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lacomandante · 9 months

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okokokok i raise you teresa reading sense & sensibility honestly!!! elinor pushing through grief and loss and hardship with no ability to take up a sword and change her circumstances, and the drama of marianne being taken advantage of for having the courage to love freely…. i think she’d wanna gut mr willoughby tbh!!

Teresa reading any of the JA novels tbh!! But YES S&S is a fantastic one! I think as an older sister too (at least, that's my headcanon- Vivar mentions her sister, Maria, and in the books it's Ramon, so I say Teresa is the eldest child/sister, and I say she has both siblings!) she can really relate to Elinor- she has to take care of her family first, to put her own emotions and heartbreak aside, especially in times of great change and tragedy. She has to be the strong one. Teresa would definitely see herself in Elinor, and though I don't talk about her a lot because there's nothing about Maria in canon and she's basically a blank slate, I think Maria being like Marianne is a great dichotomy between the two.

I always thought of Maria being the baby of the family, so she gets away with a little more than Teresa did- she's also the youngest daughter, and while Teresa probably has a little more pressure to marry well, Maria more than likely doesn't. Maria can be a romantic, to chase after who she wants, though I like to think she's a little more airheaded than Marianne, less bold, but just as excitable. That one scene in the 1995 P&P with Lizzie and Maria Lucas makes me think of their relationship- Teresa guiding and teasing the overly worried Maria. "Mariah, this is your trunk and these are your gowns. You may arrange them in any way you wish- Lady Catherine will never know!" Also that scene where Mariah tells Lizzie to hurry downstairs and does a little spin- that seems like a thing Maria would do! Excitable and fun and so young.

And YES she would want to gut Willoughby for being such a rake and a terrible person!! Especially for knocking up a 15 year old and leaving her to fend for herself!! For the heartache he put Marriane through as well. Teresa understands the economics very well and knows that love sometimes isn't enough to make a relationship work- money is just as important. But it doesn't stop her from breathing a sigh of relief when Marianne dodges a bullet when he leaves her. Sam and I like to think Sharpe gets P&P for her and they read it together, and when they go to Yorkshire and meet a George Wickham they look at each other like 😳😳😳 mr willoughby and wickham found dead more news at 11

#;letters #(i just got finished listened to a reading of s&s so this was perfect)#(although of all the jane austen novels teresa reads i will be biased. i think persuasion is her favorite)#(because its the most mature of her novels- anne is older than any other protagonist. and teresa is a romantic and LOVES romance novel)#(especially in her youth though i think she tries to hide it/deny it but by the time she meets/marries sharpe she can indulge in it ;w;#(but i think she enjoys anne's maturity and how brave she is in the face of longing and heartbreak and yearning)#(8 years!! 8 years since she's seen the man she loved- the man she never stopped loving. it might not have been 8 years)#(but teresa understands that longing of missing someone you love dearly- someone gone off to fight- not knowing if youll see them again)#(all too well)#(one day i'll write out the moreno family dynamic i have most of it in my head as well as family fancasts....)#(also ty for your patience!! ill answer your next ask asap <3)

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crymeariveronceagain · 2 years

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Ah this is awkward. Um.

You're like, gray aroace right? I'm pretty sure I'm fully aroace (as in has never had a crush sexually or romantically) and idk if I wil at some point but whatever.

Anyway, so like, I was talking w my friend - and like, I have two people I really consider 'friends', who I'd always like... kind of imagined spending my life with ig? Like not romantically, but in a 'you're my best friend and how can I ever stop caring about you' way. And so my friend was talking about how they really want to find love and get married and like...

My other friend also talks about finding a gf and all that and basically the point is they both talk about how they're so scared they'll never find 'love' and 'move on'. And the thing that terrifies me is they're like moving on from when, other than familialy, our platonic relationships were ig most important? Like, they will never value these bonds as much as I do. They'll leave me behind for romantic partners and I'm so scared I'll have to force myself into loving someone that way just so I don't get left behind. It's hard enough with my parents, and I'm so scared of losing them, but I'm going to because I'll never matter as much to them as they do to me.

I think that was the moment it really clicked for me 'I'm different' and I don't know what to do.

Hi darling!!!!

