What’s in a Name?

Mr. Edgar Downes. Edgar. She had not wanted to know. She thought of Viking warriors and medieval knights. Edgar.

Mary Balogh, A Christmas Bride

“Anyone called Bertha’s got no place in a romance!”

Catherynne M. Valente, The Glass Town Game

Dear Amanda,

In December, I was minding my own business, reading A Christmas Bride, when lo and behold – Mary Balogh makes the mistake of associating the name “Edgar” with Vikings. I clenched my jaw; as a Professional Old Stuff Knower, I happen to know that “Edgar” is an English name, derived from the Old English words ead (“riches”) and gar (“spear”). In fact, I know that there were plenty of medieval English dudes named Edgar – at least 3 kings before the 12th century!

But my description is perhaps a bit melodramatic because despite having a bit of fun with Balogh’s blunder, a little slip-up isn’t the end of the world. This line did, however, make me think about names and romance, particularly why it is that some names sound more “romantic” than others. Why, for example, does Edgar conjure up “Viking warriors and medieval knights,” and why does it make the man all the more alluring?

Behold.

How Do Romance Writers Choose Names?

In 2021, Harlequin Books interviewed a number of romance writers,¹ asking them how they named their characters. While I don’t want to copy and paste the whole article, there were some interesting responses:

• Lee Tobin McClain searches for the top 100 popular names during the year their hero/heroine is born, then looks up the etymologies.
• Geri Krotow does the same thing, but also looks in phone books, church directories, and cemeteries for inspiration.

This strategy, for all I know, has a number of benefits. For one, looking up popular names will give you specimens that feel realistic. It’s much easier to suspend your disbelief if your hero’s name is Benjamin or Edward, for example, than if he’s named something like Astrolabe.

But nowadays, authors have other options that will cut down on the time spent sifting through websites and baby books. A little light Googling will yield a number of name generators (such as RanGen’s Love Interest Generator) as well as curated lists (such as Bryn Donovan’s 100 Sexy Names for Men) and writing guides (such as Anne Marble’s guide for Writing World). You can even get thematically specific; there are Steampunk Name Generators, Evil Name Generators, and even Yeti Name Generators – the internet is your oyster!

But this is a historical romance book blog, so my main interest is in tools like Regency Reader’s generator, which created a body of source material through “lots of combing through Debrett’s, Leigh’s, and muster rolls to generate names used in the Regency era.”² I admire the work it takes to wade through tomes like Debrett’s; that must have been a hell of an afternoon (or three). But I am as interested in what Regency Reader’s tool leaves out as what it keeps in. You see, using the generator will not necessarily yield “popular” names of the era; sourcing from Debrett’s and Leigh’s ensures that only upper-class names (used by the peerage) are included, and even with such restrictions in place, it’s clear from the developer that most historical people didn’t have the flowery, romantic-sounding appellations as those we find in books: “the truth is the vast majority of the populace was named Mary, John, Jane, Robert, William, or some of the other common names,” the Regency Reader writes.²

Of course, it’s entirely possible to have romance heroines names Mary or heroes named William (we get them all the time), but it’s equally likely that we get some with names like Isolde Goodnight (Tessa Dare’s Romancing the Duke), Sebastian Holloway (Eva Leigh’s My Fake Rake), or Kingscote, the Marquess of Eversley (Sarah MacLean’s The Rogue Not Taken). I mean, come on – how often do we come across working or “lower class” sounding names? Where are my Franks? My Gladyses?

What this tells me is that “good” Regency/historical romance character names are A.) aristocratic, and B.) unique (without being too unique).

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Reader

So why aristocratic? Are romance writers just snobs?

One reason might be that historical romance heroes are often upper class. Most of the romances we read, for example, involve the heroine capturing the heart of a duke or viscount, so it makes sense that said duke or viscount have a name befitting his class. Of course, we do occasionally run into rogues and scoundrels who are low-class criminals, but even they have powerful-sounding monikers. Part of the appeal of romance is the power fantasy: the powerful man succumbs to the heroine (and her vagina love). Economic and social power is just one way this manifests.

Another reason might also be that romance as we know it today grew out of the capital-R Romance genre. Capital-R Romance, as you recall, follows the exploits of (usually) aristocratic characters: knights, princes, sons of important people. Moreover, in ye olde times, these Romances were made and consumed by aristocratic readers, so they named their characters with aristocratic names. As we move into the era of Gothic Romance, we still get the trappings of aristocracy: a crumbling castle, a duke in disgrace, etc. The genre itself has an aristocratic history.

