Good morrow, fair readers. This morning I thought I might muse on a topic unexpectedly dear to readers hearts: the names JAFF authors bestow upon the multitudinous unnamed characters in Jane Austen’s novels.
Several JAFF authors are adamant about bucking trends – giving the otherwise unnamed Colonel Fitzwilliam the Christian name of Edward, for example – meanwhile, readers tell me that if he is not Richard that it strikes a discordant note with them. (I have heard, but not yet come across the reference personally, that Jane Austen loathed the name Richard, hence the origin of several of my fellow authors’ avoidance of it.)
Reviewers have docked me stars because Mrs Bennet in Second Son was Maria Bennet, not Fanny, or because my colonel in Total Want of Propriety was the aforementioned Edward. I shall give y’all a cheat sheet. (Yes, my dear focus reader, I know my southern is showing!) If Mrs Bennet is Fanny, you will not like her. If the dear colonel is not Richard, like Edward Fitzwilliam in TWoP, he is actively thwarting any romance between Our Dear Couple.
There is a reason for the latter: when I first read a JAFF with a Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, the image of one of my best friends in high school, a bluff, hale-fellow-well-met lad, filled my mind’s eye. This image truly does fit the well-meaning, if blundering, best-friend of the staid Darcy presentation of Colonel Fitzwilliam. Thus, when writing Second Son, I used ‘Richard’ as a cheat sheet to create the vibe for his character. (Not that any of my colonels have been replicas of my friend.)
There were names I where I wanted to buck the norms. I wrote Second Son, using the historic Earl FitzWilliam as the name of Darcy’s uncle. It was the last edit I made, mere hours before publication, changing it to the Earl of Matlock, because I was unsure of legalities given the 10th, and last, Earl FitzWilliam’s death in 1979. Perhaps it was overcautious, but I chose safer over sorry. I went with Earl of Matlock, whilst keeping the general history and holdings of the Earl FitzWilliam family, because that is the name most JAFF readers associate with Darcy’s titled uncle – possibly from the 1995, 6-hour BBC Pride & Prejudice miniseries.
I know not the origin of the commonly used names in the genre. For Mr Bennet, perhaps some of the early authors stumbled across the same obscure Google book reference I did. I had not intended to use Thomas for Longbourn’s master – I initially outlined him as ‘Robert’ in honour of my late brother – until I found a single line in a book from the early-1800s citing a gift of land by King Edward III to a Thomas Bennet in Hertfordshire for service in the Battle of Crecy. Further research into the Bennet (one t) family revealed a Sir Thomas Bennet, a highly successful and politically active mercer (silk merchant), who was knighted by King James VI/I during the former’s stint as Lord Mayor of London in 1603-04.
Thus, Mr Bennet is Thomas in each of my stories. Who am I to argue with history?
My DH finds it odd that we humans associate certain names as somehow fitting a person – how the name Richard creates certain assumptions in my head – though none of us choose our names. Not even characters in novels choose; we the authors choose for them.
And DH asks: Would a Darcy by the name of Ralph still be our favourite romantic hero?
Dear readers, do you have strong opinions about otherwise unnamed characters?
Fellow authors, do you have any stories to shared about your name choices?
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