First of all, I don't identify as any manner of ace or aro. They're not comfortable terms to me, and it's taken me a long while to get to a place where I can actually, like. Write that? I used to identify as ace, but I don't anymore. Primarily because it became such a huge anxiety trigger for me. And, honestly, it still kind of is. The entire question of my sexuality makes me feel like throwing up, a little. Not mad about it or anything, and not offended either(you can assume whatever you want about me) but, anyways. I love you <3

So, like. I'd like to start off with saying a couple things.

First and foremost, your perception of friendships is completely normal, actually. So many people today, and I mean this honestly, have a disordered perception of the value of relationships. So often they set friendships on back burner, and instead focus on romantic relationships. And, actually. I'll tell you why.

Friendships are so, so, so valuable.

With any luck, any person can find a lover. In fact, most people without much work can swipe right a few times and get everything they want out of that situation.

But a friendship? A real, whole, true one?

Stars, you're lucky if you get one in your whole life.

There is something beautiful, soul-quenchingly holy and wonderful about true friendships, about kindred spirits. There is something so endlessly pure about loving a person not even for some kind of romantic pursuit, but just for the hell of it. For the hell of loving. For the hell of living. For the hell of understanding, for the hell of breathing, for the hell of sharing. There's something so infinitely beautiful, and there's something scary.

Because true friendship doesn't ask for anything but companionship and patience, for the mutual care of someone. That's all it wants, and that's its end. That's the goal of friendship. Mutual care. Patience. Companionship.

Romance asks for more than that.

But true friendship is one of the most pure loves.

The ancient Greeks called it Philia.

C. S. Lewis said, about it, in his book The Four Loves(100% recommend you read this at some point.) "“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”

That's a beautiful, amazing thing right there. It's like philosophy, it's like art. It's brilliant. It's lovely.

Now, all that to say, that if friendship is like art, you are not different or new to value it as you do. It means you have a natural predilection, maybe, to value it as you do, just as some people are naturally disposed to art or philosophy, or even to romance.

On to the specifics about your friends. If your friends don't value you like you value them, they're kind of crappy friends.

Because even a desire for a relationship should not change the love they have for you. Even being in a relationship should not decrease their care for you.

It took me a while to learn this, and in fact it's through the love of my best friend that I have learned this. I had friends, when I was in high school, who abandoned me, repeatedly, for each other. They treated me like I was disposable. Like my existence didn't matter. I'd have died for them. They wouldn't have died for me.

But then, I met the girl I'd call my "bosom friend--an intimate friend, you know--a really kindred spirit to whom I can confide my innermost soul. I've dreamed of meeting her all my life. I never really supposed I would, but so many of my loveliest dreams have come true all at once that perhaps this one will, too. Do you think it's possible?"(Anne Of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery)

She's in a relationship, set to be married, actually, now.

But the thing is, I have never once questioned her love for me. I've never once had to. She's never made me feel like I didn't matter to her. I even brought it up, once. That I would always expect to be second to her husband-to-be, and she said we weren't on the same playing field, so to speak. I don't remember exactly what she said, but it's settled, deeply in my soul. It was something along the lines of, He's my boyfriend, but you're my best friend. It made me cry, nearly.

She's my best friend, and she values me like I value her.

So, I've got to tell you.

If they do not love you like you love them.

They're not the people you want to line your dreams up with.

Believe me. If you believe nothing else I say, believe me on this.

You want people who love you just as fiercely as you love them.

They should value the bond as much as you do. Don't settle for less. Find friends who will fight and die for you. If they won't, you can do better. Find friends who are willing to love you. Find friends who want you in their futures.

Really, dearest, this has very little to do with sexuality.

Ik it sounds dumb, because why wouldn't it?

But this is about friendship. It's about this stupid world we live in refusing to place emphasis on friendship. Stars, compare it to art! How would you feel if people went "Art is kind of stupid, we don't need it to live, so there's very little point to maintaining it or making more or making the stuff that sticks in your ribs and makes breathing hard." Like, that's what society has said about friendship!

It's been so greatly reduced, so greatly destroyed, so corrupted by the media and by hook up culture and by the concept even that friendship doesn't matter unless you're gonna date eventually.

Literally, what the heck is up with that?

It's so stupid and pointless you don't understand.

We live in a world that destroys and degrades friendship on an altar of romance.

My best friend's brother once heard her tell me she loved me and he called us gay. That's how estranged we are from a world that respects friendship. Brothers crack jokes that burn and make you wonder if you're doing something wrong by expressing something so simple as love.

I still tell her I love her. I call her beautiful. Lovely. She does the same for me.

