A Guide to Historically Accurate Regency-Era Names
I recently received a message from a historical romance writer asking if I knew any good resources for finding historically accurate Regency-era names for their characters.
Not knowing any off the top of my head, I dug around online a bit and found there really isnโt much out there. The vast majority of search results were Buzzfeed-style listicles which range from accurate-adjacent to really, really, really bad.
I did find a few blog posts with fairly decent name lists, but noticed that even these have very little indication as to each nameโs relative popularity as those statistical breakdowns really don't exist.
I began writing up a response with this information, but then I (being a research addict who was currently snowed in after a blizzard) thought hey - if there arenโt any good resources out there why not make one myself?
As I lacked any compiled data to work from, I had to do my own data wrangling on this project. Due to this fact, I limited the scope to what I thought would be the most useful for writers who focus on this era, namely - people of a marriageable age living in the wealthiest areas of London.
So with this in mind - I went through period records and compiled the names of 25,000 couples who were married in the City of Westminster (which includes Mayfair, St. James and Hyde Park) between 1804 to 1821.
So letโs see what all that data tells usโฆ
To begin - I think itโs hard for us in the modern world with our wide and varied abundance of first names to conceive of just how POPULAR popular names of the past were.
If you were to take a modern sample of 25-year-old (born in 1998) American women, the most common name would be Emily with 1.35% of the total population. If you were to add the next four most popular names (Hannah, Samantha, Sarah and Ashley) these top five names would bring you to 5.5% of the total population. (source: Social Security Administration)
If you were to do the same survey in Regency London - the most common name would be Mary with 19.2% of the population. Add the next four most popular names (Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah and Jane) and with just 5 names you would have covered 62% of all women.
To hit 62% of the population in the modern survey it would take the top 400 names.
The top five Regency menโs names (John, William, Thomas, James and George) have nearly identical statistics as the womenโs names.
I struggled for the better part of a week with how to present my findings, as a big list in alphabetical order really fails to get across the popularity factor and also isnโt the most tumblr-compatible format. And then my YouTube homepage recommended a random video of someone ranking all the books theyโd read last year - and so I presentโฆ
The Regency Name Popularity Tier List
The Tiers
S+ - 10% of the population or greater. There is no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. 52% of the population had one of these 7 names.
S - 2-10%. There is still no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. Names in this percentage range in the past have included Mary and William in the 1880s and Jennifer in the late 1970s (topped out at 4%).
A - 1-2%. The top five modern names usually fall in this range. Kids with these names would probably include their last initial in class to avoid confusion. (1998 examples: Emily, Sarah, Ashley, Michael, Christopher, Brandon.)
B - .3-1%. Very common names. Would fall in the top 50 modern names. You would most likely know at least 1 person with these names. (1998 examples: Jessica, Megan, Allison, Justin, Ryan, Eric)
C - .17-.3%. Common names. Would fall in the modern top 100. You would probably know someone with these names, or at least know of them. (1998 examples: Chloe, Grace, Vanessa, Sean, Spencer, Seth)
D - .06-.17%. Less common names. In the modern top 250. You may not personally know someone with these names, but youโre aware of them. (1998 examples: Faith, Cassidy, Summer, Griffin, Dustin, Colby)
E - .02-.06%. Uncommon names. Youโre aware these are names, but they are not common. Unusual enough they may be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Calista, Skye, Precious, Fabian, Justice, Lorenzo)
F - .01-.02%. Rare names. You may have heard of these names, but you probably donโt know anyone with one. Extremely unusual, and would likely be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Emerald, Lourdes, Serenity, Dario, Tavian, Adonis)
G - Very rare names. There are only a handful of people with these names in the entire country. Youโve never met anyone with this name.
H - Virtually non-existent. Names that theoretically could have existed in the Regency period (their original source pre-dates the early 19th century) but I found fewer than five (and often no) period examples of them being used in Regency England. (Example names taken from romance novels and online Regency name lists.)
