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?

16c aunt in family tree, Frideswide. Oddly, not come down as family name!

I think Emma is one of those names that always stays around. I am 50 - there were 3 -4 in my year of 90 at secondary.
My DD was born in 2004 - she had 2 in her class. My DS, two years earlier had 1 in his class.
A friend has an Amy and an Emma which is always thought a little confusing.

My family tree shows a great, great grandmother baptised Becky (early 19th C) I always am surprised at that!

I sometimes walk my dog in a Victorian cemetery and the gravestones make fascinating reading. The majority of women buried there were called either Charlotte, Jane, Anne, Mary or Elizabeth but on the more unusual side there’s an Ambrosia, three Adelaides, a Philadelphia and a Cinderella!

yes, I find this very annoying and it automatically shows the author as being somewhat out of touch which puts me off.

surprised because she was baptised the 'nickname' rather than Rebecca but being known as Becky, Seeline? Rebecca (spelled less anglicised) is a very old biblical name, but Vanity Fair (although written slightly later) starts in the early 19th c so I imagine Becky was a well-known diminutive by then.

I wonder how many people in earlier times were actually called by their baptised names - if every third girl was an Elizabeth then no wonder so many nicknames evolved from it - some of which (Beth, Isobel, Tess, Ellie, etc.) are by now considered traditional names in their own right.

There's a 'worst baby names' thread going on now where several posters have referred to 'virtue' names of African origin (Hardwork, Triumph, etc.) and might mock them as out of place or 'yoo-nique' if they appeared in a historical novel - but the Puritans were equally into virtue names so, while unusual, it wouldn't be entirely inaccurate to have a little Silence, Temperance, Creedence or Makepeace alongside the more traditional Faith, Hope, Grace, etc. Some of them were even weirder than that, e.g. 'Sorry-for-Sin' or ;Praise-God Barebone' (name given to the 'barebones parliament' after the civil war....

Another 'adverse' example is Victoria - sounds very traditional but was hardly ever heard in Britain until the queen. Although Victorians themselves were hugely influenced by celebrities and marketing for their naming decisions (I almost did a master's dissertation on this) - lots of 'Jubilee's' etc. at the appropriate times.

The Widow by Fiona Barton irritated me because of this - the main character is called Jean so I was picturing a woman in her sixties - but then you find out she’s in her thirties! That jarred with me.

I always thought Emma was a classic name Gemma on the other hand was very fashionable in the 80,s and maybe a little dated now? I know a 12 yr old Jason which always makes me smile .

16c aunt in family tree, Frideswide. Oddly, not come down as family name!

@longwayoff, I know a girl who must be about ten now with Frideswide as a middle name -- her father was at my Oxford college which had the shrine of St Frideswide in its chapel.

I’m in Scotland, and know one early twenties Alan, but can’t think of any young Jimmys or Ricks. I would probably have chosen Jack / Kieran / Lewis / Ryan / Cameron for that age group.
Among my church going friends though, old fashioned biblical names are still popular, I know at least three child Elijahs..

Anachronism. Really jars doesn't it.

Another 'adverse' example is Victoria - sounds very traditional but was hardly ever heard in Britain until the queen.

And it didn't become really popular until quite late in Victoria's reign, from about 1880. Similarly, Florence only became really popular because of Miss Nightingale. I'd raise an eyebrow at a fictional Florence born before the Crimean War. Then it was popular up to the 1930s, before falling out of fashion until recently.

Emma is Norman, I think -- there was an Emma of Normandy who married one of the Ethelreds (maybe the Unready) and was queen consort of England. Then it got a big boost again in the early 18thc from a poem that's now been pretty much forgotten, 'Henry and Emma', and then in the early 19thc, Austen using it for a heroine and book title (she also refers to 'Henry and Emma' in Persuasion, which is pretty much the only thing it's remembered for now). And of course Lady Hamilton, the actress and Nelson's mistress, was an Emma.

Similarly, Florence only became really popular because of Miss Nightingale.

And it was then considered somewhat odd that she was called after the city where she was born -- her sister Parthenope was also called after the place she was born (now part of Naples), and maybe there would have been a century of baby Parthenopes if she'd turned out the more famous sister. Parthenope was called 'Parthie' or 'Pop' by her family.

The Vikings used to name their weapons and armour. They had the big exhibition about them at the British Museum a couple of years ago and there was a shield named Emma. I remember because I sent a photo of it to a friend called Emma.

Repertory, yes, occasionally Frideswide pops up in Oxfordshire although I've never come across it elsewhere. I've also got a Temperance, a Mercy and a Mormon in the ancestors although I have a perfectly mundane, but now old fashioned, name myself. My granny was Fanny. Not Frances. I'm not expecting that to be reclaimed enthusiastically any time soon.

And it was then considered somewhat odd that she was called after the city where she was born

I didn't know that. So she was the Brooklyn Beckham of the 19th century?

Oh no, wait, he wasn't born there was he? He was conceived there...

I was on an American pregnancy board when pregnant with DD in 2017.

Their naming fashions seemed to be stuck in the 70’s- loads of Derycks, Kevins and Collins. They were “classic” names according to the other posters.

MN Baby Namers would have had a conniption.

treacle, maybe the parents of your classmate called Wilma were fans of the original Flintstones cartoons?!

Names ‘date’ differently in the USA, it seems to be more common to name boys after fathers and grandfathers, so I know lots of young Richies, Ricks, Roberts, Brians, Marks, Johns here whereas in the UK they tend to be more middle-aged names.

Their naming fashions seemed to be stuck in the 70’s- loads of Derycks, Kevins and Collins. They were “classic” names according to the other posters.

'Classic' names are culture-dependent, though. The Irish male names which with tiresome regularity come up as 'naughty boy' names on the Mn baby names forum are in many cases the equivalents of Edward, John, Thomas etc in Ireland.

Aidan is a classic saint's name in Ireland, but in this country gets (a) mis-spelled as 'Aiden' and (b) lumped in with Jayden, Brayden, Kayden etc.

These two articles are quite interesting on the sharp rise and equally quick fall of the name Kevin in France:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39278092

www.thelocal.fr/20170119/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-how-a-hollywood-naming-craze-swept-france

Wilma is nowhere near as rare in Scotland as England in my experience. Never heard of a young one though.

Don't know Northern Ireland at all.

One thing that irritates me about some historical novels (looking at you in particular, Philippa Gregory) is the insistence that characters that the authors want you to like have to behave in modern ways. So, Tudor queens who insist on breastfeeding and keeping the baby by their side, the nice parents never smacking their kids, husbands that don’t cheat or beat their wives etc.

I'm Scottish and don't know any Ricks (or Rich, as is more common) or Jimmies under 50. I've met one Alan in his late 20s, the rest are 40+.