[Vwoolf] Daisy

[Ellen Moody]

I'm almost afraid to come out with new examples for that will cause many
counter-examples to appear. But only almost.  Some of these strange (weird)
new
names in the US come from TV shows, where characters and the actors
themselves regularly have such names.  Kyle  I am told, was the name of a
character
in a popular TV show.  I never heard the name before.  An actress set to
play Anne Elliot in Persuasion is named Dakota Johnson - now that is a
Native American
word or name and is found in two US western states: North and South Dakota.

I see that in Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate a character named Lady
Montdore associates Daisy among other names (like Nellie) with English
housemaids.
I would have said Irish -- as in Ellen.  Ellen is familiar as an Irish
housemaid's name but it is also the name of heroines (the first I can think
of is in a novel
by Mary Brunton called Discipline (perhaps 1815?). I have a personal story
about the name Daisy I didn't have the nerve to tell before, but here goes.
When
my older daughter had not yet been born, I was casting about for a name and
I thought of Daisy.  I like the name. But when I told my mother, she was
horrified; I told another friend who urged me not to. To both the name was
somehow déclassé.  So I didn't.  She is Laura Caroline. I would have
preferred Caroline Laura but my husband said no no no.  Caroline is too
English. He was British (English).

Ellen (who am not Irish)

On Fri, May 13, 2022 at 5:23 AM Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf <
vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:

> If we’re discussing he name Daisy in the UK, then American examples are
> irrelevant. (What extraordinary names Americans have – so have the British
> now. And the spellings! You hardly ever come across Jill as an abbreviation
> of Gillian – it’s
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> If we’re discussing he name Daisy in the UK, then American examples are
> irrelevant.
>
> (What extraordinary names Americans have – so have the British now.  And
> the spellings!  You hardly ever come across Jill as an abbreviation of
> Gillian – it’s always Gill with a soft g.  Poor Mrs Woolf – she got an
> (unpublished) letter from Alyse Gregory in 1924, and replied “Dear Mr
> Gregory”.  One used to feel with these weird spellings that, since in this
> case it’s not spelled Alice, it must be pronounced Aleeze or some such.)
>
> And the French are irrelevant too:
>
> “They all seemed to be old friends of his [Sauveterre’s], called him
> Fabrice and had a thousand questions to ask about mutual acquaintances in
> Paris, fashionable foreign ladies with such unfashionable names as Norah,
> Cora, Jennie, Daisy, May, and Nellie.
> “’Are all Frenchwomen called after English housemaids?’ Lady Montdore
> asked crossly ...”
>                 (“Love in a Cold Climate” (1949), ch 4)
>
> Stuart
>
> *From:* Mary Ellen Foley
> *Sent:* Sunday, May 8, 2022 12:47 AM
> *To:* mhussey at verizon.net
> *Cc:* Jeremy Hawthorn ; Stuart N. Clarke ; vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Vwoolf] Daisy
>
>
>>
>> > Then again, there’s Daisy Fellowes, aka Marguerite Séverine Philippine
>> Decazes de Glücksberg …
>
>
> ANd Daisy Buchanon in *The Great Gatsby, *1925 -- definitely upper-crusty.
>
> mef
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