Just to once again reinforce how POPULAR popular names were before we get to the tier lists - statistically, in a ballroom of 100 people in Regency London: 80 would have names from tiers S+/S. An additional 15 people would have names from tiers A/B and C. 4 of the remaining 5 would have names from D/E. Only one would have a name from below tier E.
Women's Names
S+ Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarahย ย ย ย ย ย
S - Jane, Mary Ann+, Hannah, Susannah, Margaret, Catherine, Martha, Charlotte, Maria
A - Frances, Harriet, Sophia, Eleanor, Rebecca
B - Alice, Amelia, Bridget~, Caroline, Eliza, Esther, Isabella, Louisa, Lucy, Lydia, Phoebe, Rachel, Susan
C - Ellen, Fanny*, Grace, Henrietta, Hester, Jemima, Matilda, Priscilla
# Men were sometimes given a family surname (most often their mother's or grandmother's maiden name) as their first name - the most famous example of this being Fitzwilliam Darcy. If you were to combine all surname-based first names as a single 'name' this is where the practice would rank.
*Rank as a given name, not a nickname
+If you count Mary Ann as a separate name from Mary - Mary would remain in S+ even without the Mary Anns included
~Primarily used by people of Irish descent
^Primarily used by people of Scottish descent
>Primarily used by people of Welsh descent
I was going to continue on and write about why Regency-era first names were so uniform, discuss historically accurate surnames, nicknames, and include a little guide to finding 'unique' names that are still historically accurate - but this post is already very, very long, so that will have to wait for a later date.
If anyone has any questions/comments/clarifications in the meantime feel free to message me.
Methodology notes: All data is from marriage records covering six parishes in the City of Westminster between 1804 and 1821. The total sample size was 50,950 individuals.
I chose marriage records rather than births/baptisms as I wanted to focus on individuals who were adults during the Regency era rather than newborns. I think many people make the mistake when researching historical names by using baby name data for the year their story takes place rather than 20 to 30 years prior, and I wanted to avoid that. If you are writing a story that takes place in 1930 you donโt want to research the top names for 1930, you need to be looking at 1910 or earlier if you are naming adult characters.
I combined (for my own sanity) names that are pronounced identically but have minor spelling differences: i.e. the data for Catherine also includes Catharines and Katherines, Susannah includes Susannas, Phoebe includes Phebes, etc.
The compound 'Mother's/Grandmother's maiden name used as first name' designation is an educated guesstimate based on what I recognized as known surnames, as I do not hate myself enough to go through 25,000+ individuals and confirm their mother's maiden names. So if the tally includes any individuals who just happened to be named Fitzroy/Hastings/Townsend/etc. because their parents liked the sound of it and not due to any familial relations - my bad.
I did a small comparative survey of 5,000 individuals in several rural communities in Rutland and Staffordshire (chosen because they had the cleanest data I could find and I was lazy) to see if there were any significant differences between urban and rural naming practices and found the results to be very similar. The most noticeable difference I observed was that the S+ tier names were even MORE popular in rural areas than in London. In Rutland between 1810 and 1820 Elizabeths comprised 21.4% of all brides vs. 15.3% in the London survey. All other S+ names also saw increases of between 1% and 6%. I also observed that the rural communities I surveyed saw a small, but noticeable and fairly consistent, increase in the use of names with Biblical origins.
Sources of the records I used for my survey:ย
Ancestry.com. England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1988 [database on-line].
Ancestry.com. Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 [database on-line].
I was just reminded of this amazing post, which (in the event you TL;DR'd) ranks real Regency names in tiers of popularity from S+ (your Marys and Anns) to H ("Technically possible but virtually non-existent"), and decided to look up the names from Stephanie Laurens' Four in Hand, the 1993 regency romance novel that Julia Quinn liberally cadged from for the first Bridgerton book* and compare them against some Bridgerton names.
Y'all, it's not even close. ALL of the girls in the Bridgerton family have H-tier names, whereas the main four girls in Four in Hand includes two S+-tier (Sarah and Elizabeth), one B-tier (Caroline), and one E-tier (Arabella). That's E-tier at the lowest, mind you, whereas The Duke and I never gets higher than E-tier (and only if you count the Featheringtons, Penelope and Prudence). If you extend to the love interests in later books, you do get an S-tier (Katharine) but also Sophie, which didn't rank at all ("Sophia" is A-tier, at least).
