I could have been an Esmeralda – this is Disney’s interpretation in The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1996
Forgive me for being self-indulgent, but I am going to write occasional blog posts about the people or things without which I wouldn’t be the person I am today.
First of all, I found out only in recent years that I was named after somebody.
When I was born my father wanted to call me Esmeralda, which I suppose would have been shortened to Esme. I guess that was because he had fallen for the character in Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. There have been many movie interpretations, but I suspect he was thinking of the 1939 black-and-white film starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo.
Quasimodo and Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1939
Esmeralda was played by a very young and pretty Maureen O’Hara…
Maureen O’Hara, 1939
My father was probably not quite old enough to be thinking of the 1923 film with Lon Chaney Snr as Quasimodo and Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda…
Quasimodo and Esmeralda, 1923
And it was a year too early for Gina Lollobrigida’s Esmeralda in the 1956 colour film, when Anthony Quinn played Quasimodo…
Gina Lollobrigida as Esmeralda in 1956 – with tremendous corsetry!
But it was not to be – I wasn’t called Esmeralda (with the surname Jones!)
In the end I was called Patricia, a name I dislike, although it has always been shortened (unless a teacher was telling me off) to Patty, Patsy or more usually Pat. I did quite like being called Patto by the kids one summer when I was a holiday play-leader.
The name on my birth certificate has recently come back to haunt me, as I have moved to a new job after decades with just one newspaper company and felt I should put my FULL name on the application form. That is now ever present, on correspondence, in my work email address and even when colleagues come to find me, as my name appears in full when I have a story checked out for copy-editing.
Why was I called Patricia? Because my beautiful cousin Marlene suggested it…
Me and my cousin Marlene, with her poodle Sugarbush, in the very early 1960s
Marlene was a talented dancer and lived in Poole, Dorset, as she still does…
That’s my cousin Marlene on the left
When I had a long genealogy-brain-picking conversation with her a few years ago, she explained why she wanted me called Patricia. It was after a friend of hers in the entertainment world. And she showed me a picture of Patricia Soleil.
My cousin’s picture of Patricia Soleil
The picture has a “best wishes” message in French. At first I thought it was a message of sympathy, but when I looked it up I found sympathique is probably best translated as “kind”. I can’t read the last word but I suspect it means something like “wishes”.
I really should have asked more about Patricia Soleil, but I didn’t think of it at the time and now I would feel a bit silly asking, as if it were something that really mattered.
I tend to think that EVERYTHING is available online, that somewhere there will be a complete illustrated biography of Patricia Soleil, but of course the internet really has only recent stuff. However, I was surprised to find a small something the last time I Googled…
Another picture of Patricia Soleil, on the Delcampe website
I was a little gobsmacked. There were two pictures for sale for a fiver, on the Delcampe.net website. One picture was exactly like the one my cousin had. Both pictures were taken by Harcourt in Paris. The information simply says “Une femme nommée Patricia Soleil” – “a woman called Patricia Soleil”. And that’s pretty well all I know about her, too. She was French, a singer or dancer, and I carry her name.
She would have made a good Esmeralda, too, being French and beautifully dusky and sultry – I can imagine her doing all that Gypsy dancing.
Do YOU know if you were named after somebody in particular?
The Squirrelbasket 
what an interesting story Pat, as far as I know I was not named after a person but I was given 2 boys names, Frances Leslie as my parents wanted a son and were disappointed to have a girl, your story is much nicer, I wish one of my older cousins had named me, Esmeralda is very unusual, Frances
That’s a bit sad – I hope they were happy with a girl once you arrived!
I always think Frances and Lesley are female spellings and Francis and Leslie are male – but it’s not always that clear cut, which makes it difficult for sub-editors like myself…
Best wishes 🙂
Pat you are right about the spellings, I have written how they are on my birth certificate which means a person would need to check the sex column to know if I was a boy or girl, my relationship with my parents was bumpy, their darling son was born 4 years later, I survived and was lucky to have some wonderful aunts and uncles, Frances
How interesting – I wonder when your cousin saw/met Patricia Soleil – is the translation Patricia Sunshine? Not sure how my parents came up with my name I think it was an unusual one for the time, my second name is Ann after one of my grandmothers, luckily I wasn’t named after my maternal grandmother – I would have been stuck with Olive Nellie. I like the name Patricia but not necessarily the derivatives. If you can been called Esmerelda I fear I lot of name-calling at school. At least Patricia is fairly safe 🙂
I always think of Elaine as in Arthurian legend – Elaine of Astolat, who died of a broken heart over Sir Lancelot!
