You know how authors often choose character names from cemeteries?

[CormoranStrike]

JK Rowling is just one famous example, there’s a cemetery at Greyfriars in Edinburgh where you can ‘meet’ many of her Harry Potter characters.

Anyway, on my walk today I went to a cemetery near me with parts dating back 200 years.

Many if the names are similar to ones you would see today, but I picked out a few I loved, most almost or well over a century on from their deaths. I do like to read these names and in some way know these people are not forgotten.

My favourites today include:

Myrtle Gwendoline
Betsy Brown
Christian Lewison
Hume Easton
John Kindred
Nancy Pagan
Dotsy Wyness

Interestingly, Christian - not Christina - was a popular name for women a century or so back

I love the idea of people stopping to consider. I do it myself although bizarrely never considered people my do it to members of the family - we had some absolutely incredibly and delightfully eccentric names

DH has an aunt Christian.

My great great great grandmother was Betty Battye. I love that.

Buried in a graveyard where I lived twenty years ago is a woman called Lettie Downie.

My old music teacher was a female Christian. As far as I'm aware, she's still alive.

When I was pregnant with DD I walked around graveyards looking for names, her name didn't end up coming from one in the end but there was some beauties.

Often walk my dogs around the local graveyard, it's so peaceful.

There's one in the graveyard in Oxwich that fascinates me. Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Ace who dies at 10 months, then another daughter also called Elizabeth dies at 17 years some 18 years later. Underneath its says 'When the Archangel's trump shall sound And souls to bodies join Millions will wish their lives below Had been so short as thine'