We lift each other up, point each other towards where we want to go.

And there is so much hope for our futures in our lives. I'm going to be in her wedding next summer. I want to meet her husband. I want her to meet my future spouse, whoever they are. I want to meet her kids. I want her to meet mine. I want to go to movies with her. I want to eat dinner in her house. I want to meet up for a glass of wine and sit as grandmothers on the same front porch and talk like there's an endless life before us.

My friend wants the same things.

Look.

Darling, dearest anon.

If your friends want to move on from your friendship, they're not the kind of people you want as friends.

Because you deserve to be valued as you value others.

That's just a fact of human existence.

And if these friends want to move on, to step out into the world and leave you behind, to cast aside your friendship for romance, pretend like that's some sort of mutually exclusive relationship, pretend, for even a moment like love is some sort of finite resource, and that they're willing to cast you off like you don't matter in exchange for it.

Not only are they wrong, it's highkey cruel of them.

If they're thinking the friendship is limited, that it's conditional, that it's doomed, or that it's fading, or whatever kind of hula hoops they're jumping through in their heads, that's what it's going to be, because they're striking a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It has nothing to do with you.

You honestly sound like you're the normal, functioning person here.

They sound like they're the ones who are different.

Sure, a point could be argued, I suppose, that in this culture an emphasis on friendship and a platonic love of others is different.

Sure. You could say that you're different because you want to be loved and valued in return. That you love intensely and deeply.

But stars.

Lovely, most beloved anon.

Find new friends.

Ditch these people. I know it's gonna hurt. Friendship breakups hurt more than heartbreaks(I've experienced both, I can attest to this) but if they're not going to love you as you deserve. You are worthy of so much more than this hovering feeling of impending doom. You're worth more than listening to them talk about the romance they want to leave you behind for. You're worth endlessly more than them underappreciating and undervaluing your friendship.

Just walk away.

It's not worth it to love like that. It's unrequited. It's undervalued.

There's a best friend out there for you, I'm sure of it.

Someone who will value you just as much as you value them.

And maybe it will take a while to find them. Maybe you'll have to go through more friendships that aren't valuable enough to the other party.

Who cares.

True friendship exists. True filial love exists. You can find it.

The world probably feels really small, right now. It is not small.

The world is huge. It is full of people.

And you don't need a lot of people. That's another lie.

All you need is one good friend. All you need is one. And you'll be okay.

I never thought I would make friends who actually loved me. And then, I did.

So if a wreck like me can find legitimate friends who love and value me as much as I love and value them, you'll have no problems, dearest.

There are people out there waiting.

There are friendships in the world that you can make.

These two people are not the only two you get.

I swear it to you.

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jomiddlemarch · 2 years

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Some options for you:

Emmry, Mulled Wine

Helnik, Come All Ye Faithful

Thank you!

Emma stood beside the window, looking out into the night. She could hear the sound of Mary talking and Dr. Foster’s low, delighted laugh drifting down the hall, the voices of the others harder to tell apart. She’d said she’d be along in a minute, uttering some nonsense that Mary nodded at before letting herself be led into the well-lit sitting room, her arm on Dr. Foster’s, his other hand at her waist, keeping her steady despite her lameness. Emma had wanted to be alone or so she told herself. She wanted something and being alone was something she could have.

“Emma?” Henry said, her name a question he must have asked a thousand times. How many times had he asked it lying sleepless in his bed, suffering over a sermon that he couldn’t write, muttered under his breath when he sat by a dying boy and there was no prayer he could remember? She’d never ask and he’d never tell.

“I’ve been here before,” she said, touching her fingers lightly to the windowpane. It was raining and the glass looked like it had been enchanted or she had drunk too deeply of the mulled wine Dr. Foster had poured out with a liberal hand. “Before Dr. Foster leased it for Mary, for Mrs. Foster, it was the Arden’s house. They had a ball and Georgianna had her mother get every last gardenia in Alexandria.”

“You miss it,” Henry said. He’d walked closer than she expected, standing near enough she could reach out and touch his cuff, as near as Dr. Foster stood to his wife, though without the doctor’s obvious eager fondness.

“It gave me a sick headache, all that perfume,” Emma said, frowning a little. “It was another world. I can’t go back, I wouldn’t, even if I could.”

“Still, you may miss it,” he said.

