/me smiles and waves to you Madame....
Actually, the earliest statistics I found only date back to 1880 on Mary and the variations being a popular name. However, based on it's popularity in the roleplay of historical figures specifically I am assuming without specific data for that time period of the 18th century that it was a popular name. One can also assume that perhaps it was only popular for the upper classes and nobility since they were more likely to be recorded in history versus the peasant or commoner? It would be interesting to see old church records from the time frame and some statistics produced about naming trends.
Cheers and Hugs and see you at Cindercroft
The Given Name of Mary
A friend of mine in RL actually gave me this idea for writing about this topic. She has two daughters who have rather unique and original names. When I asked her about where she got the idea for the names, she explained to me that the girls actual first names were both Marie but they used their middle names for everyday life. They are a traditional Catholic family and she explained to me it was common practice in history and that their immediate and extended family still uses today. I also noticed that many names seem to be common in the Royal Courts of SL.
A saint is a holy person in Christianity and the Church started encouraging people to name their children after them. Many European countries adopted this practice when Christianity became popular as a religion. One can assume that in the case of daughters, the parents would want them to be chaste and emulate the virtues of the Virgin Mary.
Traditionally, most people were given namesfrom the Roman Catholic calendar of saints. Common names of this type are Jacques ( James ), Jean ( John ), Michel ( Michael ), Pierre ( Peter ),
or Jean-Baptiste ( John the Baptist ) for males; and Marie( Mary ), Jeanne ( Jane ), Marguerite ( Margaret ), Franoise ( Frances ), or lisabeth ( Elizabeth ) for females. In certain regions
such as Brittany or Corsica , more local names (usually of local saints) are often used (in Brittany , for instance, male Corentin or female Anne; in Corsica , Dominique (suitable both for malesand females). Source: ht tp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_names
Many of the names come from the New Testament specifically such as Paul and Phillip. Other names came from figures in history who were canonized and became saints later on. Feminine forms of names expanded the popularity of saints names as well. Louis IX, King of France (1214-1270) who led two crusades was canonized and can also be in the feminine such as Louise in French or Louisa in English. The popularity of historical figures and characters named Mary or other saints in The Royal Courts of Second Life follows this tradition.
Sources:
http://www.behindthename.com/glossary/view/saint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_names
Cheers all
Thank you all for your comments and additions. I am glad you liked the article )
Another point regarding porcelain quoted directly from the website:
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/tea-in-britain.htm
"Tea and Pottery. What connection, you might be excused for asking, does tea have with the growth of the British pottery industry? Simply this: tea in China was traditionally drunk from cups without handles. When tea became popular in Britain, there was a crying need for good cups with handles, to suit British habits. This made for tremendous growth in the pottery and porcelain industry, and the prosperity of such companies as Wedgwood, Spode, and Royal Doulton."
It is amazing how tea influenced Europe but in this case England and spawned the porcelain industry there.
Cheers all *smiles and waves*
The Origins of Tea Drinking in England
Although I am new to the Royal Courts of SL, I find that one of the social interactions is the drinking of tea and perhaps some sweets. After having has some guests over for tea, I was curious about how the practice of drinking tea all began and the history of it.
The origins of tea are in China, where an emperor and a servant created what we now know as tea. The legend says that a servant was boiling water near a Camellia sinensis tree and some leaves of the tree blew into the water. This is supposed to have happened around 2700 B.C.
Even though England is known for tea, the rest of Europe began to embrace tea much sooner. Dutch and Portugese traders were bringing tea back from China in the early 1600s to Europe.The Dutch first made tea popular and then it spread across continental Europe. It was known as Cupp of Tee or China drink at the time.
Although tea was in England around 1650, it was very expensive and being sold in coffee houses in London. It did not gain in popularity right away among the lower classes of England.
When Charles II of England married Catherine of Braganza in 1662, she brought tea with her from her native Portugal. Tea had been popular there sooner and she brought some tea with her in a chest. Tea was exotic and for the aristocrats in the rest of Europe. It soon became extremely popular at the English court.
Catherine of Braganza also brought another important item with her as her dowry.It was lands in India called Bombay at the time and now is known as Mumbai. It allowed England to be closer to the Far East for trading with them. The British East India Company, chartered in 1600 by Elizabeth I, gained a port and a powerful foothold in the Far East.
Tea imports steadily increased during the next century along with heavy taxation which also led to smuggling. The lower classes in England were also enjoying tea in the coffee houses and it began to get more and more popular. Thanks to the enormous smuggling operation, the lower classes were able to afford it. Heavy taxation on tea came about because the English government relied on the revenue from liquor sales. As people drank more tea, they drank less ale. In the eighteenth century, around 1750, tea became the most popular drink of the lower classes in England.
Sources:
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/tea-in-britain.htm
http://www.tea.co.uk/page.php?id=95
Cheers all and I hope you enjoy*waves*
Leena 
Amazing list and much hard work...thank you for posting and adding Cindercroft as well )
Reviving an older thread
Currently reading The Scarlet Pimpernel. It's a very good read, first time for me.
