Are these names plausible for Britain early 20th century?

Matthew Collins no problem. August as a forename was pretty much exclusively German (or American) at that time though. Names like that have never been particularly popular in the UK I don't think.

I'm right now reading Barbara Tuchman's history of the beginning of WWI, The Guns of August. The real historical male figures involved on the British side included people named Douglas, Henry, William, John, and of course that fella Winston (Churchill). The King was George, who had succeeded Edward. Major famous British writers of the age included people named Joseph (Conrad), Wilfred (Owen), Herbert (H.G. Wells). Common names would have included Charles, Robert, Andrew, Thomas, Stephen (with a ph), David, and some highly British ones like Nigel and Colin. August wouldn't be impossible, but I don't think it's ever been a very common first name, either in the U.K. or the U.S.

caw

You could get away with "August", but other characters might remark on how unusual it was.

Biblical names - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Samuel etc.

I had a look at the 1911 census (I'm sad that way) and did a search for forename=August, birth date=1898 plus or minus 3 years. (don't know if this link will work) There were about 150 returns (from the whole population of the UK) with about half (from a glance at the first page of results) with Germanic surnames. So I'd say August was probably a very uncommon first name for a Tommy.

Unless you have a very specific reason for going with August I would change it. Could possibly go with Augustus if the character's parents were classics scholars.

August is fine. There are always persons in the population with an uncommon name. I was a teacher for several eons and I saw a few such names on my roster and almost, without exception, the child who had it would tell me it's a 'family name.'

It's where the nickname 'Gus' comes from and there's always a Gus here and there. I had a distant cousin named Gus; my dad worked with an older man named Gus who would have been born in the early 1900's. (This is in the US, of course.)

The background of the name is here:
http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/August

It's most commonly used in England, Germany, Poland and the Scandinavian countries.

Personally, I would go with August. If I were reading something set in that time and came across a charcter with that name, I wouldn't bat an eyelid.

I wouldn't go with it. Yeah, there were a few but there's a good chance that it will stop a reader in their tracks. Especially as it's a German name in a WW1 setting. As a reader, I would expect some mention of how German it is in the story. If there wasn't a mention, my lip would curl.

So to avoid the whole subject if it's not relevant to the story, I would change it.

August Ellis and Matthew Collins.

Click to expand...

If you need him to be August for the plot, then go for it. However, bear in mind that "August" would probably be (or be regarded as) a shortened form of "Augustus", which would have sounded a bit German. Some folk Anglicised their names during both World Wars to avoid being associated with the Germans, so, as others have suggested, your chap might call himself Gus.

Matthew looks OK, although it is a name which has gone in and out of fashion - masses of them in the early 70's.

Common names circa 1914 included Biblical names, "old" English names like Alfred and perennial favourites like John (which might be changed to Jack or Jacky for a northerner), William and Henry. Basically, if a member of the royal family carried a name, so did lots of other people. Victoria was phenomenally popular and remained so until relatively recently - back along, Victorias were frequently nicknamed "Queenie".

But I mean the names can't have changed too much in a hundred years, right?

Click to expand...

Right-ish. Fashions change and that tends to add to the stock of names. At the moment, the young of Britain are being cursed with the sort of names which are usually favoured by characters on Australian soap operas.

Personally, I am aware of the passing of the years every time I meet a Kayleigh who is now a fully grown woman.

Regards,

Peter

This is from the Baby Name Wizard which tracks the popularity of baby names from the 1800s until now. I know they have a British version, but here's what they have to say about the name August.

http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=aug&ms=false&exact=false

Also you can search here:
http://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/advanced-name-finder

This site is one of the best sources of finding info on names.

Ellis and Collins are solid British surnames. Matthew is fine. August...yeah, I can see why people have reservations. But as you have a justification for it, and if you take on board the suggestions that it might be problematic for him during the conflict with Germany, I think it'll be okay.

There's always people with unusual names for the time and place. Usually they have a story behind them, and yours does, so I don't see any problem. He's probably been given a hard time for it before, even pre-war, because people (especially kids) are weird like that, but, it happens.

"August" would certainly be out of the ordinary, but not at all weird or implausible for an Englishman of that time.

I might look twice at "August" but you could convince me. And actually it's a great name!!

--

Your August might also get some flak for having a girl's name, if people know he's an August but don't know it's actually Augustus. April, May and June are girl's names, after all...

Depends on his peer group. If he's among officers, they'll have had a classical education and their first assocation will probably be with the Roman emperor. Further down the social scale, association with Augusta is possible.

mirandashell said:

I wouldn't go with it. Yeah, there were a few but there's a good chance that it will stop a reader in their tracks. Especially as it's a German name in a WW1 setting. As a reader, I would expect some mention of how German it is in the story. If there wasn't a mention, my lip would curl.

So to avoid the whole subject if it's not relevant to the story, I would change it.

Click to expand...

Also, with Ellis being a Hebrew name there's a whole area of conflict right there.

RichardGarfinkle said:

Ellis is originally Welsh if that matters for your character's background.

Click to expand...

I still don't know who the **** is Ellis.

LOL!

I wonder how many people will get that reference!

Xelebes said:

I still don't know who the **** is Ellis.

Click to expand...

Alice, dear. That's who you are thinking of.