[name_m]Hi[/name_m]! When I first started my WIP, it was set it modern times. One of my characters is named [name_u]Brennan[/name_u]. Lately I’ve been considering changing the setting to civil war era, but was the name [name_u]Brennan[/name_u] used in [name_u]America[/name_u] at that time? I’d like to change as few names as possible. But if it wasn’t, feel free to offer alternatives. Thanks!
[name_m]Hi[/name_m],
Sorry to be a downer, but [name_u]Brennan[/name_u] wasn’t really used until the early/mid 20th century. Here are some names you could use:
[name_m]Abraham[/name_m]
[name_u]August[/name_u]
[name_m]Cornelius[/name_m]
[name_m]Cyrus[/name_m]
[name_m]Edmond[/name_m]
[name_m]Edwin[/name_m]
[name_u]Elias[/name_u]
[name_u]Francis[/name_u]
[name_m]George[/name_m]
[name_m]Gideon[/name_m]
[name_m]Harrison[/name_m]
[name_m]Horace[/name_m]
[name_m]Jasper[/name_m]
[name_m]Jeremiah[/name_m]
[name_m]Levi[/name_m]
[name_m]Oscar[/name_m]
[name_m]Samuel[/name_m]
[name_m]Solomon[/name_m]
[name_m]Theodore[/name_m]
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] I helped!
As a first name, no, I don’t believe [name_u]Brennan[/name_u] would be believable but as a surname it wouldn’t seem odd, esecially if he were an Irish immigrant. He could be called by his surname, maybe because he has a common name that others have like [name_m]John[/name_m] or [name_u]James[/name_u], and calling him by his last name distinguishes him from them.
[name_m]Just[/name_m] say it’s a family surname.