..to ask what you think Mrs De Winter's first name is?

[poblwcymru]

We know it's "lovely and unusual".

my favourite book in the world. The Hitchcock film is pretty special too.

I think she was a Naomi

It was Saoirse.

The lovely and unusual name though is her surname (her maiden name). When introduced to Maxim she would have been introduced as Miss xxx not as her first name. And when he says her name is lovely and unusual she responds that she had a lovely and unusual father - because it's his name she has.
Nevertheless I love the speculation as to what her first name was!

@Literaryseed

The lovely and unusual name though is her surname (her maiden name). When introduced to Maxim she would have been introduced as Miss xxx not as her first name. And when he says her name is lovely and unusual she responds that she had a lovely and unusual father - because it's his name she has. Nevertheless I love the speculation as to what her first name was!

No, both because Max will have heard Mrs Van Hopper ordering X about while addressing her informally, regardless of how she actually introduces her, and because admiring someone’s ‘beautiful and unusual’ surname is pretty unlikely to elicit the response ‘My father was a beautiful and unusual person’.

Morag

Nigella

Maxine

Polly

Genevieve

Antoinette

Madeleine

I like Christabel too.

Jonquil. It’s a flower, pretty and unusual.

I did Ju-Jitsu with a girl called Jonquil.

I vote for Meriel.

@HopeClearwater

What makes you think she isn’t Rebecca?

The name only appears in the title. It’s not mentioned in the text of the book.

I think you've missed the point. The OP is asking what we think the second Mrs De Winter is called.

Have you even read it?

My money is on Muriel. Although I like Jellylegs Wobblechin for her. We are never actually told the name of wife number 2 though as far as I remember.

Lindsay

Blanche

Cynthia

Christina

Vivienne

Yvonne

Naomi? I don’t think so!

A lovely and unusual name in the 1930 may have become a dead common name by the 1950s so my money’s on Jacqueline. It has the added advantage of being difficult to spell!

Maybe Alicia? A bit more uncommon than Alice, somewhat open to mis-spelling, and might have been why he suggested she dress as Alice in Wonderland for the party.

Sybil.
And she has a sister called Clio.

Daphne or Esther

Snowin

Ginny (Virginia)

@ChristmasFluff

Maybe Alicia? A bit more uncommon than Alice, somewhat open to mis-spelling, and might have been why he suggested she dress as Alice in Wonderland for the party.

This could work.

Maxine.

Max n Max

Madeleine or Vivian

Mm yes @"Alicia" as a possibility. Great point about the ball . I though it was an allusion to her naivety but you've got me there.

Think lots will be rereading after this thread (!).

Well Max de Winter tells her that she has a lovely and unusual name, and that it becomes her as much as it did her father.

So I wondered about Vivian/Vivienne.......

Vivian was a boys name back before Vivienne Leigh in GWTW (according to Clive James, who was actually christened Vivian after a cricketer, according to his autobiography).

Vivienne might fit with the narrative in the book that Max spelt her name correctly, "an unusual thing".

But I am also inclined to Hilary/Hillary as suggested above. Same logic applies.

I suspect the real answer is Du Maurier had no idea what her heroines name actually was, and not knowing her name just adds to the whole drama.

Party I mean.

I think Marguerite or Jocelyn