#Lady Agnes Elizabeth Courtenay

[princepotatosack]

Hello one and all and welcome to the The Duchess Affair name post. This is a list of period-accurate given names you can give your MC if you need some inspiration or want to know what kinds of names ladies had back then. I've combed through the 1809 edition of Debrett's Peerage for names of noblewomen in the 1600s and 1700s in Britain, which is where I'm taking the liberty of assuming TDA is set.

As always, you can drop any questions in my inbox, I love love love playing reference librarian :-)

Most names in this period either came from the Bible or from literature. The Bible was the most common book owned and read, so Biblical names were frequently seen. Some nobles liked to show off how cultured and educated they were by naming their children after mythological figures or characters from poetry and history, but most people of all classes named children after ancestors or loved ones (which explains why it seems like it was the same dozen names getting passed around again and again.)

Very common names -- the majority of women back then had one of these names:

Anne

Caroline

Catharine (not a typo – this was the standard spelling in the 1700s!)

Charlotte

Diana

Elizabeth

Frances

Georgiana

Henrietta

Isabella

Jane

Louisa

Margaret

Maria (pronounced like “Mariah”)

Martha

Mary

Sarah

Sophia

Less common but not unheard-of names:

Agnes

Alathea

Albinia/Albina

Alicia/Alice

Amelia/ Emilia/Emily

Arabella

Augusta

Barbara

Bridget

Cassandra

Cecilia/Cecily

Clarissa

Constance/Constantia

Dorothea/Dorothy

Eleanor

Emma

Gertrude

Grace

Harriet/Harriott

Hester

Honora/Honoria

Jemima

Judith

Julia

Juliana

Lavinia

Laetitia/Letitia

Laura

Lucy

Marianna/Marianne

Matilda

Penelope

Priscilla

Rachael

Rebecca

Susan/Susanna/Susannah

Theodosia

Theresa

Thomasina/Thomasine

Rarities and oddities -- I only came across these names once or twice each, use them to add a bit of flavor and eccentricity!!!:

Abigail

Amabel/Amabella

Amantha

Anastasia

Angelica

Annabella

Antonia

Araminta

Beatrix

Camilla

Christiana/Christina

Clara

Clementia/Clementina

Dulcibella

Esme

Ethelred

Eugenia

Felicia

Flavia

Flora

Florentia

Frederica

Gabriella

Helen/Helena

Horatia

Josepha

Leonora

Madelina

Margaretta

Narcissa

Octavia

Olivia

Philadelphia

Rose

Selina

Sibella/Sibilla/Sibylla

Tryphena

Urania

Winifred

And just for fun, some extremely British sounding surnames I found that made me chuckle aristocratically:

Beckington

Cavendish

Chatham

Courtenay

Dalrymple

Darlington

Fortescue

Gainsborough

Kingscote

Lovelace

Mountstuart

Ogilvie

Pembroke

Pierrepont

Posonby

Tattershall

Twisleton

Wentworth

Willoughby

Wriothesley

[countvonreutern]

His Serene Highness The Count of Münnich and Reutern wishing his cousin, Charles a very happy birthday.

19th Earl of Devon is His Serene Highness's fifth cousin once removed.

The Count's great-great-great-grandmother, Agnes Elizabeth Wood, Viscountess of Halifax née Courtenay was born in 1838 at the Powderham Castle in Devon.

[catherinesboleyn]

Catherine of Aragon’s Ladies-In-Waiting/Maids-Of-Honor

Ladies-in-waiting:

Anne Hastings - Daughter of William Hastings and Katherine Neville. Married at 10 years old to 13 year old George Talbot, becoming Countess of Shrewsberry. The two had 11 children.

Mary Say - Daughter of Sir William Say and Elizabeth Fray. Married to Henry Bourchier.

Elizabeth Scrope - daughter of Sir Richard Scrope and Eleanor Washbourne. Married to William Beaumont.

Margaret Scrope - No info.

