Griselda

Not keen - sounds like a grizzly troll woman.

I really like it, but then I think witchy names are rather cool.

Doubt many people will make connections with Chaucer, and so what if they do? Your Griselda would start the page afresh and the name would pretty quickly be associated just with her by people who know her. I don't buy into the 'grease' or 'gristle' thing either. You can do that with ANY popular name. Luke=Puke, Matt=Fat etc. etc.

Grizzie is cute and Zelda is pretty cool

Witch connotations for me too. Giesela is a bit better.

The sound 'gris' is not a pretty sound in the English language. It sounds like grizzle, drizzle, grease. Just not great.

It's a very Terry Pratchet sort of name to me, somehow a bit too fantasy in a fairy tales sort of way to be actually usable for a child. I'd go for Cressida instead, it's also unusual but much softer. Tragic origins though. Not sure what diminutives you'd have available though.

A witch's name. Reminds me of this Zelda from the Terrahawks.

Chaucer got his 'patient Griselda' from Boccaccio. She is a poor young woman who is seen by the Marquis of Saluzzo, who recognises her beauty and marries her. She has two children. Then he decides to test her, so he pretends to have got tired of her and sends her back to live in poverty with her family. He removes all her fine clothes and jewels and sends her away wearing just the shift which she'd been wearing when he first saw her. He 'tests' her faithfulness like this for years. He tells her that he has had her children killed and she doesn't react - she just says that she is totally in his power and is his to do what he wants with. Eventually recalls her pretending that he has decided to marry another woman and wants her to come and be a servant to his new wife. Again she agrees. She arrives and everything is set up for a sumptuous wedding. Again she does everything the Marquis says and eventually it turns out that the young woman the Marquis is supposed to be marrying is actually the (now grown-up) daughter she thought was dead. The son reappears too, and Griselda remarries the Marquis and they all live happily ever after???????

So... in answer to your question about the associations of the name, I couldn't use it because it suggests total wetness and subservience. (Though in the Middle Ages Griselda was held up as an example of great virtue.)

Now... Cressida I do love, but I admitted that on here once before and got told it was the most poncetastic name ever, so it may be just the two of us on that one.

dont it sounds like a german bear

It reminds me of Ugly Sisters too, sorry. I like Cressida though.

If I was going for a Trollope name, it would have to be Glencora.

It's in The Small House at Allingham - Griselda Grantley has a flirtation with Plantaganet Palliser, and manages to manipulate everyone to her own advantage in the end:

ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/t/trollope/anthony/allington/chapter55.html

I don't like it at all, sorry.

I like Giselle or Gisela.

I really like it and may steal it for my shortlist (sorry). It's an independent, strong name for a girl.
The question I ask for the more unusual ones is - would I have liked to be called that as a child and adult?

My friend at school had an Aunt Griselda known as Aunt Grizzle. Not a nice name, sorry.

I love Zelda, but not gristle.

It's a horrible, horrible name.

I'm not surprised that you haven't met one! It is always the name of the baddy in stories.

Doesn't Griselda Grantly commit adultery? After being completely cold when she got married, she then does something utterly dreadful with someone unconscionable? not that anyone will remember, but I must say, it's a name it's hard to love. Gretchen also tricky - there is a Nancy Mitford phrase 'she's a real little Gretchen' which I think connotes stolid and German.

Sorry, technical error -- didn't mean to post twice. (Now have posted 3x!)

GrendelsMum, what do you mean? I don't remember any time in any of the Barsetshire or Palliser novels in which Griselda Grantly/Marchioness of Hartletop is "incredibly unpleasant," but I could be forgetting something.

I totally agree with your description -- she's a completely empty character, and she's also a snob. Nevertheless, she is beautiful and there's no child murder, so that's better than the other Griseldas mentioned in the thread so far.

GrendelsMum, what do you mean? I don't remember any time in any of the Barsetshire or Palliser novels in which Griselda Grantly/Marchioness of Hartletop is "incredibly unpleasant," but I could be forgetting something.

I totally agree with your description -- she's a completely empty character, and she's also a snob. Nevertheless, she is beautiful and there's no child murder, so that's better than the other Griseldas mentioned in the thread so far.

I haven't heard the name in years.

When I was at primary school, I had a long green and brown striped scarf, which I used to pretend was a snake. It was called Griselda.