#although i do think of murray as being more scottish than irish ngl

[popsicle-stick]

idk if this illuminates anything about the accents, but i remember that stoker lived in dublin for thirty years before moving to england (iirc he lived in whitby for quite a while?). something unrelated to that seemed peculiar to me is that at some point mina says steep little closes, or “wynds,” as they call them in Scotland. like, completely random, but may indicate something about her?

(second ask is ancient and has been mouldering in my ask box for a century. i'm so sorry!!)

i remember hearing something about stoker and oscar wilde, and how stoker retained his dublin accent after so long in the UK, and derided wilde for putting on an affected RP-esque accent. both of their different approaches to accent and identity seem to fit with how they saw themselves within british artistic society, too (i may not be correct on this so feel free if i'm wrong!)

irish or scottish mina is a popular hc - i do often hc her with scottish family (pre-orphaning) myself! - so this may be where she got that from. alternatively, she also does strike me as someone who's hungry for knowledge, and takes time to investigate and categorise local traditions and curiosities - she was fascinated by the local whitby folktales and provenance of the gravestones in the churchyard, and she's the kind of person who likes to keep note of such things! so that's another possible reason, but i do like both at the same time.

what i will say though is name origin ≠ nationality. /especially/ in regards to common gaelic names like murray - it's extremely common on the uk. so while it could indicate where she's from, it doesn't always necessarily.

(anecdotally, my own family has a gaelic name and my grandfather is somehow less genetically irish than the average british person. cringe!)

but yeah! i'm off topic - irish or scottish mina is a really interesting interpretation and it could really reframe the novel - but. i guess i'm just saying don't rely on names for it, if that makes any sense???

(interesting fact!! other places in the uk have their own unique terms those little alleyways, such as the opes of cornwall, ginnels or snickets in northern england, twittens in sussex, while the town of braintree, essex, knows them as gants)

#realised i just did the '! -' richard marsh special. christ #of course much of the commonality of irish names in the uk comes from the migration of irish families due to the famine #although i do think of murray as being more scottish than irish ngl #i can't be sure how naturalised the murray surname had become at the turn of the century - if someone has some historical knowledge lmk! #given how widespread it is i think it's probably been long established #i may be wrong though! #ask