Better than Nellie! Although I wonder if both names derive in some way from Helen or Helene?
All the best 🙂
Lovely update thank you for sharing have a blessed day
my father us to say – Great is Diana of the Ephesians – when I was too young to know what he was on about.
My mother wanted to remember her Cornish childhood and call me Drusilla – but my 3 sisters were appalled.
I rather like Cornish Drusilla …
Do ask your cousin about Patricia Soleil. She surely has a story that needs to be heard (both cousin and PS)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0812893/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
2 films but I don’t know if the dates fit?
1977 and 1968
I had seen that, too, but I don’t know – PS would have been in her 40s or 50s by then, I expect…
When I was a teenager we had a weekly magazine called Diana, and there’s always Diana the huntress. I find it strange there aren’t many young Dianas named in memory of “Princess Di”.
I hate to say it, but Drusilla sounds a bit of a “witchy” name to me, not sure why. Perhaps it’s because I found, when I checked, there was a character called Drusilla in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I must have missed that bit). I find that interesting as the actress who played her was Juliet Landau, daughter of Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, actors I liked in my youth.
But I’m waffling on…
All the best 🙂
http://quijouequi.com/comedien/1465/patricia-soleil
3 more from Quebec?
Mmmm… if only they had pictures!
Maybe Soleil is a common name?
I was named for the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven. So not someone my parents knew in person … they also said they wanted to offset the dullness of Johnson.
Regina Marie Johnson
Has a nice ring to it actually. And it stands out from the dozens and hundreds of Johnsons in any and every database.
A-ha! Interesting! Regina is quite a rare name, I think, although there are places called it, like the one in Canada named after Queen Victoria…
Do your friends call you Reg?
All the best 🙂
At least there is a fascinating story behind your name, even if you’re not that keen on the name itself. Pat is quite a cute shortening I think. I was named after Emily Bronte.
Lovely! It’s all coming out now!
I guess these days people are more likely to be named after pop stars…
Best wishes 🙂
Pat I really love this post and I’m glad you are going to be posting more. Fantastic photos and I love the story behind your name.
My mother wanted me named Giselle (after the ballet/opera) but my father registered my birth and so I became Sharon (but I do have my late mum’s name as my middle name so it may have been a sweetener!). I believe there were arguments 🙂
Look forward to seeing more.
Thanks Shaz! I have had several friends called Sharon – I wonder who first made the name so popular for babies in the 1950s and 1960s?
I can find no clues on Wikipedia.
Not sure about Giselle – I wonder what you would have shortened it to? Giz? Ellie?
All the best 🙂
According to my dad, my mother “found my name in a book.” When I was a kid, I often wished I had a “regular” name (like Pat!), but now it seems unusual names are common, at least in the US. Several years ago, I finally learned that a “hollis” is a grove of holly bushes.
How appropriate that your name means something out in the wild!
It’s a great name, although I have to admit that at first I assumed it was a man’s name. Sorry about that!
Using “Pat” I often get addressed as Dear Sir, too, so please don’t take offence…
All the best 🙂
I’ve no idea who – if anyone – I was named after. And there is only one other version of a Valerie (I prefer to shorten it to Val) in my family and that is a Valeria! Apropos your actress Patricia Soleil, I had a look and if she was still going strong in 1977 (no reason why not) then she was in a Canadian film called Panique directed by Jean Claude Lord from Montreal. So it seems that the French might be Quebec origin rather than France. Maybe you could contact the director with a couple of photos and ask? Or at least start from there.
You might also find more postcard-photos of her via other auction sites. Try French-speaking ones.
I did notice that actress, but no, she is MUCH too young, but just happens to have the same name.
I wonder who you WERE named after. I don’t recall anyone famous who was a Valerie, apart from Valerie Harper as Rhoda in the Mary Tyler Moore Show!
Thanks for your tips 🙂
Ah well, maybe you’ll find her some other way.
Very unlikely that I was named after anyone famous, more likely – if anything and not just a whim – someone in the family. I just don’t know who!