If you chanced upon my last thread, you would have seen me lamenting over my inability to name my twins. With help, I settled on [name]Lucien[/name] and [name]Nathaniel[/name], which I chose because they have a Victorian sort of sound to them. The twins are modern-day, however, I just wanted them to have a Victorian “feel”.
Now, this is a ghost story, and I have a little girl character who is sort of undead and is actually from the Victorian ages . (Well, to be precise, late Victorian/early Edwardian.) She desperately needs a name. For the longest time, her name was [name]Annaliese[/name], which I adored until I realised that the name was not in use during the Victorian ages. No name feels right. I even tried to split it up into [name]Ann[/name] [name]Elise[/name], but it just looked weird.
I’ve considered [name]Annalie[/name], [name]Annika[/name], [name]Anita[/name], [name]Annette[/name], [name]Elisabeth[/name], [name]Elise[/name], [name]Ruby[/name], [name]Violet[/name], [name]Elaina[/name]… None of them seem to fit.
I just need a somewhat creepy sounding Victorian name for my creepy undead girl!
Also, please try not to worry too much about what was or wasn’t done in any time period. A name that feels perfect for a character is worth one or two people correcting you on historic usage. Annaliese could have been used by someone, even several people, in the Victorian era.
I find [name]Emily[/name] to be kinda Gothic and creepy. Especially paired with [name]Rose[/name] although the association is probably to do with [name]Emily[/name] [name]Bronte[/name]. Honestly I think any name can be creepy if put on the right character
Others I find to be kinda gothic:
[name]Charlotte[/name]
[name]Rose[/name]
[name]Ivy[/name]
[name]Cora[/name] - this has had a sad vibe to me ever since I saw Titanic.
[name]Evangeline[/name]
[name]Emmeline[/name]
[name]Adeline[/name] nn [name]Addie[/name]
[name]Annabel[/name]-kinda Gothic considering the poem [name]Annabel[/name] [name]Lee[/name]
[name]Mary[/name] nn [name]Molly[/name] or [name]Polly[/name]
[name]Alice[/name]
[name]Lilith[/name]
[name]Grace[/name]
[name]May[/name]
[name]Eleanora[/name] (Pronounced like [name]Ella[/name]-[name]Nora[/name])
I second [name]Victoria[/name]…ever since The Woman in [name]Black[/name] this name has had the creep factor for me.
I have no idea if any of these are Victorian or not, but here are some names I find slightly creepy:
[name]Desdemona[/name]
[name]Lilith[/name]
[name]Morgana[/name]
[name]Latrice[/name]
[name]Ursula[/name]
[name]Hester[/name]
http://oobleck.org/steam/
^that’s an awesome name generator for around the time period you’re thinking of.
Also, what if the little girl was originally named [name]Elizabeth[/name], but after being dead for centuries sort of made her lose her grip on her identity, and now calls herself [name]Annaliese[/name] since it’s the closest name to [name]Elizabeth[/name] that she can remember?
I agree with the posters who suggested [name]Lavinia[/name]. It’s right for that era, and there are haunting namesakes from both classic ([name]Shakespeare[/name]) and modern (The Hunger Games) stories. But if I were you, I’d also consider [name]Flora[/name] and [name]Mabel[/name].
[name]Ophelia[/name], maybe? If it were me I might go with a creepy floral name (some kind of plant that could kill or looks creepy, etc), as floral names were popular for Victorians. Maybe Belladonna or [name]Salvia[/name].
The first one that popped into my head was [name]Isidora[/name], “gift of [name]Isis[/name].” [name]Theodora[/name] or [name]Theodosia[/name] might work as well.