“It’s not what I want,” she said. “I didn’t want the mulled wine either, though I know Mary had it made for me, I’d mentioned it was something we used to have on these cold nights. It was costly, all the cinnamon and clove and Dr. Foster would only allow Bordeaux, and Mary would have served spiced cider or a rum punch if she hadn’t been thinking of me. I don’t want to be in ballroom, in a ballgown, and it isn’t that I envy Mary, she’s the dearest woman, the dearest friend—”

“She is,” Henry said. “She wouldn’t want you to be unhappy—”

“How can I be otherwise?” Emma exclaimed. “How can I be happy when everything is wrong and I don’t want what I have? When I can’t have what I want, when even wanting it is wrong?”

“I want you,” he said, shocking her into silence. He’d said it, the words hung between them, and he did not try to take them back or offer some explanation that would lessen them.

“You don’t—”

“I do,” he said, moving just that much closer, touching her hand where it lay on the window, then taking a finger and using it to lift her chin. “I want you, I want to taste the mulled wine on your lips. I want Jed to call out my name, Hopkins, not Henry, to remind me that I cannot take liberties, that’s he’s trusted me long enough and Mary is beginning to worry.”

“Henry—” she began, her voice uncertain, disconsolate. His hand moved to cup her cheek, his face moved closer to hers, so his lips were nearly touching hers. He held her gaze so she couldn’t bring herself to look away.

“Say it again. Like you know I’ll answer,” he said. “Like you know Mary should worry.”

“Henry,” she said, without the coquetry of a sigh, without anything but hope.

“Yes,” he said. And then he kissed her, the taste of the mulled wine all ginger and myrtle pepper on his lips, and distantly, Emma felt Mary worry and smile and squeeze Dr. Foster’s hand. No one called Henry’s name, nor her own, but someone, perhaps Miss Jenkins, began to sing “I Saw Three Ships” and the melody wound around her just as Henry pulled her into his arms.

“I’m not worried,” Mary said, her hands moving steadily, plaiting her unbound hair with a graceful rhythm Jed never tired of watching. “Now that they’ve declared themselves, they’ll find a way through.”

“You’re so sure he spoke, our diffident Reverend Hopkins? And that Miss Green answered in the affirmative?”

“I see you’re in a mood to jest,” Mary replied. “As if anyone could wonder, seeing their faces—”

“I will admit we might have put out every candle and still had the house bright as noon,” Jed said, smiling himself in memory. “I could have operated on Sergeant McFarland’s orbital fracture far more efficiently if Henry had only proposed a bit sooner while Miss Green assisted on the surgery.”

“And Henry isn’t diffident, he’s got a New Englander’s proper reticence. You mightn’t be expected to recognize it,” Mary said, teasing him with her prim tone, her hands tying a bow in the ribbon at the end of her braid. “It won’t be easy for them, but it’ll come out right and I’m sure they’ll have all kinds of support, even from the most unexpected quarters.”

There was a moment of silence, as Jed rose to help her over to the bed, aware of how sorely her leg ached after a long day, a moment during which he must have considered her remark as well, for he laughed as he settled her beneath the patchwork quilt and soft white sheets.

“Nan Hastings shall finally reign supreme, without a challenger! Heaven help me, Mary, Mansion House under the thumb of Nurse Hastings—”

“You’re wildly optimistic, I believe. I should say, under her boot,” Mary quipped and then Jed laughed again, more quietly, as he joined her in the bed and gathered her into his arms to an untroubled sleep.

#mercy street #mercy street pbs #emmry #phoster #prompt fill #fericita s #emma/henry #holiday #mulled wine #season 3 that never was #anne hastings #henry hopkins manning up #emma green #charlotte jenkins cameo #romance #happy new year's eve #mercy street peeps

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crownspeaksblog · 1 year

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This is the first time in my life that i got to like page 15 of ao3.. i don't think I've ever get past page 5..

