Free man? More like Free Bird. Manly Feminine? Oxymoron Much? diminutive of Charles? Bitch PLEASE. Strong woman…that I can live with.
Name meanings fascinate me. According to some baby-namers, My name means “feminine manly”—no won der my first two boyfriends in high school were gay. Or it means Free Man…or if they are being politically correct, Strong Woman. If not, then I’m “diminuitive feminine of Charles.” Anyone who has met me would never apply diminutive to me, despite my being only 5’6″ tall—half an inch shrunken over the years.
Charlotte is not the most popular name, at least not since the 1940s In America, thought the Brits like it. I have only met a few other Charlottes face to face. There are about 20 women in America who share my name—which is why I added my maiden name to my blog—and a few more in other countries that I have run across in googling myself. I like it that way.
This month I will be 62 years old, once a milestone for retirement, but my budget says that’s not in the cards. So to celebrate both Women’s History Month, and my own bad self, I’m writing a month of posts about Charlottes.
I went to high school in Charlotte, NC, back in the day before they told you where the streets took random right turns at intersections and long before the sports areas were built—except for the Charlotte Motor Speedway, actually located in Cabarrus County near Concord, NC, where I have also lived. So here’s the requisite mention of the Hornets, the Knights, the BobCats, the Panthers, the Checkers, the 49ers, the Eagles, the Speed…
So each day this month I’ll explore the brilliance and profundity of my namesakes, the peers of the realm, the writers, the actresses and directors and any other factoids I can find for my own amusement.
Charlotte was the name of the granddaughter of grower, David Austen, and the most popular name for girls in the UK in 1994.
Here’s one lovely factoid specimen: the Charlotte Rose hybridized by David Austin in honor of his granndaughter. From his website:
Exquisite flowers of a soft yellow color. The blooms start off beautifully cupped, later opening out to form a rosette shape. Each bloom is packed with numerous small petals, arranged around a classic button eye.
I do love yellow roses, not the English ones so much as tea roses, but still, they are beautiful.
Well my daughter is called Charlotte, so of course, I think it is a beautiful name. We are English and it is a fairly traditional name BUT my husband went hitchhiking round the States before we were married and he stayed in Chalottesville….he had a great time…and that influenced the naming decision.! Charlotte is a Charlotte and not a Charlie or a Lottie.
My mom chose my name partly because she didn’t think there was a nickname for it. I did try using Charlie in junior high, but it just didn’t work for me. I can’t imagine being Lottie. Just an aside, my nickname in high school was Moose, based on an event on the school bus. Go figure.
My aunt and my grandmother are named Charlotte. And of course, Charlotte, NC is named for a queen. So you are in awesome company.
More than I had any idea about until I started this theme. I used to live in Charlotte, NC, so I knew about Charlotte of Mecklenburg, but there are so many more historical Charlottes.
Ah, names, perhaps the most important thing for a writer, love mine–and love yours too, Charlotte as I think it is elegant and distinctive.
BTW–because they’re important, maybe that’s why we authors struggle so with naming our characters?
It seems that fantasy authors tend to pick the same names, much like the European princesses I’ve been researching this week. I did try to find another name for Fiona, and even for Tulip and Belle, but they have had those names so long I only think of them that way. I need to make some intentional parodies of them and their movie namesakes.