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

updated by @lady-leena-fandango: 06 Oct 2016 06:09:46AM

This is a very good topic,also in my country,Romania,a popular name inspired by the Holy Bible,is Elena,in english Helena(female) and Constantin(male).St Helena is considered by the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern and Roman Catholic churches, as well as by the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches as a saint, famed for her piety.

It's interesting to note that Empress Maria Theresa , Marie Antoinette's mother,gave the firstname ofMaria toeach ofher 10 daughters. The prefix of Maria had been established for all Habsburg princesses in the days of the Emperor Leopold I .

Apparently the Empress also required that all of her first-born granddaughters be named after her which resulted in six princesses in various countries named Maria Theresa, including Marie Antoinette's own daughter.

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The origins of names is truly fascinating, as anyone who's ever perused a "What to name your Baby" book can tell you. I wonder if Mary is the most widely used female name for the reasons stated here. Do you have any statistics on the percentage of women named Mary? And particularly in this period of history?

/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

Very good point and thanks for responding ... it must follow that all the girls were called or addressed by either their middle names or a combination of the first and middle name. Could have been confusing otherwise, lol. Imagine calling out "Marie" in the palace and have them all respond at the same time?

Thanks for pointing this out, I did some reading on the Eastern Orthodox Church and enjoyed it. And I can see why Helena is so famous as a saint and as the mother of Constantine I as well. It completely makes sense especially in the Eastern Roman Empire why these names are popular also