#i guess it took the right kind of ship to make me read like 3-4 fics every night before bed..#i absolutely love reading about the ann(e)s... fanfic anne actually defends her wife and isn't very confused about her feelings..#gentleman jack #the ann(e)s #anne lister #ann walker #fanfic #fanfiction #ao3 #canon vs fanon

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love-at-first-bite · 2 years

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Sorry to still be a #Hater but, knowing I Will be playing 3 playthroughs of Persona 3 (2 Portable runs and one FES+The Answer run) sounds so much more fun and enjoyable than playing Persona 5 for a second time, vanilla or Royal I'M SORRY THIS IS A P5 HATE ACCOUNT NOW

#victor beeps #meanwhile i will play P4 one million times #i'm sorry!!!!! i didn't like 5's story as much #it starts off SO BAD (content wise. which is why i put the game down for like a year)#i love the phantom thieves. honest. but joker isn't my fave protag #I HATE MORGANA >:V I WANNA LIKE HIM SO BAD CAUSE KITTY BUT HE SUCKS #ann was done SOOOOOO dirty. and ryuji too <:/ (love both them so much tho)#yusuke is written as the ''weird kid'' and just feels like everyone is laughing at him all the time #i didn't find makoto or haru all that memorable compared to the rest of the party #i don't really have a problem with futaba's writing. i love her so much and love how they handled her mental problems actually #but the ''she's practically my sister'' line in Royal and you can still romance her :/ kinda yuck #also ummm biggest issue with 5 is that you can romance the adult women and joker's 16. one of them being your teacher :/ big yikes #and i don't much care for kasumi as others do. she's an interesting character yes but sorry #akechi my wonderful son it felt like his story was snuffed out super quick just to get to the end. also fuck pancakes shut up fuck you #i'm sorry i can't help but compare it to the games that came before. 5 was my first persona game tho #i just prefer 4. story and characters #a copy of p5r is at the gamestop for like 20 bucks and i do want it! but i just can't be assed to play p5 again at least for a long while #long tags of me being a hater man sorryyyyyyy if you read all these i love you <3

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sieglinde-freud · 10 months

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finally got over myself and got my free little merge with the forma soul… first time ever used one. launch player btw. why yes, i do avoid using legendary weapons in the main line games out of fear of breaking them because “what if i need it later” how could you tell

#hes come a long way since the ol raven tome triangle adept bow/blue tome breaker days… im so proud of him #like he still kinda sucks just cuz his bst is so low but. i love him :3 #i was also kinda of scared i wouldnt like the blue border/stars but actually #its very cute :) chrom blue too like his dad :3 #plus my laslow already has a pink background cuz i have him s supported so whats another unique border for my girlfriend #need like a purple one for spring inigo…#ann cries about feh #also adding i pulled on the banner this time too cuz rare pa!inigo without colorsharing and he #he came home three extra times AND brought a brave soren with him #which i already had one. so the spare gets to be foddered to nyx :) inigo always got his wife in mind ong

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applescabs · 8 months

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WE'RE FINALLY DONE WITH TACTICAAAA AGHAGHHS

#took us around 56 hours. which is between what i expected. 50/60 hours.#we're just glad its over and done with (for now. we'll revisit the dlc once we finish royal)#its honestly such a shame that it ended up being the way it was.#it was like. ok the entire first area feels like a way too long tutorial.#and then the 2nd area had some fun stuff but also felt like a drag cause they kept repeating themselves over and over again #in typical p5 fashion...#the third area was easily the best because it finally had good pacing between story and battle amount #and then the last area was like the last area in s frontiers were it was clear that they just. sort of ran out of time #and just decided to recolour some shit from previous areas to throw at you #the final boss battle was kinda nice though but unfortunately we were way too overpowered #on hard mode...? without grinding ever. ok then.#anyways shoutout to brigantine blitzkrieg. the only voltage move we ever used. used it like 8 times in that final battle.#shoutout to ryuji in general btw he was almost always in our team. along w yusuke and ann. they were the dreamteam.#also fun fact. whenever lavenza would talk with spoken dialogue we would straight up cut her off #because she talks terribly slow and we hate her <3 #also i like the style of this game. sure. but i feel like it actively worked against itself whenever it would get really serious #the boss designs in this game though? fucking phenomenal like they really knocked it outta the park w those #and every p5 game shouldve used the offwhite in the menus of this one instead of the bright white. my eyes thank the designer of this game #tedpost #tedtalks #and no way in hell ppl finished this game in 25 hours. shut the hell up no you didnt.