Where the men are concerned, it's a little more even. Laurens' duke is named Max and never says what it is short for, but he has a maternal aunt named Maxwell and yeoldenews considered the entire practice of "mom's maiden name as first name" in the A-tier. Quinn's duke is firmly B-tier (Simon), so I'd say that's a draw. The other male love interests in Four in Hand are Martin (D-tier), Hugo (E-tier), and Darcy (arguably A-tier if it's supposed to be a family name but let's be fair, it's just an Austen reference), and the Bridgerton boys are a C, an E, and two Fs, so it's fairly comparable (a little worse than the girls in Laurens' case, much better for Quinn's)**.
I feel so justified in being a one-woman "give Stephanie Laurens a writing credit on Bridgerton" soapbox***.
*Seriously though, there's just way too many similarities for it to just be genre overlap. Read the book if you don't believe me.
**I'm not looking ul who Eloise and Francesca marry and you can't make me
*** jk, as the kids used to say
Hey do you know any site/blog where I can get the summaries of Off-campus series? Not the 2-3 para summaries tho.
The legacy comes out tomorrow and I'm really excited about it but I read the series a few years back and I can't recall the stories that well and I really don't feel like reading the entire series just to read the legacy.
You know, I donโt know any blogs with summaries but I can sure as hell write them for you!
The Legacy is supposed to be: Four stories. Four couples. Three years of real life after graduationโฆA wedding. A proposal. An elopement. And a surprise pregnancy.
Under the cut because spoilers! (I just did the first 4 with main events and facts , but I'll include some background info about where we last saw the characters in the briar u series for context)
THE DEAL
The Deal is about Hannah and Garrett. Garrett Graham is the big man on campus and in desperate need of a tutor. Hannah is a music major and is reluctant to help Garrett because between her nightmare of a partner for her duet, and working at the local diner to support herself and help out her family, she doesnโt have time. Garrett eventually convinced her, using the one thing Hannah wants but canโt have: a chance to make Justin Kohl, the transfer student on the football team interested in her.
While Hannah tutors Garrett on philosophy, they both get closer, talking about their lives, including Hannahโs struggle with her duet partner, and Garrettโs total dedication to hockey. They stay up late watching Breaking Bad, Hannah sings for Garrett, and they eventually kiss (to prepare Hannah for her big date with Justin). Hannah also meets Garrett's best friends and roommates: John Logan, (who is interested in Hannah and is destine to play Hockey professionally), Dean Heyward DiLaurentis (who is incapable of hooking up in his own room) and John Tucker (who does all of the cooking in their apartment and hooked up with 3 girls at the same time the past new years).
Before Hannah is scheduled to appear as Garrettโs date at a football party, Justin starts to show interest in her, but Garrett keeps interrupting. Hannah and Garrett go to the party, and Hannah reveals that she doesn't drink in public because of a bad experience in the past. Hannah rescues Garrett from a puck bunny, and they leave the party together, after chatting with Beau Maxwell.
Hannah runs into Justin at a coffee shop, and Justin asks Hannah out on a date. After he retakes the test, Garrett invites Hannah out to celebrate with his hockey friends, giving her a chance to drink in a controlled environment with Garrett as her guard dog. Hannah letโs go and enjoys the night until she runs into her ex-boyfriend. Itโs revealed that the relationship broke down at least in part because Hannah has been unable to have an orgasm with anyone since she was raped when she was 15 years old. Garrett returns and Hannah enjoys the rest of the night, until Garrett puts her to bed in his bedroom, and Hannah tries to come on to Garrett.
They wake up together the next morning and Hannah asks Garrett to help her, to see if maybe they can crack why sheโs unable to orgasm with a partner. Garrett agrees and is somewhat nervous about the encounter.
