ABSTRACT
The formal first name was used by the Church at the rites of passage. Otherwise it was only used by itself in the early modern period and the nineteenth century among close friends and lovers and in the intimacy of the household (along with pet or hypocoristic forms). So Swift reported to Stella in 1711 of Harley’s inner cabinet meetings: “They call me nothing but Jonathan.” Parson Woodforde used the first name for relatives, like his niece Nancy, and for long-established servants, like Ben, which presumably reflected his mode of address to them. Use of the Christian name was an important sign of progress in friendship. In Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (1811), Mrs John Dashwood showed her pleasure with the Miss Steeles, among other things, by calling “Lucy by her Christian name”. Miss Podsnap told Mrs Lammle in Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend (1864-5): “If we are going to be real friends…Call me Georgiana.” First-naming also marked a crucial stage in courtship. In Trollope’s Barchester Towers (1857), Mr Arabin switches from “Mrs Bold” to “Eleanor” before embracing his future wife. To stray beyond this narrow circle was to “presume”, to be guilty of bad form, as when Mr Slope calls Signora Meroni “Madeline” prematurely.
