Birth Names

The decorative name print — a printed object incorporating a personal given name as its primary or central element — occupies a distinctive position in the history of popular illustrated publishing. Neither purely decorative nor purely informational, these prints combine the personal significance of a name with the visual conventions of Victorian ornamental art to produce objects of enduring sentimental appeal. The tradition of producing illustrated name prints developed through the nineteenth century as chromolithographic printing made high-quality colour illustration commercially accessible, and it generated a body of material of considerable variety in format, style and quality.

The most common form of Victorian name print combined the given name with heraldic, botanical and allegorical imagery associated with the name’s origin and meaning. Publishers of name booklets and certificates drew on the traditions of heraldry, floriography and classical mythology to construct visual programmes appropriate to individual names, presenting the customer with an object that located their name within a broader framework of historical and symbolic association. The name Mary, for example, might be illustrated with Marian flowers, appropriate saints’ imagery and heraldic devices associated with bearers of the name in history; the name George with its obvious connection to the patron saint of England and the dragon-slaying legend.

The heraldic dimension of name prints reflects the Victorian middle class’s fascination with genealogy and the trappings of gentility. The association of personal names with coats of arms — whether genuine armorial bearings borne by distinguished families of the name or invented devices of appropriate symbolism — gave name prints a pseudo-genealogical authority that appealed to purchasers who valued the suggestion of historical lineage. The arms depicted in these prints are rarely accurate heraldic records, but they served their decorative and aspirational purposes effectively and are of considerable interest to historians of Victorian popular culture and the social history of respectability.

Australian name prints form a distinct category within the broader tradition, reflecting both the colonial market’s demand for material that spoke to specifically Australian associations and the publishers — both British and colonial — who sought to supply it. Name prints incorporating Australian flora, fauna and landscape imagery alongside the personal name combined the conventions of the genre with a distinctively antipodean visual vocabulary, producing objects of particular interest to collectors with Australian family connections.

The production of name prints extended across a wide range of formats and price points, from the cheaply produced chromolithographic booklets sold for a few pence to the more elaborate framed prints intended for permanent display. The finest examples, produced with the technical accomplishment of the best Victorian commercial printing, are objects of genuine decorative quality whose appeal has survived the specific sentimental purposes for which they were originally made.

For collectors of Victorian ephemera, the history of popular publishing or objects with personal name connections, antique name prints offer an accessible and visually appealing collecting area. Individual examples associated with specific names have obvious appeal to collectors who share those names, and the variety of formats, styles and subject matter within the genre gives the field a breadth that rewards extended exploration.