Hannah shows up at Garrettโs house that night and Garrett immediately puts her at ease. Hannah hits a wall, they both pleasure themselves, and Hannah is able to orgasm, which is a huge success for her. The next day, Garrett shows up to Hannah's rehearsal and tells her nightmare duet partner to back off. Garrett goes down on her, Hannah has another orgasm. Garrett goes to Hockey practice and comes home to a home cooked meal made by Hannah as a thank you.
The next day (Halloween), Hannah feels bad that Garrett does not go out for Halloween, so she finds him at his house, alone. They sit on the couch, and Garrett confesses to hating halloween because that was when his father started to physically abuse him. Hannah opens up more to Garrett about how being raped at such a young age impacted her life. They agree to rewrite bad memories with good ones and finally have sex.
The next day, Garrett plays a hockey game, which Hannah attends with her friends. As he's leaving, Garrett's father (Hockey Legend and Abuser Phil Graham) tells him that he must come home for Thanksgiving because Phil's girlfriend wants to see him. Logan also informs Garrett that Justin mentioned he's going out with Hannah the next day.
Garrett shows up at Hannah's dorm, upset that she's going out with Justin, when they've been having such a good time together. Hannah reveals she accepted Justin's invitation before she went out with Garrett, and cancels the date. They decide to be boyfriend/girlfriend.
Hannah's parents cannot afford to fly out for thanksgiving, so she goes with Garrett to his dad's house. Garrett notices his father is abusing his girlfriend, and offers her help to get out. Hannah and Garrett leave, and on the ride home they confess that they love each other.
At Garrett's next game, Hannah sees one of the boys who testified against her in her rape trial. Garrett realizes who he is and beats the shit out of him, injuring Logan in the process. The next day, Phil shows up at Hannah's job and tells her to breakup with Garrett, threatening to pull Garrett's tuition and financial support if she does not.
Hannah does so, and Garrett is incredibly upset, claiming Hannah's reasons don't make sense. They finish out the semester apart, Garrett pursuing Hannah, and attending Hannah's final performance (she does a solo with the cellist from her duet partner's song). When they return to campus for the spring semester, Hannah tries to show Garrett she's moved on by going out with someone else, but realizes that Garrett has employed a full-campus ban on dating her.
Hannah storms into the locker room, confronting Garrett, and Garrett reveals that he knew that she would try to date someone and feel guilty about it later. He gets Hannah to admit that Phil threatened her to end things with Garrett. Hannah confesses to everything and Garrett reveals that he gained access to his trust fund over the winter break, so he has cut all ties (financial and otherwise) with his father. They get back together. In the final chapter, Garrett and Hannah celebrate Brair U's Frozen Four Win, and Hannah notices that Garrett's best friend Logan is still interested in her. Garrett also reveals that he finally opened up to his teammates about his father's physical abuse. It's also revealed that Justin is dating one of Hannah's friends.
THE MISTAKE
The Mistake starts with John Logan, who is hopelessly in love with his best friend Garrett's girlfriend Hannah. Logan's been coping with this realization by partying and sleeping his way through Briar's campus. Tucker calls attention to Logan's behavior before a party. Grace Meyers is a freshman at Briar U, whose best friend is obsessed with Dean Heyward-DiLaurentis, Logan's best friend. Grace sees Logan at a party, but they don't interact. The next day, in a ploy to escape Garrett and Hannah, Logan mistakenly ends up at Grace's door, and asks to use her phone. They end up watching Die Hard together and making out. Logan comes, Grace doesn't and he leaves abruptly. Grace tells her friend Ramona what happened, and Ramona insinuates that Logan made it up.
Logan realizes that Grace didn't finish and goes back to make it right.Ramona tells their friend group about Grace and Logan, and for some reason, they don't believe Grace. Later that week, Grace and Logan run into each other at the movie theatre, with Ramona and Dean. Grace and Logan hook up again. While he hasn't been thinking about Hannah, he feels guilty for using Grace to get over his feelings for Hannah. When he plans to break things off, Dean reveals that some of the freshman have been spreading rumors that Grace is making up stories about seeing Logan. Logan interferes, rescuing Grace from the dining hall and they hang out.