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berryblu-soda · 8 months

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Okay so it's five am and i was laying down trying to sleep when it occurred to me that if Arrio is a Magite on his mom's side, then Jessie must be too. and im kinda losing it over this realization. aksjsaksjakajakakak i really hope they acknowledge this in canon. like, so much.

sorry, normally i would have put a lot more effort into this message, but im kinda tired. now im going to sleep. night lol

bestie hiii! im manifesting in your haouse and knocking you out :D <3<3<3!!!

hdsfjhfsfdhfd yeah!!!! i mean by heritage theyre both magites!! AK has never said much abt Jessie as far as im concerned so we´re pretty much in the dark on if she´s gonna get anything in an old old concept, the whole magite powers thing worked like a "battery" and would be passed down if i remember correctly, so with Arrio being the eldest he would´ve taken the powers, and Jessie wouldnt get anything, not sure if that´s stilll canon tho

i think the other option would be they both have the potential, but it needs a trigger of some kind, with the spellbook acting as arrio´s trigger, idk idk also srsly dw!!!! you could send the most incomprehensible keymash post and i´d be just as happy to recieve it, youre good lmaoo <3<3<3<3

#jupiter men #jupiter-men #jupiter men webtoon #arrio mckay #bestest boy he deserves everything good <3<3<3<3 #ask #ann <3 #girl sorry i keep pulling out the most random facts from this story´s concept art phase #had a huge hyperfixation on it back in like 2016 and read through absolutely all the comments jdsfhbfdjhgdhj #also bonus fun fact; AK considered giving him a familiar at one point :D; hope she does do that bc the lil creature was sooo cute <3<3<3<3

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vyragosa · 9 months

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just got a divine vision and it came with alva eye wrinkles while smiling, i shall be plagued by the image for weeks to come,

#i keep s aying insane shit with ann icons like there was SOMEONE in eng 3 talking about JONESTOWN.#i asked if they were kidding or one of those killers stans and they swore they were just interested in the case #and i just replied something along the lines of It's good to know the signs of indoctrination and learn about it #and i just looked at my ann portrait so blankly #i mean she did very much saw the Signs

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yeoldenews · 8 months

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A Guide to Historically Accurate Regency-Era Names

I recently received a message from a historical romance writer asking if I knew any good resources for finding historically accurate Regency-era names for their characters.

Not knowing any off the top of my head, I dug around online a bit and found there really isn’t much out there. The vast majority of search results were Buzzfeed-style listicles which range from accurate-adjacent to really, really, really bad.

I did find a few blog posts with fairly decent name lists, but noticed that even these have very little indication as to each name’s relative popularity as those statistical breakdowns really don't exist.

I began writing up a response with this information, but then I (being a research addict who was currently snowed in after a blizzard) thought hey - if there aren’t any good resources out there why not make one myself?

As I lacked any compiled data to work from, I had to do my own data wrangling on this project. Due to this fact, I limited the scope to what I thought would be the most useful for writers who focus on this era, namely - people of a marriageable age living in the wealthiest areas of London.

So with this in mind - I went through period records and compiled the names of 25,000 couples who were married in the City of Westminster (which includes Mayfair, St. James and Hyde Park) between 1804 to 1821.

So let’s see what all that data tells us…

To begin - I think it’s hard for us in the modern world with our wide and varied abundance of first names to conceive of just how POPULAR popular names of the past were.

If you were to take a modern sample of 25-year-old (born in 1998) American women, the most common name would be Emily with 1.35% of the total population. If you were to add the next four most popular names (Hannah, Samantha, Sarah and Ashley) these top five names would bring you to 5.5% of the total population. (source: Social Security Administration)

If you were to do the same survey in Regency London - the most common name would be Mary with 19.2% of the population. Add the next four most popular names (Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah and Jane) and with just 5 names you would have covered 62% of all women.

To hit 62% of the population in the modern survey it would take the top 400 names.

The top five Regency men’s names (John, William, Thomas, James and George) have nearly identical statistics as the women’s names.

I struggled for the better part of a week with how to present my findings, as a big list in alphabetical order really fails to get across the popularity factor and also isn’t the most tumblr-compatible format. And then my YouTube homepage recommended a random video of someone ranking all the books they’d read last year - and so I present…

The Regency Name Popularity Tier List

The Tiers

S+ - 10% of the population or greater. There is no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. 52% of the population had one of these 7 names.

S - 2-10%. There is still no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. Names in this percentage range in the past have included Mary and William in the 1880s and Jennifer in the late 1970s (topped out at 4%).

A - 1-2%. The top five modern names usually fall in this range. Kids with these names would probably include their last initial in class to avoid confusion. (1998 examples: Emily, Sarah, Ashley, Michael, Christopher, Brandon.)

