What's in a Name

      There seems to be very little significance given to names in this novel. Almost everyone has nicknames or multiple variations on their titles based on social hierarchy. You would think that having your name determined by your status or current position would make names more important but it actually seems to undermine their significance. The servants (especially the male ones) are called after the family’s first butler or first footman, et c. Their name almost becomes synonymous with their position, so that instead of being the head footman, Charley, Raunce is the head footman/Arthur. It is almost a loss of identity or a cheapening of individuality. Even his servant Albert shares his name with Mrs. Welch’s nephew. Making Bert share the boy’s name makes it seem as though this is a wide spread thing and not just a household quirk. It feels like the shared identities serve as a lumping of the serving social masses and mask the individual people by merging them into past servants who have filled the same roles. Mrs. Tennant and Mrs. Jack even comment on how little they really know about their servants. They acknowledge that they are people, but they seem to categorize them more on their function than on their own merit.