s, even though I know originally the names are older, Bertha, Muriel, Mavis, Matilda, Beryl, Priscilla, Harriet, Alice, Lillian, Agnes and Edith.

I found my own grandmothers names on the list, Gertrude, Hattie and Hazel. Even found one of my granddaughters, Genevieve!

There were some I had to dismiss right out of the gate. Nellie and Eleanor as that’s the name of the main character in my first book The Gathering Room - A Tale of Nelly Butler. Couldn’t really use them again. And Clare is already the star of the Outlander series, both in books and on television.

There were a few unusual names that caught my attention though, Tryphosa, Naomah, Blythe, Vandelia, Sabina and Truly. Always wanted another daughter so I could name her Truly!

But the one that really jumped out at me! The one that made me say “Is this it?” came from Ellen in Marshall, Virigina. She suggested Elspeth. Just the right mix of mystical yet traditional. Unusual but still easy for a reader to pronounce in their mind. ELSPETH.

So is that the winner? Ahhh No. Nope. Not happening.

So here’s a peek into the rabbit holes I end up in while researching. A quick online search of Elspeth found that several women with that name have Twitter accounts. She also is very popular in the fantasy world showing up on websites like Card Kingdom and Wizards of the Coast (don’t ask, I have no idea!). Multiple videos on YouTube portray fantasy female slayers with the name Elspeth. I also found out that the name has appeared in no less then 18 works of fiction the least of which is Sir Walter Scott’s The Highway Widow. So apparently I’m not the only one that likes that name. Sorry Ellen!

But Elspeth lead me to Elsabeth, middle name of another one of my granddaughters. A quick call to her mother and I was granted permission to use it if that’s where I settled. Great! So is that it? No. A little more research and I found that Elsabeth is perceived as a modern variation of Elizabeth because of the Disney movie Frozen. Nope sorry! On we go.

Elisabet? No to close to Elizabeth readers would get confused. Liesbeth? No, how do you even pronounce that? Elsbeth? Prominent in a German painting from the mid 1500’s (Elsbeth Tucher) but to close to Elspeth. UGH!!

So I moved on. The true historical male figure this woman will be supporting in the next book is named Ralph which is Old English meaning “wolf”. Searched “female names that mean wolf” Belvine, Daciana, and Averle. Yuck! I searched “female names that mean magical” and “female names that mean elf.” Nothing, except that I visited multiple baby name websites and will probably be bombarded with maternity ads online now for the next several years!

Oh my word! How can this be happening to me? I went back over the two notepad pages full of names that you all suggested. All of these names! All of your hard work! Why can’t I find the right name? At this point even Susannah, Rachel & Marion seemed awful to me! I was literally back at square one.

I’m sitting at the dining room table, spread out in front of me is my laptop, the notepad with all of your names on it and a second notepad full of scribbles, name meanings, and various names written but then crossed out. My husband walks into the room “Alma” he said “My grandmother had a sister named Alma.” No I don’t like that, but I’ll take a look at your family tree and see if anything jumps out. Online, click through multiple generations of my husband’s family. Nothing. Literally at this moment my head is down on the table and I’m at a loss for how I’m going to write the next book without a main character's name!!

Check your own family tree! Came the thought. (I really need to learn to start listening to my own thoughts!)

What a genius idea. So I switch over to my own family tree and there it is! Like it had been waiting for me to find it all along! An amazing name! Given to a woman born in 1608, which would make her 25 years old in 1633. Didn’t I say my female character was in her mid 20’s in 1633? Is this just a coincidence? (You all know what I think about coincidences!!)

The name is not Susannah, Rachel or Marion, so thank you to all of you that suggested other names! All the other suggestions led me down a more creative path. Made me think deeper, opened my mind to keep searching. This name I’ve found was not suggested by anyone, but that’s okay. All of your suggestions led me there! The name is unique, yet traditional. Mystical but not over the top. The name is of the correct time period and the correct geographical area.

For me, what is so amazing about this name is it’s power as a written word. If you speak the name verbally it just doesn’t have the same impact as seeing it with your eyes. Pronouncing it out loud might make you think you even know someone with this name. I can think of two people myself! But seeing it written, it transports you to a different time, a different place. A place so far from our very own understanding, where anything can happen! Seeing it written transcends the ordinary. Written it becomes the character, a woman who is different from those around her. She is no Mary or Catherine, but yet she is just an ordinary woman of her time. She is a simple woman who possesses ancient gifts in the same way that her name, although sounding simple to us, is written anciently. Written it becomes powerful like the character it identifies.

For me, it’s absolutely perfect!

So what is the name?

ALICEN

I love it!