D&D names from the 17th century

Here are some 17th century historical figures with D&D names:

From Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver:

On 16 August 1688, I met Liselotte von der Pfalz, Elisabeth Charlotte, duchesse d’Orleans, who is known to the French Court as Madame or La Palatine, and to her loved ones in Germany as the Knight of the Rustling Leaves, at the gate of a stable on her estate at St. Cloud on the Seine, just downstream of Paris.

This is a pretty awesome name for a semi-exiled, itinerant princess. It seems to have been the real nickname of Liselotte von der Pfalz. From her letters, it seems that she was a tomboy princess who preferred hunting to fancy-dress balls, and, as she says elsewhere, swords to dolls. It would be pretty easy to fit Lisolette, the Knight of Rustling Leaves, into any D&D campaign.

And how about this name? In a 1660 passage from his diary, Samuel Pepys mentions “Sir Harbottle Grimstone, Speaker for the House of Commons.” How about that name? It sounds almost aggressively, implausibly D&D, and I had to double-check that it was a real guy.

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4 Responses to “D&D names from the 17th century”

  1. Mystic Scholar says:

    Yeah, we USED to be “cool.” 😉

    ROFL

  2. Michael (Gronan) Mornard says:

    I may have to steal the Knight of Rustling Leaves.

  3. Chawunky says:

    Yeah, Knight of Rustling Leaves is boss.

    Harbottle and Grimstone could be two towns on a wilderness adventure itinerary.

  4. Pepys is chock full of names that sound like they were conjured up around a gaming table, but none so cool as this dude: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praise-God_Barebone

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