Chronologically incongruous names in books

[CormoranStrike]

Anyone ever bemused by this?

I’m reading a crime novel, set in Edinburgh in 2018.

There are three 11-year-olds in it, called Alan, Jimmy and Rick. Are any kids of that age Calle debate these days?

I expect 11-year-old boys to be Jack, Lewis and Jayden.

Any other examples?

Really, Treacle? Mid-forties and I think there were about 7 Emmas in my year at school (beaten only by 8 Amandas!)

In the Shardlake books there is a character called Tamasin which really surprised me.

Dangling yeah, there were no Emmas in my year at school, either primary or secondary, and I have never worked with an Emma.

I do however know an awful lot of women my age called Karen, Gillian and Sarah.

I thought Emma was Emma because Rachel couldn't think of a name and Monica mentioned she had a girls name picked out since she was a child herself- Rachel heard it and loved it so Monica let her have it. So it would have been a popular name when Monica was a child.

I think I watch too much Friends.

Lisa, Sarah and Rachael were other common names in my year. Karen is all people a decade older (I have three good friends called Karen, all mid-fifties). Obviously all very regional!

www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2011/06/1974-to-2009.html

According to this, Emma was the fourth most popular name in England and Wales in 1974 and 1984. By 2009 the name had slipped to 41st.

My latest was watching Outlander (also a book) - Brianna was the name given to a baby born to someone English in the 1950s.

I could not cope.

There was a dubious explanation of naming baby girl after the father of the dad but I wasn’t buying it. Never heard that name outside US or before about 10 yrs ago.

Yes it's interesting hpw much names vary by area. The youngest Emma I know is 7 and the eldest is 31.

It’s not unusual for American books, films etc to feature upper class English women with names like Brooke, Sheridan, Paige etc. Which may well be upper class names in the States but they are definitely not over here, and the incongruity really irritates me.

There was a posh English woman on CSI: New York called Peyton. It was completely incongruous and irritating.

I'm in my 40s and don't know any Emmas my age. All the Emmas I know are girls who are of school age now, mostly aged between 10 and 18.

I'm surprised by this too. I'm 39 and there 9 Emmas in my year at secondary school. I was actually thinking about it the other day for some reason and realised the Emmas were 10% of all the girls in my year.

The original female singer with The Beautiful South was called Brianna Corrigan. That was about 30 years ago so I guess she'd be in her mid 50s or older? That was the first time I ever heard that name.

I'm in my forties and my school was full of Emmas! I was also going to post what Goldilocks said!

It’s not unusual for American books, films etc to feature upper class English women with names like Brooke, Sheridan, Paige etc. Which may well be upper class names in the States but they are definitely not over here, and the incongruity really irritates me.

I remember reading a book (or possibly a short story) where a British male character was called Randy. Couldn't take it seriously after that.

@treaclesoda well i’m prepared to be proved wrong but I do think of it as a very modern American name!

I'm from N Ireland, and I think that makes a big difference. I just did a quick Google and in the year I was born, Emma wasn't even in the top 10 here. It was number 1 by 1980, but that's enough of a gap for me to not have come across it at school.

@Veterinari Ian Rankin, House of Lies.

Not his best, bad not bad.

Try Stuart MacBride’s Logan Macrae series.

Yes I find adult women tend to be most incongruously named, especially in chick lit type books. They are called things like Evie when they are meant to be forty odd. I'm 43 and all my classmates were called things like Melanie and Louise and Michelle.

@treaclesoda well i’m prepared to be proved wrong but I do think of it as a very modern American name!

I actually agree with you, I'd automatically think of it as a modern American name too! I was sort of pondering out loud as to when I first heard the name, which happened to be a non American.

I’m Scottish too and know no young Jimmies (plenty of Jamies), no Ricks and one Allan in his lates twenties.

Yes! My preferred trashy reading for long flights and night feeds is historical romance (please do judge me, I judge myself)... And recently read a past bestseller that was obviously carefully researched in terms of clothing and carriage makes, but had aristocratic heroes called Cameron and Kevin, and a heroine who married one and proceeded to have a baby named Jason.

was watching Outlander (also a book) - Brianna was the name given to a baby born to someone English in the 1950s.

That’s because they named her after her grandfather, Brian. An eighteenth-century character.

OP I'm reading that too, and had to check that it wasn't a prologue set in a different time.

I thought the same about baby Emma in Friends! I didn't know the back story, though. I assumed it was a name that peaked in the eighties.

I always imagine Sara Crewe being a much more modern name than it is- no particular reason and I know it isn’t but it always feels wrong to be in an old book.

Making myself look a right nerd here but as far as Outlander goes, the baby was to be called Brian. Claire promises Jamie that she’ll name the baby for his (Jamie’s) Father. The baby was a girl though so claire may have just feminised it herself by making it sound girly in anyway she could. Also, although Claire is English, Brianna was born in Boston. Claire lives in America for most of her pregnancy so could have heard the name there too.