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Ultra "Violet"


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The name Violet seems to have been a favorite of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as it was quite popular in Victorian England. There are four characters named "Violet" in the original Sherlock Holmes canon. These characters are:

  • Violet Hunter from "The Copper Beeches"
  • Violet Smith from "The Solitary Cyclist"
  • Violet de Merville from "The Illustrious Client"
  • Violet Westbury from "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans"

 



 

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Names do seem to come and go.  I looked into the history of "Violet" while writing a story about a (fictitious) American woman born in the 1890s.  It was a popular name here from roughly the 1880s through the 1940s (and has become popular again since the turn of the millennium).  From what little data I can find, the situation seems to have been similar in England, with the name having been rarely used until the 1800s, when it gradually became relatively common (though not as common as -- for example -- Sarah, which had been fairly common since at least the 1700s).

Now I'm curious about the ages of ACD's four Violets:

Violet Hunter, "Copper Beeches" -- published 1892 -- Watson describes her as "a young lady" and she has at least five years' experience as a governess -- perhaps born in the late 1860s

Violet Smith, "The Solitary Cyclist" -- published 1903 -- Watson refers to her as a "young woman/lady" but just offhand I see few clues to her specific age -- perhaps born in the late 1870s.

Violet Westbury, "Bruce-Partington Plans" -- published 1908 -- her late fiancé was 27 years old, so I would guess her to be in her early 20s, and therefore born in the mid-1880s

Violet de Merville, "Illustrious Client" -- published 1924 -- this Violet is also described as "young" and seems naive -- for lack of a better guess, perhaps born in the late 1880s.

It seems a bit odd that ACD used the name so often, starting with characters apparently born when it was just gaining popularity.  But perhaps a friend of his had a baby daughter named Violet, born shortly before he wrote "Copper Beeches," and he liked the name but didn't realize (or didn't care) that it would be unusual for a grown woman to have that name.

 

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