Richmal

Richmal is a rare literary name with local English connections.

When we were children, my brother had lots of Just William books: a long-running British series about a cheeky-chappie schoolboy in the early twentieth century. He loved the stories, but my favourite part was the author’s name on the spine of the books.

Richmal Crompton.

So delightfully clunky to say, so British, so intriguingly unisex. And, as I got older and more aware of name trends, I realised it wasn’t a name that many, nay any other people had.

Historically, its use is mainly in Lancashire, England (where Crompton was born). Another bearer, schoolmistress Richmal Mangnall, was also from the area and shared the name with her mother. Our best guess at the name’s origins is that it’s a glorious smoosh of Richard + Mary (which makes more sense if you remember that names like Mallie and Molly were nicknames for Mary).

To be fair, there aren’t many other options for feminizations of Richard.