Georgette Heyer Fans discussion

Jenny wrote: "I get the feeling 'Augusta' tends to be a name with generally negative connotations, though I can't remember any others off hand..."

Freddy's aunt in Cotillion, the one that treated his her poor son horribly, was named Augusta too.

(Edited to correct my mistake)

'Aurelia' is used twice, for very different women - and oddly it seems to suit them both.
There's Lady Steeple in Venetia who is vain, self-absorbed, frivolous and improper, while Lady Aurelia Darracott in The Unknown Ajax is self-controlled, dignified, perceptive and extremely proper with great presence of mind.

Julia wrote: "I like Julian and Julius ... can't remember which books exactly but they stick out for me since they're close to my name :P"

Lord Worth (Regency Buck) is Julian, as is also his infant son in An Infamous Army. I can't place Julius - unless he was somebody's uncle? One of Sherry's (Friday's Child)?

Augusta is also Alverstoke's eldest sister (Lady Jevington) in Frederica.

I had forgotten about Miss Penistone, but was thinking of redoubtable aunts like Vincent's mother in The Unknown Ajax.

I didn't remember Miss Penistone, but I was thinking of redoubtable aunts like Lady Jevington in Frederica and Vincent's mother in The Unknown Ajax.

I didn’t remember Miss Penistone, but I was thinking of redoubtable aunts like Lady Jevington in Frederica and Vincent’s mother in The Unknown Ajax—though upon looking it up I see that the latter is Aurelia, not Augusta. I’d have to do a thorough search to see if there are any others in the Lady Jevington mode, though I have a feeling there are. I don’t read the short stories.

Julia wrote: "I like Julian and Julius ... can't remember which books exactly but they stick out for me since they're close to my name :P"

I wrote: "Lord Worth (Regency Buck) is Julian, as is also his infant son in An Infamous Army. I can't place Julius - unless he was somebody's uncle? One of Sherry's (Friday's Child)?"

But I find Sherry's uncles are Horace (like The Grand Sophy's papa) and Prosper, so not either of them. Why have I got "Your Uncle Julius is an old woman!" going through my head? Is that really a quotation from one of the books or am I imagining things?

That quote rings a bell with me as well, Jenny, but I can't place it. I do occasionally use that epithet, calling someone (generally a younger man) an old woman. :-)

The opening scene of Faro's Daughter. (I resorted to Google.)

"Try Uncle Julius."
"That old woman!" exclaimed Lady Mablethorpe, disposing of her brother-in-law in one contemptuous phrase. "Pray, what could he do to the purpose?"
"Sympathise with you," said Mr Ravenscar, taking snuff.


I'm not sure Uncle Julius ever actually appears in the book...

Thanks, Igenlode!

Abigail wrote: "I think she reuses Augusta as shorthand for an older woman with a great deal of dignity and reserve as well as unusual perceptivity."

I'd agree with you, Abigail, but maybe we're both thinking of Oscar Wilde's Aunt Augusta in "The Importance of Being Earnest"!

Definitely a classic of the type!

Igenlode wrote: "The opening scene of Faro's Daughter. (I resorted to Google.)

"Try Uncle Julius."
"That old woman!" exclaimed Lady Mablethorpe, disposing of her brother-in-law in one contemptuous phrase. "Pray, w..."

Thank you thank you thank you! That has been driving me bananas!

I've just got hold of the Kloester biography at last, and was interested to note that GH's father had had a younger brother called Hubert Claude - both of them names that turn up on younger brothers in the novels (respectively Grand Sophy and Unknown Ajax).
She never knew him (he died in infancy) but it's nice to think she paid tribute to him in this way.

"Cotillion" has a Claude (or Claud?) too, he's another cousin of Freddy, Jack & co. He's only mentioned a few times and never appears on the book because he's a soldier and he's abroad.

GH uses Charlotte several times to name a minor character, always rather feeble women, which I found rather distressing when I first read them: the elder of Adam's sisters is a Charlotte in A Civil Contract, and so too is the daughter at Staples in The Nonesuch. I am pretty sure there are more but I can't remember them just now. I always wondered whether GH herself perhaps knew a very feeble person called Charlotte.

feeble! that's too bad. The only Jackie I can remember is a child from a chaotic family in a cottage from one of the mysteries. Short for Jackerleen?? or something like that. not a full charachter, even a feeble one, just a background kid for comic effect.

I don't think Jackie had arrived as a name in the Regency period, although I am half recalling a monkey called Jackie, but it might have been Jacko. And I have just remembered another Charlotte: in Venetia, Sir Conway's wife Charlotte, who is another drip... How could I have forgotten?

LOL! is a drip worse than feeble? that's right, the monkey in The Grand Sophy was Jacko. a monkey is worse than a drip!

Detection Unlimited, that's the one with the child named Jackerleen.