But there has to be more to it than that. Edgar is all well and good – it’s aristocratic and unique without being too unique – but when you have characters named Isolde, Sebastian, and King… well, there has to be something else going on besides just class.

“Suit the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action” (It’s a Metaphor, Dummy)

I’m not entirely saying anything new when I proclaim that a lot of authors choose names that are metaphorically or etymologically resonant. Authors have been doing this from the dawn of time, and they will continue to do it until language loses all meaning and we resort to speaking in robotic blurps. For example, Desdemona (the tragic heroine from Shakespeare’s Othello) literally means “ill-fated,” and there’s a certain werewolf in a transphobe’s beloved book series with a name that sounds like “Wolfy McWolferson.”

In romance, we get names such as Jane Eyre (sounds like “air” for a reason), Sebastian Malheur (“woe” or “misfortune”), Anna Wren (tiny, tiny bird), Gabriel Duke, the list goes on. In her blog post about “quirky” flower names for romance heroines, author Anna Bradley talks about how names work on the reader’s subconscious. “If names didn’t matter, romance writers wouldn’t spend countless hours trolling Nameberry,” Bradley writes.³ “We’d name all our heroines Jane, all our heroes John, and call it good… But heroines come in every size, shape, texture and color, and their names should reflect their characters.“

But metaphorical or etymological significance isn’t the only way.

The baby name blog Ava to Zeke divides Regency names into categories. Many of these categories are recognizable character types: “spirited young women,” “wide-eyed innocents,” “stodgy suitors,” and “bad boys reformed”⁴ – take your pick. Stock characters are everywhere in genre fiction, and they certainly exist in romance. Weren’t we just talking on PosPop about the Byronic hero, the ingenue, the rakey rakey boys?

So, what kind of names are attributed to those stock characters? Put another way, what makes a name feel rakish? Or what makes a name feel romantic and innocent? Why does a character named “Chad” or “Blake” sound like an absolute jerk and why does “Sheldon” sound like a nerd who is going to get bullied? These names have no metaphorical or etymological cues, so what gives?

From what I’ve gathered, it seems that a number of things can determine the “feel” of a name, independent of its meaning.

• Simple association: some names are just simply associated with certain archetypes through culture. For example, we think of the name “Chad” as belonging to a chisel-jawed ubermensch in part because of widespread exposure to incel lingo. We think of “Bertha” as a humorous name for a low-class (usually overweight) woman because of the proliferation of “Big Bertha.”
• Gender (non-)conformity: if a male character has a name that it typically given to female characters, readers might expect a queer or effeminate persona; for female characters with male names, readers might expect a tomboy or tough-as-nails heroine.
• Pop culture: if a movie, tv show, or book is popular enough, certain names are going to have particular resonances for at least a generation. For example, “Sheldon” is going to sound nerdy to a lot of us because of The Big Bang Theory. “Arthur” is going to either sound kingly or remind you of a certain aardvark.
• Fashion: Because the popularity of names ebbs and flows, a person’s name might also point to their age and thus, authors might use old-fashioned named for older characters and trendy names for younger characters. I mean… how many children do you know named Mildred?
• Language of Origin: For English-speakers, certain names carry certain vibes. French names, for example, sound melodic and aristocratic to us in part because in the history of the English language, French was used by the elite. Similarly, Latin-sounding names will sound educated to us because Latin was (and still is) the language of learning (and science). This also works in the negative, too; names that sound African or east Asian will be perceived differently by White people than by Black and Asian Americans.

But there are some names that just… literally feel a certain way, you know? Bradley argues that in addition to good cultural associations, character names should have a good “mouth feel” (something that rolls easily off the tongue or flows with the surname). For example, Bradley writes that “Daisy” and “Dahlia” are fun to say.³ But… why?

Here’s where some poetry and linguistics background will help us.

“Trippingly on the Tongue”: What Makes a Name “Sound” Romantic?

For all that we’ve talked about metaphors, stock characters, and social class, there has to be something said about the poetics of character names.