B - .3-1%. Very common names. Would fall in the top 50 modern names. You would most likely know at least 1 person with these names. (1998 examples: Jessica, Megan, Allison, Justin, Ryan, Eric)

C - .17-.3%. Common names. Would fall in the modern top 100. You would probably know someone with these names, or at least know of them. (1998 examples: Chloe, Grace, Vanessa, Sean, Spencer, Seth)

D - .06-.17%. Less common names. In the modern top 250. You may not personally know someone with these names, but you’re aware of them. (1998 examples: Faith, Cassidy, Summer, Griffin, Dustin, Colby)

E - .02-.06%. Uncommon names. You’re aware these are names, but they are not common. Unusual enough they may be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Calista, Skye, Precious, Fabian, Justice, Lorenzo)

F - .01-.02%. Rare names. You may have heard of these names, but you probably don’t know anyone with one. Extremely unusual, and would likely be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Emerald, Lourdes, Serenity, Dario, Tavian, Adonis)

G - Very rare names. There are only a handful of people with these names in the entire country. You’ve never met anyone with this name.

H - Virtually non-existent. Names that theoretically could have existed in the Regency period (their original source pre-dates the early 19th century) but I found fewer than five (and often no) period examples of them being used in Regency England. (Example names taken from romance novels and online Regency name lists.)

Just to once again reinforce how POPULAR popular names were before we get to the tier lists - statistically, in a ballroom of 100 people in Regency London: 80 would have names from tiers S+/S. An additional 15 people would have names from tiers A/B and C. 4 of the remaining 5 would have names from D/E. Only one would have a name from below tier E.

Women's Names

S+ Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah

S - Jane, Mary Ann+, Hannah, Susannah, Margaret, Catherine, Martha, Charlotte, Maria

A - Frances, Harriet, Sophia, Eleanor, Rebecca

B - Alice, Amelia, Bridget~, Caroline, Eliza, Esther, Isabella, Louisa, Lucy, Lydia, Phoebe, Rachel, Susan

C - Ellen, Fanny*, Grace, Henrietta, Hester, Jemima, Matilda, Priscilla

D - Abigail, Agnes, Amy, Augusta, Barbara, Betsy*, Betty*, Cecilia, Christiana, Clarissa, Deborah, Diana, Dinah, Dorothy, Emily, Emma, Georgiana, Helen, Janet^, Joanna, Johanna, Judith, Julia, Kezia, Kitty*, Letitia, Nancy*, Ruth, Winifred>

E - Arabella, Celia, Charity, Clara, Cordelia, Dorcas, Eve, Georgina, Honor, Honora, Jennet^, Jessie*^, Joan, Joyce, Juliana, Juliet, Lavinia, Leah, Margery, Marian, Marianne, Marie, Mercy, Miriam, Naomi, Patience, Penelope, Philadelphia, Phillis, Prudence, Rhoda, Rosanna, Rose, Rosetta, Rosina, Sabina, Selina, Sylvia, Theodosia, Theresa

F - (selected) Alicia, Bethia, Euphemia, Frederica, Helena, Leonora, Mariana, Millicent, Mirah, Olivia, Philippa, Rosamund, Sybella, Tabitha, Temperance, Theophila, Thomasin, Tryphena, Ursula, Virtue, Wilhelmina

G - (selected) Adelaide, Alethia, Angelina, Cassandra, Cherry, Constance, Delilah, Dorinda, Drusilla, Eva, Happy, Jessica, Josephine, Laura, Minerva, Octavia, Parthenia, Theodora, Violet, Zipporah

H - Alberta, Alexandra, Amber, Ashley, Calliope, Calpurnia, Chloe, Cressida, Cynthia, Daisy, Daphne, Elaine, Eloise, Estella, Lilian, Lilias, Francesca, Gabriella, Genevieve, Gwendoline, Hermione, Hyacinth, Inez, Iris, Kathleen, Madeline, Maude, Melody, Portia, Seabright, Seraphina, Sienna, Verity

Men's Names

S+ John, William, Thomas

S - James, George, Joseph, Richard, Robert, Charles, Henry, Edward, Samuel

A - Benjamin, (Mother’s/Grandmother’s maiden name used as first name)#

B - Alexander^, Andrew, Daniel, David>, Edmund, Francis, Frederick, Isaac, Matthew, Michael, Patrick~, Peter, Philip, Stephen, Timothy

C - Abraham, Anthony, Christopher, Hugh>, Jeremiah, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Walter

