And now for something completely different.

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

Dame Ngaio Marsh, born in 1899 in New Zealand, wrote many detective stories — most set in the 1930s through to the 1940s.

I've become fascinated by some of her naming choices for characters, especially the women.

Some of the female characters' names that have caught my eye:

Valmai
Carlisle
Troy (Agatha Troy, to be fair, but always called Troy)
Idris
Grizel


The name "Ngaio", incidentally, is Maori and is pronounced N-EYE-oh.


I think Valmai is my favorite, and to be honest I prefer all of them (yes, including Ngaio itself) to all of the trendy Baylee/Jaylee/Kaylin/Keelin/Rylee names. Okay... with the exception of Grizel. Not even I can stomach Grizel.


Any thoughts?

Comments

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

yes, I know a couple of now middle-aged women called Valmai - here in Australia it would probably come across as frowsy, but in a different country it could be fresh, and I quite like it.

I would go for Grizelle - I prefer the simpler spelling myself, but kids would latch onto 'grizzle' and tease mercilessly.