While Googling, I stumbled upon reddit user StrausHasMaus, who posted a surprisingly insightful list of how first and last names “flow” into one another. They borrow a number of terms that one might find in a Poetry 101 class:⁶

• Repeating sounds: Repeating sounds in a first and last name are more pleasing.
• Syllable count and rhythm: You should generally avoid the same number of syllables in the first and last name.
• Ending letter: We’ve removed all baby names ending with the first/last letters of the last name. This will create better rhythm and flow.
• Length: Short names typically go well with long surnames, and vice versa.
• Assonance: Assonance takes place when two or more words close to one another repeat the same vowel sound. By repeating vowel sounds in a first and last name you can create a name with nice rhythm.
• Consonance: Consonance refers to repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. This repetition often takes place in quick succession such as in pitter, patter. By repeating consonants in a first and last name you can create a name with nice rhythm.

A good illustration of how simple sound can affect the “feeling” of a name is any Star Wars character. A lot of names from the franchise “feel” Star Wars-y because they are devoid of metaphorical or etymological meaning (usually), but deploy things like repeating sounds and meter:

• Leia Organa (2 syllables + 3 syllables, repeated A sounds)
• Mon Mothma (1 syllable + 2 syllables, repeated M sounds)
• Padme Amidala (2 syllables + 4 syllables, repeated A, D, and M sounds)
• Sheev Palpatine (1 syllable + 3 syllables, repeated P and “ee”/”i” sounds, “Palpatine” also feels fun to say because it alternates consonants and vowels)

Romance deploys a lot of the same guidelines:

• Penelope Featherington (equal number of syllables but has repeating sounds and alternating consonants and vowels)
• Benedict Bridgerton (same number of syllables but repeats B sounds and alternates consonants and vowels)
• Edwina Sharma (3 syllables + 2 syllables, repeats A sounds)

Not every name follows perfect poetical convention, but a lot of them do, and I think that’s on purpose.

Conclusion

So, if we’re looking at everything altogether all at once, we can see that what makes historical romance names “feel” romantic is a combination of several things:

• Class associations
• Uniqueness
• Etymology/metaphor
• Cultural Associations (including historical associations)
• Meter/Phonetics

Applying this logic to the examples above, we can see the associations romance authors are making with their characters:

• Isolde Ophelia Goodnight: Isolde is “medieval”; we associate it with the Arthurian tale of forbidden love and thus, it evokes a romantic, courtly, fairy-tale like atmosphere. Ophelia is Shakespearean and tragic. Goodnight is whimsical and resonates with Isolde’s status as the daughter of a famous fairy tale author. The repeating “O” sounds (assonance) and the accent on the first syllable of each name create rhythm.
• Sebastian Holloway: Sebastian is a common name for a romance rake; it rolls off the tongue because of the repeating “S” sounds and the alternating consonants and vowels, and I reckon it’s a common choice for a romance name because its Greek root means “venerable.”⁵ Holloway also has some assonance (“O”), and there’s a whimsical rhythm to the surname. It’s also a compound (“hollow” + “way”).
• Kingscote, the Marquess of Eversley: Let’s be blunt, shall we? It’s aristocratic. (Though Eversley has a nice sound to it.)

While I don’t think I’ve done anything revolutionary with this post, I do think I’ve started on collecting some tools to articulate how a name “sounds.” For Mary Balogh, Edgar might sound Viking/barbaric because it’s Germanic rather than French, and that has an appeal of its own.

Or something.

Anyway. Hope you’re doing well.

Kelly

Works Cited

[1] “What’s In a Name: How Romance Authors Name Their Characters.” Harlequin Ever After. https://blog.harlequin.com/2021/10/whats-in-a-name-how-romance-authors-name-their-characters/. 19 October 2021.

[2] “Regency Male Name Generator.” Regency Reader. https://regrom.com/regency-fun/reg-rom-character-name-generator/. Accessed 06 December 2023.

[3] Bradley, Anna. “Top 8 Flower Names for Quirky Romance Novel Heroines.” https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/between-the-chapters/top-8-flower-names-for-quirky-romance-novel-heroines-by-anna-bradley/. 28 October 2018.

[4] “Regency Romance Character Names.” Ava to Zeke. https://avatozeke.com/regency-romance-character-names/. 29 October 2019.

[5] “Sebastian.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/sebastian. Accessed 06 December 2023.

[6] StrausHausMaus. “Tips for first names that flow with your last name.” Reddit (r/namenerds). https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/comments/a4lrih/tips_for_first_names_that_flow_with_your_last_name/#:~:text=Repeating%20sounds%3A%20Repeating%20sounds%20in,letters%20of%20the%20last%20name. Accessed 06 December 2023.