Back in 1984, no one was named Madison. Allison, Isabella, Jayden – they were all once obscure.
Could this name join those appellations at the height of popularity someday? Thanks to Jess for suggesting Romilly as our Baby Name of the Day.
Romilly sounds like a contraction of a compound name formed by Rose and Millicent, but that’s not the case. Instead, it is originally a surname and place name. You can visit Romilly-sur-Seine, Romilly-sur-Aigre, or even Romilly in Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. All the Romillys on record appear to be modest places, perhaps less likely to inspire a child’s name in the way that a better known place like Savannah or Odessa might.
Some link Romilly to Rome, or to Romulus, the City’s co-founder. There’s also the Old English romen, which we now know as the verb to roam, which might also refer idea of pilgrimages to the holy city. But that doesn’t quite track back to France in the right era. The most likely theory is that a property owner called Romilius inspired the place names.
Romilly traveled to England with the Normans in 1066, and there is an Alice de Romilly in the twelfth century historical record. She’s the daughter of Robert De Rumilly, born at Gernon Castle in Normandy. Along with sisters Cecily and Lucy, Alice was a wealthy heiress. When her son drowned, Alice made a sizable donation to establish Bolton Priory. (Her name is also recorded as de Romille.) William Wordsworth’s poem “The Force of Prayer,” written several centuries later, is about the tragic incident, and refers to “young Romilly.”
Another source of the surname is England is suggested here: an Etienne Romilly fled religious persecution in France in the early 1700s, and settled in England.
Etienne’s grandson, Samuel Romilly, put their surname on the map. A legal reformer known for limiting capital punishment, he was also the father of seven children. His second-born son also entered politics and became the first Baron Romilly in 1866.
Esmond Romilly married one of the famous Mitford socialite sisters; his brother Giles was a journalist imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II. They were cousins by marriage to Winston Churchill – their aunt Clementine was his wife.
Romilly has been in sparing use as a given name over the years. Many aristocratic surnames came into use, and Wordsworth’s poem may have helped, too. Twentieth century artist Augustus John gave the name to a son, who later had a successful career in the Royal Air Force. But John’s kids had quite the collection of names: Amaryllis, Tristan, Poppet, and Gwyneth and he was a bohemian artist, unconventional in all ways.
In 1999, Emma Thompson named her daughter Gaia Romilly, and the name started to attract more attention. But it has always been in very quiet and sparing use. British newscaster Romilly Weeks is another notable bearer.
Girls named Romilly are slightly more common in the UK, but she’s still amazingly rare in the US. Not only is she not in the Top 1000, fewer than five girls were given the name in 2010. Despite her popularity in the baby name ‘verse, there just aren’t many children wearing the name.
But it strikes me that Romilly has all the makings of a stylish choice – the long o, the double l, the three-syllable, ends-in-y form of many a popular pick, from Dorothy to Kimberly to Mackenzie. As Isadora wrote “all it will take is a new Glee character named Romilly …” and bam! This name could take off.
I can never understand this popular names rubbish!! why people only seem to want to choose a popular nam is beyond me, why would everyone want their kids to have the same names as everyone else’s kids??? so you end up with a class full of kids with the same names!! I first heard this name from a book i read when i was twelve in the 70’s which was set in the Victorian era, the heronine was called Romilly, i had never heard of the name before. To me Romilly sounds, stong, individual, pretty and yes unusual and not really trying to be anything, I think it sounds quite old fashioned but pretty none the less, unlike names like madison (the whole using surnames as a first name thing) I really hope this name does not become common, so im kinda of glad that a lot of people dont like it!! All it would take is for someone really famous (model) maybe to have this name and then suddenly we will all like it…..how fickle we are.
I am wondering if Romalie is a spelling variant of Romilly, if it is pronounced the same, and if it has the same (or a different) meaning. I really like the name Romilly, but like the spelling Romalie better. Thanks!
My little Romilly Autumn is 10mths. We loved the name from the first time we hard it yrs ago when we were naming our first daughter (Waverly, 6) . We do not know any others and are complimented on it often. She goes by Romilly Autumn or Rommy, or Rom.
Lovely name, and I love Waverly and Romilly together!
This was my Grandfather’s christian name who was born in 1877 and was passed down to my late father, myself and my sister as additional christian names
“Back in 1984, no one was named ……… Allison, Isabella”
Really? What planet was that on?
Actually, Gemma, if you look at the punctuation it reads: “Back in 1984, no one was named Madison. Allison, Isabella, Jayden – they were all once obscure.”
Allison was in the Top 100 in the 1980s, but had been virtually unheard of forty years earlier. Isabella was out of vogue from the 50s through the 80s and wouldn’t begin climbing until the 90s. Jayden’s rise came much later.
We’re often dismissive of names when we first hear them, and it is very difficult to imagine which names will catch on, much less which ones will make it into the Top 100 or even Top Ten.
Ah Romilly, I love her almost as much as when I first posted back in 2008, thanks for re-running this post and making me think of her all over again!
I love Romilly, but I also love Romulus. I would use Millicent for Millie and Rosemary or Rosemarie for Ro before Romilly, but I’d love to meet a little one!
Millie is mostly used as a pet form of Amelia or Emily these days, rather than Millicent.
I love this name. I have a thing for 3-syllable first names ending in “ee” (can you tell?!) and Jessica Mitford has been one of my heroines since I was fifteen and read “Hons and Rebels” (inspired by JK Rowling, who has cited it as one of her most-inspirational books.) So I feel like, if I have children, this would be absolutely perfect for a daughter — it’s got the rhythm I like, and there’s the literary connection… sheer perfection.
Rosemary and Milly are old favorites and honestly I’d pick them long before Romilly. But it would be charming to meet a little Romilly.
On our shortlist for a little girl – love it! Such a pretty, fun, fresh sounding name with history and a great meaning.