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HelpOscar Wilde's favourite names
I recently rediscovered this questionnaire Oscar Wilde completed during his university days:
The whole document is very interesting in general, I'd recommend giving it a read if you can get past the handwriting and low resolution.
Anyway, when I saw the [favourite] names, male and female? I was absolutely thrilled, but I couldn't read them for the life of me. A follower on one of my social media accounts was kind enough to transcribe them for me, so here they are:
Eucharis: I know what you're thinking - very Catholic, or a bit like a name of a disease or tropical plant. Apparently, it comes from the late 18th century opera Euthyme et Eucharis.
Florence: probably to honour the city, as he mentioned he'd like to live there.
Cecil: presumably SES-əl, it's similar in sound to one of his son's names, and Cecily Bracknell (what a name!) was a character in "The Importance of Being Earnest".
WDYT? And as a bonus, what do you think of his son's names: Cyril and Vyvyan?
masculine list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/191050/124079
feminine list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/191050/124080
The whole document is very interesting in general, I'd recommend giving it a read if you can get past the handwriting and low resolution.
Anyway, when I saw the [favourite] names, male and female? I was absolutely thrilled, but I couldn't read them for the life of me. A follower on one of my social media accounts was kind enough to transcribe them for me, so here they are:
Eucharis: I know what you're thinking - very Catholic, or a bit like a name of a disease or tropical plant. Apparently, it comes from the late 18th century opera Euthyme et Eucharis.
Florence: probably to honour the city, as he mentioned he'd like to live there.
Cecil: presumably SES-əl, it's similar in sound to one of his son's names, and Cecily Bracknell (what a name!) was a character in "The Importance of Being Earnest".
WDYT? And as a bonus, what do you think of his son's names: Cyril and Vyvyan?
masculine list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/191050/124079
feminine list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/191050/124080
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Replies
So, it'd be you-CAH-ris no doubt, rather than YOU-cuh-ris. Better, but not good.
Florence: a multiple family name for me, and I like it, family or not
Cecil: definitely SES-əl! My father's name, but I vastly prefer Cecily for a woman
Cyril: give me Cecil any day. Though there's a Cyril newsreader on CNN sometimes who is quite good.
Vyvyan is over-ornate and the product of an immature mind. Sorry, Oscar! Vivian would have been much better: I know someone who gave her son Vivian as a mn.
Florence: a multiple family name for me, and I like it, family or not
Cecil: definitely SES-əl! My father's name, but I vastly prefer Cecily for a woman
Cyril: give me Cecil any day. Though there's a Cyril newsreader on CNN sometimes who is quite good.
Vyvyan is over-ornate and the product of an immature mind. Sorry, Oscar! Vivian would have been much better: I know someone who gave her son Vivian as a mn.
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I don't really see how Eucharis sounds Catholic apart from it sounding like Eucharist. I don't have a strong opinion about this name.
Florence and Cecil are generic old-fashioned names that I like a bit.
Cyril is okay, though I prefer Cirilo. Vyvyan looks weird.
Florence and Cecil are generic old-fashioned names that I like a bit.
Cyril is okay, though I prefer Cirilo. Vyvyan looks weird.
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I don't really see how Eucharis sounds Catholic apart from it sounding like Eucharist.
I think you have hit the nail on the head
I think you have hit the nail on the head
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Florence and Cecil aren't surprising for the time and place. I do't mind Florence though Cecil doesn't sound very nice.
Eucharis just sounds like Wilde being his usual pompous, theatrical attention-seeking self.
His sons names are … foppish. Again, entirely in keeping.
Eucharis just sounds like Wilde being his usual pompous, theatrical attention-seeking self.
His sons names are … foppish. Again, entirely in keeping.
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Florence was more likely due to a good friend of his from childhood: Florence Balcombe. She wound up marrying his friend Bram Stoker, which really upset him because he had wanted to marry her.
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Oh yeah, I knew about her, but forgot she was named Florence.
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Don't like any of them
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Florence is pretty and sounds very of the period.
Cecil is a bit too stuffy and British for me to personally use, but I enjoy it as a character name. If P.G. Wodehouse didn't have a Cousin Cecil in one of his stories, then he should have.
Eucharis seems even too Catholic for most Catholics. Knowing Wilde, it figures that it would allude to a popular opera of the period; he was into trends.
If Vyvyan wasn't a common alternative spelling of the time, then I have an urge to lampoon Oscar Wilde for going with a kre@tiv version of name that strikes me as pretty work-a-day for a Victorian. Wilde was famous as a spokesman for aestheticism and liked to sneer at other people's style, so he should have been able to take what he dished out.
Cyril is okay. Again, it very much fits within my idea of a stereotypical upper-crust British Victorian, but stereotypes exist for a reason and they can be fun.
Cecil is a bit too stuffy and British for me to personally use, but I enjoy it as a character name. If P.G. Wodehouse didn't have a Cousin Cecil in one of his stories, then he should have.
Eucharis seems even too Catholic for most Catholics. Knowing Wilde, it figures that it would allude to a popular opera of the period; he was into trends.
If Vyvyan wasn't a common alternative spelling of the time, then I have an urge to lampoon Oscar Wilde for going with a kre@tiv version of name that strikes me as pretty work-a-day for a Victorian. Wilde was famous as a spokesman for aestheticism and liked to sneer at other people's style, so he should have been able to take what he dished out.
Cyril is okay. Again, it very much fits within my idea of a stereotypical upper-crust British Victorian, but stereotypes exist for a reason and they can be fun.
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I was curious and googled it. Turns out it's very old.
https://www.houseofnames.com/vyvyan-family-crest
https://www.houseofnames.com/vyvyan-family-crest
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Thanks for looking into it. So, Oscar Wilde went with a more standard spelling then I gave him credit for. I'm weirdly disappointed; I was hoping he did something more akin to a celebrity in modern times.
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I know a few people with the surname Vyvyan (in Cornwall) and my mother went to school with a male Vyvyan.
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