Ideas, please! I need a good name for a character in a children's book. An lady in her early 70s, aristocratic by origin, eccentric, mysterious, elegant. A name which resonates and is striking, but not too comic. Not a villain, though she is somewhat scary and aloof. Not cuddly. Emotionally somewhat fragile or fractured, though she's built a strong shell around herself.
The only other thing you might need to know about her is that her life was saved by a horse when she was a child, and she's horse-obsessed, so it's possible that she might have taken a horse-related middle name upon herself as an adult.
Ideas, please, in comments below!
If I use your suggestion, I'll credit you... If the book is ever published.
I became known as the Crabbit Old Bat because of my honest advice about writing and publishing on another blog. But I've stopped all that and gone back to being a children's writer. HOORAY! So, welcome. Share the pleasure, the pain and the chocolate. But wipe your feet first.
Millicent Equina Masterson?
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteMarjorie Satterthwaite.
ReplyDeletePhillipa Boyle (Filly to her friends)
Agatha Madmartigan
Could be something in there... Marjorie Madmartigan?
DeleteMagda Brisket-Smith
ReplyDeleteSounds like something you'd eat. If you couldn't afford something tender!
DeleteEdwina Jacqueline Emersonia
ReplyDeleteI quite like Edwina. But for some reason I'm drawn to names beginning with C or M. No idea why.
ReplyDeleteAnastasia Tulliver
ReplyDeleteOctavia Blanchflower
Marigold 'Trotter' Ellington-Smythe
Georgiana 'Giddy-up' Osbourne
I'm liking Anastasia - so much so that I've used it for another character!
DeleteI don't think I could come up with anything better than Marjorie Madmartigan. Really like that one.
ReplyDeletePhilippa means "lover of horses" (you've forgotten your Greek?)
ReplyDeleteOddly before I looked at this I also thought of Edwina
Philippa Edwina Currie
Currie as in the grooming tool or the politician...?
DeleteSylvia Martingale?
Delete(You probably know this: a martingale is a collar/harness for a horse.)
I was a pony-mad child, so yes, I do know :)
DeleteAsk Spike (he told me to tell you it was what he wanted :) )
DeleteDon't know why but I've come up with Lady Anne Martingale - maybe because you called her 'an lady' in your description! Think it's quite elegant and horsey though - if these things are possible together.x
ReplyDeleteBunty McTavish
ReplyDeleteThe one I'm working with at the moment is Carmella McMartigan, but it's not quite right yet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your ideas. Even if I don't explicitly use something you've suggested, it's all been very helpful in triggering names. Thank you!
Lady Lettice Nooncaster
ReplyDeleteLettice is good!
DeleteTry the 1891 census records at
Deletehttp://www.census1891.com/surnames-a1.htm
for some awesome old English surnames. It takes time and patience to look through them all but I use it a lot. There are some real gems in there.
Celia Marchington
ReplyDeleteCressida Farrier
Vanessa Wainwright
No idea why...probably pure work avoidance...
Cressida is good. I my use some of these for other characters. I will need some teachers.
DeleteYou've had some great suggestions already but here's my
ReplyDeletename to add to the mix
Hetty Winterbottom
I was thinking anything with the word "bottom" in makes kids giggle!
Indeed it does, but this book is no giggling matter! Hence my "not too comic" request... :)
Deletesorry I never read instructions properly! Will try harder...
DeleteAureila Plum, Crumb or Gunn
Honoria Hippolyta Heighington. I like alliteration :)
ReplyDeleteSee my reply above!
DeleteWinnifred Canterbury is maybe a bridge too far, as is anything involving Nadine.
ReplyDeleteHow about Priscilla Wittgenstein? Or Dame Victoria Lofthouse-Withers?
Or Ginny-Jo Bonkersoff-Stidworthy?
Ursula Flitsome.
Luciliandra Friccatini?
Hope you find the right one.
Lots of great names.
ReplyDeleteMy offering is
Ophelia Rider (or Ryder)
Honoria Sheldrake
ReplyDeleteCecilia Mountebank
Louisa McMaster
Oh dear, I'm getting an attack of the 'ia's'!
I knew someone like that a long time ago. Her name was Miss Pearl. I thought it suited her.
ReplyDeleteSylvia Darvell
DeleteMatilda Martinston?
ReplyDeleteI think not quite extravagant enough?
DeleteSorry to appear to ignore some of you - I'm mulling! I don't think we've got it yet. I'm thinking along the lines of Petronella von or de something. You're welcome to keep suggesting.
ReplyDeletePetronella? I have to work with a Petronella? I might just go back to Downunder! Spike
DeleteMarjorie? Or Ciara. That sounds quite snobbish, if it fits. Maybe Monika?
ReplyDeleteOr, you could take an ordinary name, and change the spelling so it looked more eccentric. So you could take Ciara and use 'Ciaara', for example.
Oh and Lakshmi might work :) Hope I have helped!
I noticed you said 'von' or 'de' names. Those are good and you could make her surname:
ReplyDeletevon Pferd, which means Horse in german? Might be good :)
Thanks, Yellow Jane. Everything is helpful, even though I'm not quite there yet!
Delete'Somewhat scary and aloof, emotionally somewhat fragile' suggested 'von Winterling' to me. I think Petronella might be a tad comic? Not comical in itself, of course... could be I'm just accustomed to seeing it in comical contexts.
ReplyDeleteFor a full-blown Almanac de Gotha effect, I suggest Countess Constantia von und zu Winterling-Rohrbach ;-)
(Perhaps she might have taken the name of the horse that saved her as a middle name?)
Just to clarify, my real suggestion is Constantia von Winterling...!
Delete