Respondents: 28 (This poll is closed)
I voted [name]Eve[/name], [name]Verity[/name], and [name]Mercy[/name].
I immediately ruled out [name]Phoebe[/name] and [name]Prudence[/name], as these are the names of two of the Halliwell witches in the TV show Charmed. I’m with you on [name]Elizabeth[/name] being quite common for that time period, and the same goes for [name]Rebecca[/name]. [name]Patience[/name] Ravencroft doesn’t sound bad, but I’m not sure it fits your character description…it seems more like a name for a soft submissive wife who never questions her husband, someone more like the women of the times were expected to be. On the flip side, [name]Felicity[/name] is such a light and happy name that she doesn’t really seem like the type to tackle the serious issues that your character will be facing.
That leaves [name]Lydia[/name], [name]Eve[/name], [name]Verity[/name], and [name]Mercy[/name]. Honestly [name]Lydia[/name] is one of those names I just really dislike, for no logical explainable reason, so I didn’t vote for her.
[name]Eve[/name] Ravencroft - I love the way the V sounds echo each other. I also love the symbolism. [name]Eve[/name] was the first woman, the one whose decisions shaped the world as we know it, the one who had to weigh the temptation of unlimited knowledge against disobeying the only rules she’d ever known, God and her husband, and disrupting her idyllic existence. There are a lot of parallels between the Biblical [name]Eve[/name] and your character that make the name a delicious choice.
[name]Verity[/name] Ravencroft - I love this for similar reasons. The V, E, and R sounds echo each other beautifully. [name]Verity[/name] means truth, and given your character’s moral struggles, it’s a fitting name. She is grappling with the collision between what (and who) she has always believed in and the reality of the tragedy she has experienced, the knowledge that she can’t trust people, or appearances, or her knowledge of the world (learning about the existence of real witches), or even herself (the attraction to a man who isn’t her husband). She’s working out her truth as she goes.
[name]Mercy[/name] Ravencroft - I think [name]Mercy[/name] strikes the note that [name]Patience[/name] and [name]Felicity[/name] were aiming for and missed. There’s a softness, sweetness and compassion in the name that make her caring nature and the admiration of her neighbors a believable reality. [name]One[/name] almost expects a [name]Mercy[/name] to have moral quandaries, to struggle with overcoming society’s expectations, to desire love and healing above all, to learn to reject helplessness and the pretty fabrications of her world and look real life in the face. My only concern is that your character seems like a [name]Josephine[/name] [name]March[/name] sort of person, and [name]Mercy[/name] is more of a [name]Beth[/name].
Good luck with your choice! Very interesting concept you’ve got going there, I look forward to seeing what you choose 
Opps I clicked vote now before I was finished. I meant to vote for [name]Verity[/name], [name]Lydia[/name] and [name]Elizabeth[/name] but only voted for [name]Elizabeth[/name], sorry.
My school did a play called Scream if You’re A Survivor! And it was about ghosts who died during the witch trials. The mayor (who was evil) was called Ravencroft and he loved a lady named [name]Patience[/name]. He forced [name]Patience[/name] to marry him or he would kill her lover, [name]Jacob[/name]. He killed [name]Jacob[/name] anyway by accusing him of witchcraft.
I wouldn’t use [name]Patience[/name] if you are set on Ravencroft because I have no idea how popular the play is or if it would be copyright infringement.
I’ve never heard of that play. Besides, I had gotten Ravencroft from a Scooby-Doo movie (yes, I said it). And I have settled on the name [name]Eve[/name].