Logan goes over to Grace's place to break things off, but waits until Grace reveals that she is a virgin, before explaining that he feels guilty using her when he has feelings for Hannah. Grace is obviously upset and Logan leaves. He finds Hannah in his kitchen, and realizes that what he wanted wasn't Hannah, but rather Garrett and Hannah's relationship. Logan tries to explain to Grace and apologize, but Grace won't respond. At the same time, Ramona tries to get in with Logan, so Logan tells Grace, which ends Grace and Ramona's friendship.
Grace visits her mother in Paris over the summer, while Logan returns to his hometown, where he works at his alcoholic father's garage. Logan made a deal with his brother which means that after graduation, Logan will return to the garage, rather than chasing his professional hockey aspirations. Logan spends the summer trying to get in touch with Grace, while she ignores Logan completely. He tries to move on, but finds that he doesn't want to be with anyone else. Garrett visits Logan and tells him to make the most of his last year of freedom, and Logan intends to make things right with Grace.
When Logan returns to Briar, he runs into Grace and tries to explain what happened. Grace refuses to go out with him. Grace makes friends with her new roommate, Daisy, and joins her by working at the campus radio station. Logan is persistent with Grace, but she again refuses Logan. Grace is asked to a party by Morris, who also works at the radio station, and Logan finds her there and kisses her. Logan goes to Morrisโs place and โdeclares his intentions toward Grace.โ They bond over video games and Morris agrees to stand down. When Grace finds out she is livid, and storms into Loganโs house demanding an explanation. Logan says heโll do anything for a chance with Grace, and Grace gives him a list of things to do to win her back.
With some difficulty, Logan completes the tasks and takes Grace out on a fancy date. That date goes well (despite the fact that Grace reveals she prefers football over Hockey). The next date is at a football party, where Grace meets Sabrina James and Beau Maxwell. At the party, sheโs jealous that Logan has been with many women before her, and Logan reassures her completely. Logan and Grace date and hookup, which leads to Logan Skyping with Graceโs mom, Grace learning about Loganโs decision not to pursue professional hockey to care for his father, and Logan jealously interrupting Graceโs study session. Logan cautions Grace about pursuing her friendship with Ramona as well.
On a weekend where Loganโs roommates are out of town, Logan and Grace finally have sex. They are interrupted the next morning by Hannah and Garrett who are escaping a major fight that Hannahโs roommate Allie is having with her boyfriend Sean. The four spend time together and Logan goes to dinner at Graceโs fatherโs house.
The next week, Grace receives an SOS from Ramona, saying sheโs at a party with the visiting Hockey team, and Logan and Grace go to save her. When theyโre safely back in the car, Grace realizes sheโs in love with Logan. Later, Logan is supposed to pick up Grace from her fathers house, but canโt make it because his father needs help. Logan goes to Graceโs house, only to find that Grace has returned to the dorms and end up breaking down in front of Graceโs dad.
Grace goes to check on Logan the next day, and they fight. Logan apologizes for being late and says he knows Grace will leave him the next year when heโs at home, and Grace is still at Briar. Grace storms out after declaring she loves Logan, and Logan is shocked. He knows it will take a grand gesture to win Grace back, so he goes on Graceโs radio show and confesses his love for Grace.
The next day, Logan is called to an emergency meeting at his fatherโs house, where his father explains that heโs enrolling himself into rehab for his alcoholism and that Logan can pursue his hockey dreams, starting at a farm team for the Bruins. The epilogue is two years later, at Loganโs first Bruins game, where Grace is talking to Loganโs mother and Hannah.
THE SCORE
This books begins with Allie calling Hannah (who is away for the weekend with Garrett, Logan, and Grace), because her ex-boyfriend Sean insists on showing up to their dorm uninvited. Garrett tells Allie to stay at his place for the weekend, and notes that his roommates, Tucker and Dean will be home. Allie shows up at the house while Dean is about to have a threesome and Tucker is out. Dean tells the girls to leave, and hits on Allie relentlessly. Allie reveals that sheโs escaping her ex- and they end up watching a movie together. With the help of tequila, one thing leads to another and Allie wakes up in Deanโs bed the next morning. They agree to keep their hookup private, and Allie leaves the house.
