[Vwoolf] Daisy

[Jeremy Hawthorn]

For some reason the popularity of the name Daisy in the UK plunged dramatically (why?) just about when Woolf was writing Mrs Dalloway. See

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ukbabynames.com/girls/daisy__;!!KGKeukY!1S2yEmBWFgTFAjrMnEvH_JfL9aUkYyh3R_OlksbH7IGauwlvYAiX0dg-FuQ1Q4Q6UH1Nfj5MmKw1-1IiiSBOoq7vwSH3U_bQV5BAy9c$ 

This of course may not apply to India, and in Mrs Dalloway Daisy would presumably have been baptised when the name was popular.

I wonder if, in terms of class, "Daisy" suggests the lower end of the social scale.

Peter Walsh is 53 and Daisy is 24, married, and with 2 children. All this would raise an eyebrow even today . . . It certainly is striking that every time Peter Walsh thinks of her, the word "dark" is used. "Out came with his pocket-knife a snapshot of Daisy on the verandah; Daisy all in white, with a fox-terrier on her knee; very charming, very dark; the best he had ever seen of her." "And the dark, adorably pretty girl on the verandah exclaimed (he could hear her)." "Vainly the dark, adorably pretty girl ran to the end of the terrace; vainly waved her hand; vainly cried she didn't care a straw what people said." "(and the dark, adorably pretty face was on top of the envelopes)".

As for attitudes towards those of mixed ethnic backgrounds, Joseph Conrad's first novel Almayer's Folly, set in Bornean Sambir and published in 1895, includes a meeting between Dutch officers, Almayer, and his "half-caste" daughter Nina. One young officer is taken aback by Nina's beauty.

'The young sub began to recover from the astonishment and confusion caused by Nina's unexpected appearance and great beauty. "She was very beautiful and imposing," he reflected, "but after all a half-caste girl." This thought caused him to pluck up heart and look at Nina sideways. Nina, with composed face, was answering in a low, even voice the elder officer's polite questions as to the country and her mode of life.'

Jeremy Hawthorn
Professor Emeritus
NTNU
7491 Trondheim
Norway

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