TV Names: Upstairs, Downstairs & Downton

At last, at last, the third season of Downton Abbey has finally launched, a further opportunity for those of us who love vintage British names to spend time with the Crawley clan et al.  We’re now lucky enough to have had two recent TV period imports with great examples of character names, both for the aristos upstairs and the servants below.  The time frame of both Downton Abbey and the recently updated Upstairs, Downstairs is the early decades of the twentieth century: Downton now picks up in 1920; the second series of Upstairs in 1936, six years after the initial one ended.

And if there seems to be a preponderance of girls’ names, it’s because so many of the male characters, both upstairs and down, have such common names as Thomas, Robert, Matthew, William, Joseph and John.

Here are some of the most interesting names in both series; and it’s worthy of note that the British TV names that are being revived today come equally from both social strata, as in, for example, Isobel and Ivy, Edith and Elsie.

UPSTAIRS CHARACTERS

Agnes—Upstairs, Downstairs

Blanche—Upstairs, Downstairs

Caspar—Upstairs,Downstairs—Caspar Landry is a Jewish outsider character

Cora—Downton Abbey

Edith—Downton Abbey

Evelyn (male)—Downton Abbey

Hallam—Upstairs, Downstairs—A titled character, born in India

Isobel—Downton Abbey

Kieran—Downton Abbey—Kieran Branson is, not surprisingly, an Irish character

Lavinia—Downton Abbey

Lotte—Upstair, Downstairs

Maud—Upstairs, Downstairs

Persephone—Upstairs, Downstairs—more commonly known as Lady Persie

Portia—Upstairs, Downstairs

Rosamund—Downton Abbey

Sybil—Downton Abbey

Vera—Downton Abbey

Violet—Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs

DOWNSTAIRS CHARACTERS

Beryl—Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs

Clarice—Upstairs, Downstairs

Daisy—Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey

Elsie—Downton Abbey

Ethel—Downton Abbey

Eunice—Upstair, Downstairs

Ivy—Downton Abbey & Upstairs, Downstairs

Marigold—Downton Abbey

Ruby—Upstairs, Downstairs

Warwick—Upstairs,Downstairs

For a look back at the original 1971 -75 Upstairs, Downstairs series, which spanned the years from 1903 to 1930, here are some of the Upstairs names used:

Dolly

Georgina

Hazel

Hamish

Henrietta

Julius

Marjorie

Prudence

Virginia

And then there are the surnames, heard on the three series, that might be conceivable firsts:

Bates

Bellamy

Branson

Bryant

Carson

Crawley

Dillon

Hale

Harris 

Holland

Hudson

Hughes

Landry

Morris

Pearce

Thackeray

Wallace

Do you think any of these names have influenced baby naming?  Could the lovely Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) help revive the name Mary?  What’s your favorite upstairs and downstairs name?

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