Fair point about the monkey, but I always hoped for a Charlotte who was a heroine! Queen Charlotte and Princess Charlotte get mentioned quite a lot; I suppose that could have been an issue.

On the discussion of male names earlier in the thread, I know several men called Ivo in Germany.

Charlotte, it's not Heyer and not humorous, but there's quite a nice Austenesque novel focused on Charlotte Collins called The Clergyman's Wife: A Pride & Prejudice Novel by Molly Greeley. I found her quietly heroic.

Abigail, I had not come across that. I'll have a look. Thanks!

Hope you like it!

Charlotte was the daughter of the Prince Regent so of course that name appears frequently in Regency novels.

I think the issue with Charlotte is not that it doesn't appear, rather that when it does appear, the character with that name is, as Charlotte puts it, a drip.

Are there any Lucindas or Cynthias? I cannot remember right now.

Charlotte wrote: "GH uses Charlotte several times to name a minor character, always rather feeble women, which I found rather distressing when I first read them: the elder of Adam's sisters is a Charlotte in A Civil..."

Lord Saltash's new fiancée, that Jack and the rest of the family have been invited to meet in the first chapter of The Tollgate is another Charlotte, I seem to remember. She's not a drip, but she does seem to be a well-bred bore!

Meanwhile, 'Jenny' is seen as a pet form of 'Jane' at the time (A Civil Contract) and Harry Smith's sisters also use it for Juana (The Spanish Bride), which is the same name.
The only Jennifer, which is my full name, comes in the pre-Regency The Black Moth*, where it's distinctly anachronistic - though of course there's no reason why the heroine's parents shouldn't have given her an obscure forename unknown outside Cornwall at the time. Perhaps they honeymooned in Cornwall :-)

*Or was it the name given to that lady when the character re-appeared in These Old Shades? I think it was.

Jenny as a nickname for Jane may come from Jane Austen. Mr. Austen wrote of the birth of his second daughter Jane, stating they would call her Jenny. She never went by that nickname.

"Jenny as a nickname for Jane may come from Jane Austen. Mr. Austen wrote of the birth of his second daughter Jane, stating they would call her Jenny. She never went by that nickname."

Interesting, I know it was used back then a lot, but I've always looked at Jenny as a more modern name, I'm not sure why....

On a slightly different note, is it just me, or can a character in a book make or break a name? For example, I was not a huge fan of the name Deborah, (NO offence to other Deborah's out there :D) However, after reading Faro's Daughter, I really didn't mind it anymore, although I believe it generally works the other way!
When I have kids I feel like I'm going to regret reading so many books...However, I can always name them Sophy, Fredricia, Venetia, Anthoney, or Hugo :)

The child will survive, Skyla! I have a friend who loved Georgette Heyer so much she named one of her daughters Augusta. Her daughter is now six-foot-two and a doctor and can carry off the name!

When I was growing up, Deborah (usually shortened to "Debbie") was both a common girl's name, and one that usually seemed to belong to girls that I … let's say, that I had very little in common with. I agree that Deb Grantham in Faro's Daughter does a lot to redeem the name!

Abigail wrote: "The child will survive, Skyla! I have a friend who loved Georgette Heyer so much she named one of her daughters Augusta. Her daughter is now six-foot-two and a doctor and can carry off the name!"

Hahaha, I guess you're right! So glad that worked out for her :) Do you know if the daughter knows about her names inspiration? Hopefully she enjoys GH as much as her mother :)

I hope she does love Heyer! Certainly her mother will have taken care to introduce her to the books.

It's funny the associations we have with certain names. I don't have anything against Deborahs, but I have had several really bad bosses named Susanne . . .

QNPoohBear wrote: "Jenny as a nickname for Jane may come from Jane Austen. Mr. Austen wrote of the birth of his second daughter Jane, stating they would call her Jenny. She never went by that nickname."

The Austens planned to use it because it was the normal diminutive. As a form of 'Jane' it was a generic female name, used (as 'Jack', the male equivalent was) for all sorts of things - a nickname for the wren, a female donkey, machinery ('Spinning Jenny'). It also crops up, along with Polly and Nancy, as a generic name for a character in folk songs.
It was always a form of 'Jane' though - 'Jennifer' didn't come into popular usage till the 1940s, until a film star who used it as a stage name became famous.

Jenny wrote: "Lord Saltash's new fiancée, that Jack and the rest of the family have been invited to meet in the first chapter of The Tollgate is another Charlotte, I seem to remember. She's not a drip, but she does seem to be a well-bred bore!"

I knew there was another one. Yes, she is very proper and boring! Jenny in A Civil Contract by contrast is one of my favourite characters. It was only when I got to the marriage scene that I twigged that this was Jenny as a diminuitive for Jane (which is my mother's name).