A Name for a Female Serial Killer! Fun fun fun!

[jillianthebookbutterfly]

This character is a female serial killer from the 1920s. She was a beautiful girl, tall and slim with dark brown hair and big blue eyes, from a very wealthy family with a long line of suitors. She married one of those suitors, who was very devoted to her, but she cheated on him with someone else. Because her family was Catholic, they would have disowned her if she got a divorce. So, she took the easy way out: killed her husband. She got away with it for two years, eventually moving in with her boyfriend. Then, she found out he was cheating on her. She caught him in the act, killing both him and his mistress. After that, she killed more people, between 25 to 30, mostly targeting married couples and single, wealthy men. One of those men fathered her only child, a daughter, but she killed him, too. The woman was finally caught in 1931 and executed via electric chair in 1932. Her last words were, as she handed a letter to the minister in attendance, "Give this to my daughter--for when she is old enough to understand." The press, law enforcement, and historians have dubbed her the "Black Rose": beautiful and deadly

What would you name this woman? First, middle, and last name

Also, if you have any name suggestions for any other characters, feel free to add them. Thanks everyone!

[amberdaydream]

First names:
Rosalia / Rosalie
Rosaline
Rosalina
Marcella
Lucinda
Eve / Eva
Lavinia
Violetta / Violet / Viola
Lucretia
Theodora nn Thea
Cordelia
Celeste
Adelina
Dorothea
Lydia

Last names:
White
Cherrett
Harris
Hallows
Frost
Fabry
Lewis
Gray

Combos:
Rosalie Harris
Marcella Fabry
Celeste White
Eva Hallows
Adelina Gray

[malaria]

A cool tie in might be using a name that means rose, such as Rhoda, or one that means black or has a connection to black, like Odessa or Dahlia or Melanie.
Dahlia Rhoda Hughes
Rhoda Odessa Hughes
Melanie Rose Hughes

For her daughter, maybe a name with a positive meaning or a virtue name, to combat the dark nature of her mother?
Lucille
Prudence
Amity
Verity

And for some of the men:
Simon
James
John
Thomas
Nicolas

[nikitaj360]

Love your story, it sounds so cool! Just one thing I noticed is that she seemed to have a perfectly normal childhood, and with serial killers, this is not the case. As she kills men who cheat, why not make it so that her father cheated on her mother? The more extreme, the better, I believe. Good luck

[scribe]

A female serial killer from the 1920s? Cool.

I would name her Gladys Claire Quimby.
Later she became: Gladys "The Black Rose" Quimby Penrose.

Her first husband: Gary Shepherd.

Her boyfriend, following the death of ol' Shep: Jonathan Walsh

Peter's mistress' name: Beatrice Kittinger.

Father/caretaker of Dorothy's child: Adam Penrose.

Dorothy's child's name: Felicia Gladys Quimby Penrose.

[nono]

I found this passage in More Than Night: Film Noir in its Contexts by James Naremore (now that I think about it, Naremore strikes me as seeming like a really cool surname), discussing the femme fatale archetype in the noir genre, that seems like it might be somewhat relevant. (It's on page 19 if you'd like context for the quote, and sorry if I'm totally off in bringing this up!)

"By the same logic, the noir heroine is no Doris Day. Borde and Chaumeton never allude to the Marquis de Sade's Julliette, one of the most famous sexual terrorists in all of French literature, but the character they describe resembles her in every respect save the fact that she is "fatal even to herself" (10). Beautiful, adept with firearms, and "probably frigid," this new woman contributes to a distinctive noir eroticism, "which is usually no more than the eroticization of violence" (10). Her best representative on the screen, Borde and Chaumeton argue, is Gloria Grahame, who, even though she was seldom cast as a femme fatale, always suggested "cold calculation and sensuality" (125)."

With that in mind, what about Julliette, after the character from the Marquis de Sade's Justine? Another variant of the name (Julia comes to mind) could also be a good and less obvious option. Maybe even Gloria?

This may be cheesy, but I also like the idea of Virginia for her, and it would have been a very commonly used name when the character would have been born. I also like the idea of using a nickname for Virginia (Ginny, Ginger, maybe even Vera) with her full name rarely used, perhaps being brought up mainly when other characters are commenting on the irony of it.

I like Evelyn a lot too. That would be very timely and appropriate. Or maybe Lila?

[nameobsessednichole]

Samantha Ivy Pennington.

[ballerinagirl]

hmm she sounds like a Vidia
maybee
Vidia Rose Baxter
Vidia Eloise Raymonds
Vidia Shaye Liston
Vidia Melanie Dvater
Vidia Emily Sylvester
Vidia Samantha Zenobia
Vidia Michelle Wenston
Vidia Cherryl Elora Wimbly
Vidia Storm Demeter
Vidia Lea Acacia Bresser
Vidia Xanthe Stanley
Vidia Vera Vane
Vidia Heather Verson

[girlychock]

Names that come to mind when I read this are:
Violet Teresa LaFord
Maureen Alexandra Graham
Colette Rose VanDyke
Nicole Fiona Black
Vyna Millie Grey
LaCie Anne Mootz
Janet Marie Fernandez
London Susie Asher

Hope I could help! Happy writing!

[erinlw]

I can see her being a Scarlett or an Ivy. Probably a very traditional middle name, like Caroline or Mary.

Scarlett Mary Maxwell
Ivy Caroline Sterling