Elizabeth Stafford - Daughter of Edward Stafford and Eleanor Percy. Her father was executed for treason against Henry VIII. Married to Thomas Howard, making her the Duchess of Norfolk. The two had five children. In 1530, she was caught conveying letters to Catherine of Aragon, and was exiled from court the next year.

Agnes Tylney - Daughter of Hugh Tylney and Eleanor Tailboys. Married to Thomas Howard, making her the Duchess of Norfolk. The two had seven children. She was put in the tower when her step-granddaughter, Katherine Howard, was convicted for treason, but was eventually released.

Maud Green - Daughter of Sir Thomas Green and Jane Fogge. Married to Sir Thomas Parr when she was 16 years old. The two had three children, including Katherine Parr.

Elizabeth Howard - Daughter of Thomas Howard and Elizabeth Tinley. Married to Thomas Boleyn. The two had three children, including Anne Boleyn.

Margaret Pole - Daughter of George Plantagenet and Isabel Neville. Her brother, Edward, was executed in 1499 for treason against Henry VII. Married to Sir Richard Pole, the two had five children. She was executed in 1541 for treason against Henry VIII.

Joan Vaux - Daughter of Sir William Vaux and Katherine Penyston. Married to Sir Richard Guilford, the two had one child. In 1499, she was made Lady Governess to Princess Margaret and Mary. She stood for Henry VIII as a witness that Catherine of Aragon and Arthur, Prince of Wales, had consummated their marriage.

Maids-of-honor:

Dorothy Badby - No info.

Elizabeth (Bessie) Blount - Daughter of Sir John Blount and Catherine Pershall. She was mistress to Henry VIII for about eight years, and bore him an illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy. Married Gilbert Tailboys, then again to Edward Clinton. She gave birth to 7 children in her lifetime.

Gertrude Blount - Daughter of William Blount. Married to Henry Courtenay, the two had two children. She was chosen as godmother at the confirmation of Princess Elizabeth, even though she was a close friend of Catherine of Aragon. In 1538, she was put in the Tower along with her husband and son. Her husband was executed, but her and her son were released.

Anne Boleyn - Daughter of Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard. Married Henry VIII when his marriage to Catherine of Aragon was annulled. The two had one child, the future Elizabeth I. She was executed on false charges in 1536.

Joan Champernowne - Daughter of Sir Phillip Champernowne and Katherine Carew. Married to Sir Anthony Denny, the two had twelve children.

Elizabeth Darrell - Daughter of Sir Edward Darrell and Alice Flye. She was the mistress of Sir Thomas Wyatt, who she bore three children by. Married to Robert Stroud in her later years.

Bridget Fogge - Daughter of Sir John Fogge and Alice Fogge. Married to Antoneye Lowe, the two had four children.

Margery Horsman - Close friend of Anne Boleyn’s, and was one of those interrogated before Anne’s arrest.

Frideswide Knight - No info.

Mary Norris - Daughter of Thomas Fiennes and Anne Bourchier. Married to Sir Henry Norris, the two had four children. Five years after her death, her husband was executed for being one of the five alleged lovers of Anne Boleyn.

Katherine Payne - No info.

Jane Popyngcort - Taught Princess Margaret and Mary French. Was rumored to be a mistress of Henry VIII.

Maria de Salinas - Daughter of Martín de Salinas and Josefa González. Married to William Willoughby, the two had one child. She was a good friend of Catherine of Aragon’s, but wasn’t allowed to see her after the annulment from Henry VIII.

Jane Seymour - Daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth. Married Henry VIII after the execution of Anne Boleyn, and she bore him one child, a son. She died not long after she gave birth.

Anne Stanhope - Daughter of Sir Edward Stanhope and Elizabeth Bourchier. Married to Sir Edward Seymour, making her the Duchess of Somerset. The two had seven children. She was said to be very snobby, but was highly intelligent.

Lucy Talbot - No info.

Anne Weston - No info.

Mary Zouche - No info.