D - Adam, Arthur, Bartholomew, Cornelius, Dennis, Evan>, Jacob, Job, Josiah, Joshua, Lawrence, Lewis, Luke, Mark, Martin, Moses, Nicholas, Owen>, Paul, Ralph, Simon

E - Aaron, Alfred, Allen, Ambrose, Amos, Archibald, Augustin, Augustus, Barnard, Barney, Bernard, Bryan, Caleb, Christian, Clement, Colin, Duncan^, Ebenezer, Edwin, Emanuel, Felix, Gabriel, Gerard, Gilbert, Giles, Griffith, Harry*, Herbert, Humphrey, Israel, Jabez, Jesse, Joel, Jonas, Lancelot, Matthias, Maurice, Miles, Oliver, Rees, Reuben, Roger, Rowland, Solomon, Theophilus, Valentine, Zachariah

F - (selected) Abel, Barnabus, Benedict, Connor, Elijah, Ernest, Gideon, Godfrey, Gregory, Hector, Horace, Horatio, Isaiah, Jasper, Levi, Marmaduke, Noah, Percival, Shadrach, Vincent

G - (selected) Albion, Darius, Christmas, Cleophas, Enoch, Ethelbert, Gavin, Griffin, Hercules, Hugo, Innocent, Justin, Maximilian, Methuselah, Peregrine, Phineas, Roland, Sebastian, Sylvester, Theodore, Titus, Zephaniah

H - Albinus, Americus, Cassian, Dominic, Eric, Milo, Rollo, Trevor, Tristan, Waldo, Xavier

# Men were sometimes given a family surname (most often their mother's or grandmother's maiden name) as their first name - the most famous example of this being Fitzwilliam Darcy. If you were to combine all surname-based first names as a single 'name' this is where the practice would rank.

*Rank as a given name, not a nickname

+If you count Mary Ann as a separate name from Mary - Mary would remain in S+ even without the Mary Anns included

~Primarily used by people of Irish descent

^Primarily used by people of Scottish descent

>Primarily used by people of Welsh descent

I was going to continue on and write about why Regency-era first names were so uniform, discuss historically accurate surnames, nicknames, and include a little guide to finding 'unique' names that are still historically accurate - but this post is already very, very long, so that will have to wait for a later date.

If anyone has any questions/comments/clarifications in the meantime feel free to message me.

Methodology notes: All data is from marriage records covering six parishes in the City of Westminster between 1804 and 1821. The total sample size was 50,950 individuals.

I chose marriage records rather than births/baptisms as I wanted to focus on individuals who were adults during the Regency era rather than newborns. I think many people make the mistake when researching historical names by using baby name data for the year their story takes place rather than 20 to 30 years prior, and I wanted to avoid that. If you are writing a story that takes place in 1930 you don’t want to research the top names for 1930, you need to be looking at 1910 or earlier if you are naming adult characters.

I combined (for my own sanity) names that are pronounced identically but have minor spelling differences: i.e. the data for Catherine also includes Catharines and Katherines, Susannah includes Susannas, Phoebe includes Phebes, etc.

The compound 'Mother's/Grandmother's maiden name used as first name' designation is an educated guesstimate based on what I recognized as known surnames, as I do not hate myself enough to go through 25,000+ individuals and confirm their mother's maiden names. So if the tally includes any individuals who just happened to be named Fitzroy/Hastings/Townsend/etc. because their parents liked the sound of it and not due to any familial relations - my bad.

I did a small comparative survey of 5,000 individuals in several rural communities in Rutland and Staffordshire (chosen because they had the cleanest data I could find and I was lazy) to see if there were any significant differences between urban and rural naming practices and found the results to be very similar. The most noticeable difference I observed was that the S+ tier names were even MORE popular in rural areas than in London. In Rutland between 1810 and 1820 Elizabeths comprised 21.4% of all brides vs. 15.3% in the London survey. All other S+ names also saw increases of between 1% and 6%. I also observed that the rural communities I surveyed saw a small, but noticeable and fairly consistent, increase in the use of names with Biblical origins.

Sources of the records I used for my survey:

Ancestry.com. England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1988 [database on-line].

Ancestry.com. Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 [database on-line].

#history #regency #1800s #1810s #names #london #writing resources #regency romance #jane austen #bridgerton #bridgerton would be an exponentially better show if daphne's name was dorcas #behold - the reason i haven't posted in three weeks

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