Even though Dean does not usually repeat hookups, he pursues Allie relentlessly, calling and texting her after a night out with Tucker and Hunter. Dean meets up with his buddy, Beau Maxwell, who uses a complicated Twilight analogy to explain that Dean only wants Allie now. After a hockey game, Hannah reveals that Allie is at home sulking, so Dean goes to give her company, and attempt to seduce her. They watch a terrible French show together and Dean leaves.
Allie then joins Dean and his friends at Colin Fitzgeraldโs birthday, where Dean and Allie use the jukebox to send messages to eachother (Allie picks U and UR Hand), while Dean sexts Allie. Again, nothing happens between them, but Allie leaves feeling hot and bothered.
At the same time, Deans new coach on the team is the father of an ex-girlfriend from high school and Dean is assigned to coach a boys hockey team. Dean also butts heads with Sabrina James, who resents Dean after she found out he was given better grades for sleeping with a TA. Allie also struggles in trying out for roles, believing she's been typecast as the vapid friend, and wished to play characters with more substance.
Eventually, Allie relents and invites Dean over. They hookup in secret (in part because of Deanโs reputation as a player). When Allie comes over to Deanโs place, Logan finds Dean alone in the tub with Allieโs vibrator. They also discuss being exclusive. A few nights later, Hannah texts Allie to join her at the bar with Garrett and his hockey friends and mentions that Dean is making out with some girl. Allie shows up looking like a snack and Dean confronts her. Allie reveals that she was jealous of the girl mentioned, and Dean reassures her that nothing happened and he brushed the girl off.
Later, Allie texts Dean that she's meeting with Sean (the evil ex). Sean shows Allie plane tickets for him and Allie to Los Angeles, after being unsupportive of Allies's acting career. Dean gives Allie the silent treatment, and Allie finds out that Dean was thrown out of the Hockey game for fighting. Allie finds Dean in the locker room and confirms that she is not getting back together with Spencer, and Dean invites Allie to drive down to New York with him or Thanksgiving. While keeping their relationship secret, Allie and Dean go down to New York, and Dean opens up to Allie about his past with the Coach's daughter.
In New York, Dean meets Allie's dad (who suffers from MS) on Thanksgiving, and Dean and Allie go out with Beau Maxwell and some other friends. When they return to Briar, one of Sean's teammates sees Allie and Dean together. Sean confronts Allie at her dorm, and calls Allie and Dean names. Garrett and Hannah step in and kick Spencer out, and Allie asks Hannah to call Dean. Dean shows up, demanding to see Allie, and Allie and Dean decide to date for real, and be public with their relationship, to Garrett's chagrin. Hannah asks Allie if she loves Dean, but she doesn't realize how deep her feelings are until she sees him coaching hockey.
They date happily and Dean's sister Summer visits. Allie accidentally knocks Dean out when thinking he's an intruder, and Dean and Allie confess that they love each other. (There's also some set up for Summer and Fitz's story in the Chase). Some time later, Dean finds out his good friend Beau Maxwell has died tragically in a car accident. Dean spirals out of control, and Allie tries to be patient with him. Dean is able to go through the motions of life - going to hockey practice and class, but the relationship suffers. Eventually, Dean misses Allie's opening night performance in her play, and Allie discovers Dean is on MDMA. Allie breaks things off with Dean, and Dean is also cut from the hockey team for his drug use.
Dean slowly works to make amends with his hockey team, his friends, the coach's daughter, and Allie. Allie tells him that she needs time apart from him. When Dean is in New York for the weekend, Allie receives a call that her father has fallen. Dean goes to Allie's house and checks on her dad, and bonds with him. When Dean returns, she and Dean get back together. Allie reveals she's turning down a sitcom role in LA and Dean presents her with plane tickets for Allie and her father. Allie tells him and Dean reveals he will not be going to Harvard Law, but will be coaching girls hockey at a private school in New York. Allie ends up landing a HBO job in New York and Dean and Allie plan to move together to New York after graduation. Dean takes Allie to a salsa class.
