Wednesday 29 August 2012

Name that character!

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.


43 comments:

  1. Marjorie Satterthwaite.
    Phillipa Boyle (Filly to her friends)
    Agatha Madmartigan

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    1. Could be something in there... Marjorie Madmartigan?

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  2. Replies
    1. Sounds like something you'd eat. If you couldn't afford something tender!

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  3. I quite like Edwina. But for some reason I'm drawn to names beginning with C or M. No idea why.

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  4. Anastasia Tulliver
    Octavia Blanchflower
    Marigold 'Trotter' Ellington-Smythe
    Georgiana 'Giddy-up' Osbourne

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    Replies
    1. I'm liking Anastasia - so much so that I've used it for another character!

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  5. I don't think I could come up with anything better than Marjorie Madmartigan. Really like that one.

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  6. Philippa means "lover of horses" (you've forgotten your Greek?)
    Oddly before I looked at this I also thought of Edwina
    Philippa Edwina Currie

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    Replies
    1. Currie as in the grooming tool or the politician...?

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    2. Sylvia Martingale?

      (You probably know this: a martingale is a collar/harness for a horse.)

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    3. I was a pony-mad child, so yes, I do know :)

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    4. Ask Spike (he told me to tell you it was what he wanted :) )

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  7. Don'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

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  8. The one I'm working with at the moment is Carmella McMartigan, but it's not quite right yet.

    Thanks 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!

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  9. Replies
    1. Try the 1891 census records at

      http://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.

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  10. Celia Marchington
    Cressida Farrier
    Vanessa Wainwright

    No idea why...probably pure work avoidance...

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    Replies
    1. Cressida is good. I my use some of these for other characters. I will need some teachers.

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  11. You've had some great suggestions already but here's my
    name to add to the mix

    Hetty Winterbottom

    I was thinking anything with the word "bottom" in makes kids giggle!

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    Replies
    1. Indeed it does, but this book is no giggling matter! Hence my "not too comic" request... :)

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    2. sorry I never read instructions properly! Will try harder...

      Aureila Plum, Crumb or Gunn

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  12. Honoria Hippolyta Heighington. I like alliteration :)

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  13. Winnifred Canterbury is maybe a bridge too far, as is anything involving Nadine.

    How about Priscilla Wittgenstein? Or Dame Victoria Lofthouse-Withers?

    Or Ginny-Jo Bonkersoff-Stidworthy?

    Ursula Flitsome.

    Luciliandra Friccatini?

    Hope you find the right one.

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  14. Lots of great names.

    My offering is
    Ophelia Rider (or Ryder)

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  15. Honoria Sheldrake
    Cecilia Mountebank
    Louisa McMaster

    Oh dear, I'm getting an attack of the 'ia's'!

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  16. I knew someone like that a long time ago. Her name was Miss Pearl. I thought it suited her.

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  17. Sorry 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.

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    Replies
    1. Petronella? I have to work with a Petronella? I might just go back to Downunder! Spike

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  18. Marjorie? Or Ciara. That sounds quite snobbish, if it fits. Maybe Monika?
    Or, 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!

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  19. I noticed you said 'von' or 'de' names. Those are good and you could make her surname:
    von Pferd, which means Horse in german? Might be good :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Yellow Jane. Everything is helpful, even though I'm not quite there yet!

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  20. '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.

    For 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?)

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    Replies
    1. Just to clarify, my real suggestion is Constantia von Winterling...!

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