Scarlett
When Margaret Mitchell started writing her bestselling novel, Gone with the Wind, she named her hero Pansy. However, the book publishers suggested she use a more dramatic name. Thus, Mitchell changed her character's name to Scarlett. Where did that come from?
According to Nancy's Baby Names, Mitchell often came across the name Katie Scarlett in Irish Literature; Scarlett O'Hara's first name was Katie. Scarlett got her middle name, by which she was called, from her grandmother's maiden name. Mitchell explained it in her novel, but it's easy to miss in the movie, confusing parents into thinking Scarlett was a common Victorian name.
As hinted above, Scarlett began as a surname. However, it doesn't sound like one because it's merely a respelling of the color. Scarlet cloth wasn't always exclusively red, though; during the late Middle Ages, two centuries after Scarlett became a surname for the cloth makers, scarlet became a term for its common red color.
Despite Scarlett's origin as a surname, it wasn't completely new at the time of Gone with the Wind's publication; according to Elea on British Baby Names, Scarlet(t) entered sparing use as a unisex, though mostly masculine, name in the seventeenth century.
Scarlett's usage shifted from masculine-skewing unisex to completely feminine when Margaret Mitchell's novel came out. It debuted in American naming data the next year in 1937. Three years later, after the movie adaptation starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara premiered, Scarlett entered the top 1000. It only ranked for four years, though.
Since scarlet was historically a symbolic color for sin, as in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, mid-century parents weren't fully ready for the name. Pop culture didn't affect names as much back then as it does today, either.
Nonetheless, Scarlett has never dropped out of use since its 1937 debut; perhaps it re-entered the top 1000 in the early 1960s. It could have to do with the 25th anniversary of the book's publication. Or else, there was the 1961 political comedy One, Two, Three, which featured a character named Scarlett Hazeltine. Since Scarlett re-entered the top 1000 the year after the comedy came out, I think One, Two, Three had a larger impact. It left the top 1000 again in 1964, signaling parents were still not quite ready for the name.
Twenty-eight years later, Scarlett returned to the top 1000 to stay. The year before its resurgence, Alexandra Ripley wrote Scarlett, a sequel to Gone with the Wind. Because Scarlett never left the top 1000 again, it was clear parents were finally ready to keep using the dangerous name. Yet, Scarlett still clung to the fringes of the charts.
The dawn of the twenty-first century marked a significant change for Scarlett; Scarlett Johansson had a breakout year in 2003, when she starred in the famous films Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring. The next year, Scarlett, which was already rising elsewhere in the English-speaking world, entered the Australian and British top 100.
Scarlett subsequently began its quick rise in the United States. By the time it entered the top 100 in 2011, Scarlett was officially popular throughout the English-speaking world. From 2015 through 2018, Scarlett has been a top 25 hit, recently peaking at #14 in 2022.
Scarlett still has some issues regardless of its success. First, because it rose so dramatically in use, Scarlett feels slightly trendy. In addition, it is not quite clear whether Scarlett counts as traditional or contemporary. Those who consider a traditional name to have been in use for at least a century might call it a trendy surname. However, traditionalists who appreciate any name that reminds them of the past would accept Scarlett, even if it wasn't O'Hara's first name.
Literature has served as a traditional naming source, so I think Scarlett can lean traditional. Even if it's not, the name is definitely cool, colorful, dangerous, exotic, literary, southern, and strong.
SPELLINGS:
Scarlet, Scarlette
STYLES:
SISTERS:
BROTHERS:
Click here for more sibling names for Scarlett
ALTERNATIVES:
Cosette, Darcy, Garnet, Harlow, Marnie, Saffron, Scout, Sonnet, Tempest, Velvet
Click here for more names inspired by Scarlett
FURTHER RESOURCES:
Nickerson, Eleanor. "Scarlett." Names of the Week, British Baby Names, 25 Mar. 2017, https://www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2017/03/scarlett.html.
Sandel, Abby. "Scarlett: Baby Name of the Day." Appellation Mountain, 10 Apr. 2019, https://appellationmountain.net/baby-name-of-the-day-scarlett/.
"Scarlett." Names, Behind the Name, 9 Jun. 2023, https://www.behindthename.com/name/scarlett.
"What popularized the baby name Scarlett?" Name Blog, Nancy's Baby Names, 29 Feb. 2012, https://www.nancy.cc/2012/02/29/baby-name-scarlett/.
What do you think about Scarlett? Do you consider it traditional or contemporary?
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