The novel ends with Tucker revealing that he is having a baby with Sabrina James.
THE GOAL
Sabrina and Tucker's story starts the night after Dean hooks up with Allie for the first time. Sabrina goes out with her friends after attending an event at a professor's house and ends up a the bar. Sabrina is a hardworking student with aspirations to go to Harvard Law. She works two jobs: the postal service and a bar, and she lives with her grandmother and step-father, in less than ideal conditions. Tucker is supposed to return to Texas after graduation and start his own business. Of his roommates, Tucker is the most old-fashioned, dating-wise. Dean warns Tucker off of Sabrina, before leaving, and Tucker and Sabrina hook up, despite Tucker's friendship with Dean and Sabrina's insistence that it's a one time thing. There's a shuffle where a condom isn't used, but both people have a really good time. Sabrina drives home that night, and Tucker follows her to make sure she gets home safe. Sabrina blocks Tuckers phone number.
Tucker talks to Beau Maxwell to declare his intentions about Sabrina, and he finds Sabrina at school. Tucker is persistent in getting a date with Sabrina, but she asks him to give up. Sabrina gets into Harvard Law and visits the campus, where she is mistaken for a legal aid client, and the professor she meets with gives her useless advice. Tucker ends up going to Boston with Hollis and Fitz and runs into Sabrina at the bar she works at. They hook up again, at Sabrina's place, and Tucker overhears Sabrina's creepy step-father saying inappropriate things to her. Tucker leaves and Sabrina is incredibly embarrassed.
Sabrina sees Tucker on campus the next day. Tucker confronts her about the interaction, and encourages Sabrina to take some time for herself, while telling her about his life. A few days later, Beau tells Sabrina about Tucker's declaration of intentions, and Sabrina's friends convince her to go to one of Tucker's hockey games. There, she sees Tucker with another girl, but Tucker tells her she's a friend and asks Sabrina out again. Sabrina agrees to a double date with Tucker (and Fitz goes out with her friend Carin). They have phone sex before their date, which goes really well. They agree to keep their relationship a secret.
Dean and Allie's relationship is revealed after Thanksgiving, and Tucker meets Sabrina's grandmother. He goes back to Texas for the Holidays, and realizes he doesn't want to go back full time. Tucker and Sabrina miss each other over the break, and Sabrina gets sick. When Tuck plans a fancy night at a hotel for new years, they realize that Sabrina is pregnant. Later that week, the news about Beau's death comes out, and Tucker goes to comfort Sabrina. They attend the funeral together. There are a few time jumps involving Sabrina dealing with the pregancy news, and she eventually decides to keep the baby, and attend Harvard after running into Beau's sister.
Sabrina tries to give Tuck an out on their relationship, and he lies about seeing other people to make her more comfortable. Tucker stands by Sabrina and her decisions. Sabrina asks for time to tell her friends about the baby and Tucker eventually tells his mom, roommates and friends that he will be staying in Boston. Fitz, Garrett, and Logan are supportive, while Dean can't get past his hatred for Sabrina. Tucker commits to living with Hollis's terrible brother after graduation.
After Sabrina and Tucker visit the doctor and find out they are having a girl, Sabrina and Tucker have sex again, and pick up where they've started. They've both accepted that they love each other but won't admit it. Tucker reveals that Garrett and Logan are competing for godfather privileges and Tucker invites Sabrina to his house, to meet his friends. Sabrina has a nice time meeting Hannah, Grace, and the guys. She breaks down when Dean confronts her about how she's interfering with Tuck's life, and she admits to Dean that she love Tuck, but asks Dean not to tell Tuck. Dean and Sabrina call a truce.
