Josephine?

[JulieChastened]

I'm looking for a name for a young Victorian woman (a book character, not a real child).

Do you think Josephine is a nice name? What kind of person does she sound like to you?

What are your favourite Victorian names?

TIA!

My favourite Victorian women's names are the Pankhursts - Emmeline, Adela, Christabel and Sylvia. But Josephine is lovely too.

I really like Josephine. Josie is a nice nickname.

Love Josephine.

My favourite book as a child was set partly in Victorian times and featured five sisters called Sarah, Isabella, Victoria, Amelia and Caroline.

I assumed this was going to be asking about a new baby and came on to say I love the name. Josephine for when you want a more formal name and Josie for everyday.

However is isn't really a name I'd associate with the Victorian era.

Jane, Mary, Alice, Gwen, Edith, Catherine, Florence

Love Josephine

Don't like it. Very boring. I like the Pankhurst names.

Prefer the suggestion of Emmeline rather than Josephine x

It's more a post1900 name not Victorian,originally French.

It’s very French and not Victorian as pp has said. However, other feminine versions of male names would probably work, such as Thomasina, Horatia, Alexandra, Henrietta etc.

These were the top 50 names in 1880 for girls:

Mary
Elizabeth
Alice
Sarah
Annie
Florence
Edith
Margaret
Ellen
Emily
Ada
Jane
Ethel
Emma
Eliza
Ann
Louisa
Martha
Clara
Hannah
Catherine
Gertrude
Harriet
Kate
Agnes
Rose
Beatrice
Maud
Lily
Mabel
Frances
Minnie
Lilian
Amy
Charlotte
Lucy
Fanny
Jessie
Eleanor
Caroline
Bertha
Maria
Isabella
Laura
Esther
Nellie
Amelia
May
Grace
Eva

Josephine was 141 on the list, so it wouldn't have been unheard-of for a Victorian girl to have the name.

I like Josephine, but not keen on Jo.
Also like Louisa and Christobel.

Very beautiful. But will be shortened unfortunately.

Thanks to all of you for your feedback - lots of beautiful names suggested here. Josephine (or whatever her name is) would be born around 1855. I'm now tempted to call her Thomasina, although it's a well-known book about a cat!

I also love Louisa and Christabel.

Josephine is lovely. Because of Little Women it makes me think of quite a headstrong tough type of girl.

Josephine is lovely 😍

Josephine (Jo) is lovely. I agree with @Kanaloa. Makes me think of someone who is headstrong and who other girls respect.

It always make me laugh and think of the comic song “Oh Sister Josephine” about a criminal bloke hiding out in a convent dressed as a nun:
“Admittedly her hands are big and hairy
And embellished with a curious tattoo
Admittedly her voice is on the deep side
And she seems to shave more often
Than the other sisters do…”
The chorus ends up:
“Oh Sister Josephine, what a bloody funny nun you are!”
So sorry, I just can’t take the name seriously for a Victorian heroine…!

My name sis Josephine. I hate it and so I’ve changed it to Josie (much to my Mother’s disappointment). For a Victorian woman however, it’s probably well suited.

I hate it, knew a Josephine who was a psychopathic and a made my life hell.
On a slightly different train of thought, i've always liked the name Mirabel from Enid Blyton's St Claire series.

I like it. Good luck with your writing.