What’s in a Name? How About Misogyny?

by Sharon Kayne

I’ve been writing and reading historical romance for some time now, so I’ve seen lots of old-fashioned names, particularly for women. I’m embarrassed to say that it took me a while before I noticed the pattern: lots of old-fashioned names for women represent what might be considered “appropriate” traits for women. I wanted to get a better feel for this, so I wrote a bunch of the names down. In no particular order, I came up with: Faith, Hope, Charity, Grace, Temperance, Prudence, Patience, Chastity, Verity, Felicity, Constance, and Joy. (If I missed any, please feel free to add them in the comments.) Now maybe it’s just the raging feminist inside me, but it seems to me that such names are a way of encouraging girls to take on these traits. It’s like the obnoxious good-girl conditioning we all go through, except this starts with your damn birth certificate and follows you everywhere.

You may think I’m just reading something into a trend that’s not really there. But the fact is, there’s no similar list of boys’ names of “manly” traits. I could, in fact, only come up with two: Victor and August. (Again, if I missed any, please add them in the comments.) Why has it never been popular to name your baby boy Strength, Tenacity, Bravery, Tough, Courage, Resolute, Sturdy, Durable, and Virility? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad these words never became popular boy names, because that would be really obnoxious. (I just want to point out that there are two nicknames for boys—Randy and Dick—that harken to certain male proclivities/appendages. But I digress.) This just goes to show that—as with many aspects of society—there’s a double standard. That’s because boys have long had many more choices when growing up, while girls have, for centuries, been raised to be nothing more than wives (aka servants) and mothers (aka brood mares).

Then there’s the whole slew of flower names for girls—I won’t even bother listing them here. The undercurrent for that trend must be that girls are expected to be delicate and pretty and have no purpose beyond brightening a room. Sure, you wouldn’t want to name your baby boy after a flower, but why not after something more manly—like a tree? But you don’t see a lots of men named Oak, Elm, or Ash walking around, do you? But I bet you’ve known a Rose, Iris, or Lily. I have.

I can’t even imagine how awful it would be to have a name that is also a “feminine” trait. What if you couldn’t live up to it? For example, I’d hate to be named Joy. Since I’ve suffered from chronic depression since I was a kid, it would really irk me to be named Joy. It’d be like rubbing salt in the wound. I’d also make a terrible Grace—since I can find things to trip on that other people just walk right over. What if your name was Patience and you were quick to anger? If your name was Temperance would you be afraid to get stinking drunk? If your name was Chastity would you have to become a nun?

Fortunately, most of these names have fallen out of favor. Although not completely. When I was in college, I knew a trio of sisters named Faith, Hope, and Charity (which is why those were the first three names on my list). These women were not shrinking violets, otherwise they’d never have been friends of mine. Oddly enough, they had an older sister whose name, inexplicably, was Scarlett. I never met her, but I didn’t get the impression that she was the Jezebel of the family. Apparently, everyone in this family was able to rise above their name.

I confess, I’ve actually used some of these “feminine” names in the novels I’ve written—but that was before I had my feminist epiphany about them. From now on, I’ll only stick to female names that don’t come loaded with expectations straight from the Victorian era and that harken back to good old-fashioned misogyny. I mean, you can be authentic in your writing without being stupid.

I post to my blog every Sunday. Follow me on Facebook or Instagram, or sign up for my monthly newsletter (here) to be informed of my new posts. Also, please follow me on Amazon, Goodreads and BookBub.

Buy my historical romances, This Restless Sea, The Green Silk Gown, and Variations on a Romance, at Amazon.