Bronte Names
The Bronte novels offer familiar Victorian names alongside some unusually vivid character names. This collection spans the sisters’ fiction, identifying the work behind every choice.
| Save name | Name & connection | History 1926–2025, yearly counts; individually scaled | Babies 2025 · rank | 5-year rank movement | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
William Crimsworth, the narrator of The Professor. | 10,545#9 | Down 4 rank positions in five years | 1947 | ||
Mary Rivers, Diana's sister in Jane Eyre. | 2,230#125 | Down 2 rank positions in five years | 1921 | ||
Edward Rochester, the male lead of Jane Eyre. | 1,591#224 | Down 29 rank positions in five years | 1924 | ||
Helen Burns, Jane's school friend in Jane Eyre. | 668#462 | Down 36 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Shirley Keeldar, the title character of Charlotte Bronte's novel. | 133#1,586 | Down 36 rank positions in five years | 1935 | ||
A name shared by mother and daughter in Wuthering Heights. | 972#314 | Down 47 rank positions in five years | 1956 | ||
Frances Henri, a central figure in The Professor. | 960#318 | Up 100 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Isabella Linton, a central figure in Wuthering Heights. | 10,666#7 | Steady | 2010 | ||
Jane Eyre, the heroine of Charlotte Bronte's novel. | 1,380#221 | Up 43 rank positions in five years | 1947 | ||
Diana Rivers, one of Jane Eyre's cousins. | 1,277#244 | Up 1 rank positions in five years | 1957 | ||
Ellen Dean, also called Nelly, the narrator in Wuthering Heights. | 230#1,062 | Down 253 rank positions in five years | 1951 | ||
Caroline Helstone, a central figure in Shirley. | 2,646#96 | Down 25 rank positions in five years | 2000 | ||
Lucy Snowe, the narrator of Villette. | 6,176#25 | Up 25 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
Agnes Grey, the governess heroine of Anne Bronte's novel. | 246#1,016 | Up 231 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
Blanche Ingram, the fashionable visitor in Jane Eyre. | 16#6,890 | Up 2,156 rank positions in five years | 1917 | ||
Rosalie Murray, a pupil in Agnes Grey. | 1,797#171 | Up 27 rank positions in five years | 1938 | ||
Eliza Reed, one of Jane Eyre's cousins. | 2,370#115 | Steady | 2021 | ||
Matilda Murray, a pupil in Agnes Grey. | 838#365 | Up 113 rank positions in five years | 2025 | ||
Paulina Home, a central figure in Villette. | 346#784 | Up 50 rank positions in five years | 2002 | ||
Annabella Wilmot, a character in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. | 163#1,352 | Down 505 rank positions in five years | 2014 | ||
Georgiana Reed, one of Jane Eyre's cousins. | 153#1,418 | Up 480 rank positions in five years | 1918 | ||
The familiar name of Ellen Dean in Wuthering Heights. | 173#1,294 | Up 735 rank positions in five years | 2007 | ||
Rosamond Oliver, a character in Jane Eyre. | 5#16,777 | new | 1916 | ||
Milicent Hargrave, a character in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. | —Unranked | — | 1971 |
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Sources & methodology
Meaning summaries use Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and referenced name histories. Each name’s detail page includes its sources.
Membership on this list is editorial — we chose names that genuinely fit the theme. Every number is from official birth data: "—" means the name had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, which makes it a genuinely rare pick today, not an invalid one. The dot marks whether the stats shown are for the girls' or boys' use of the name.