Sabrina and her friends start to get things together for the baby, and Tucker starts to work construction in Boston to support himself while he looks for a business to invest in. Sabrina meets Tucker's mom, who believes Sabrina is taking advantage of Tucker's kindness. Tucker finds a bar he wants to invest in, but Sabrina goes into Labor, having a healthy baby girl, they decide to name James Tucker or Jamie. Tucker tells Sabrina he loves her in the hospital, but she pretends not to hear.
Things with Sabrina and Tucker are rocky after the baby is born. Sabrina snuggles to juggle the beginning of law school with being a mom and breastfeeding. Tucker is supportive of Sabrina, caring for Jamie so she can study. Tucker gets annoyed that women hit on him when he's out with Jamie, but he finds that the bar he was at earlier is for sale.
Tucker walks in when Ray (Sabrina's creepy step-dad) is being creepy around Sabrina and Jamie, and Tucker takes Sabrina to the bar, showing him their new apartment and Tucker's new business. Sabrina and Jamie move in with Tucker. Tucker's bar opens and Sabrina and Tucker finally have sex again. There's some lead up to the next books, and it's revealed that Logan and Grace are living together, Garrett is having major success playing Hockey, and Dean eventually comes around to Jamie and Sabrina. When Tucker's mom comes to visit, Sabrina is defensive over her life with Tucker and balancing Law School with Motherhood. Sabrina reveals that she loves Tucker and Tucker overhears.
Tucker and Sabrina confess their love for each other. The last chapter time jumps a year ahead to Logan's first game with the Bruins. Tucker, Sabrina, and Jamie attend and it is revealed that they are engaged. Sabrina is still in law school, Tucker's mother is moving up to Boston to help with the baby. Sabrina's friends and Grace and Hannah hang out often, and the book ends.
At this point:
Hannah and Garret are living together, Hannah is producing music and Garrett is playing professionally
Logan and Grace are living together, Logan is starting to play with the Bruins, and Grace is a senior in college.
Dean and Allie are living together. Dean coaches girls' field hockey and Allie's HBO show is out.
Sabrina and Tucker are living together and engaged. Sabrina is in Law School and Tucker is running the bar successfully.
BRIAR U SERIES:
Garrett is extremely famous and has to wear disguises when out because he get's recognized so often. Hannah and Garrett live together. Garrett is planning to help Hunter play hockey professionally. (The Chase, The Play)
Hannah is producing music with some famous people. (The Chase, The Play)
Logan is playing with the Bruins, but not getting as much play time. (The Play)
Grace is still in school at the end of the series, but is living with Logan. (At the three year point, she'll be in her senior year of college.) (The Play)
Dean is coaching girls hockey competitively, catches Fitz and Summer having sex, and is apparently a really good salsa dancer. (The Chase, The Play)
Allie's show has been nominated for an Emmy and has been renewed for another season. (The Chase, the Play)
Sabrina is still in law school. (At the three year point, she will have graduated law school). (mentioned in The Chase)
Tucker is managing the bar, which is doing really well. (The Chase)
I'm assuming Briar U characters might be mentioned (especially Hunter and Summer), but I figured giving the run-down on those might not be fully relevant to the book coming out tomorrow.
Where are the Briar U Characters at the three year point?
Hunter, Demi, Conor and Taylor will be Seniors at Briar
Summer and Brenna will be fresh out of college.
Fitzy, Hollis, and Jake will be one year out of college.
Hollis and Rupi will have been married for less than a year
If you've made it this far, here's a list of things that were not discussed that should have been:
the fact that Tucker plays guitar
the fact that Logan gives Dean shit over Winston but is a hypocrite
The fact that Grace and Demi have the same academic and murdery-y interests
Grace/Demi/Taylor Friendship could be next level
Jake Connelly and Conor bonding over being Coach's sons-in-law
Dean and Sabrina make up / friendship
friendship between the girlfriends and the boys in general
Who are Jamie's godparents? (Garrett and Hannah?)
Carin and Fitzy's date - why was this never discussed?
Why do they never go to Tucker's bar? Like anyone from The Chase onward could have gone
More of Johnny /Gorgeous
More of Hannah/Allie bonding over Dean/Garrett
More Boogers/Dicky + Fitzy just being there
The fact that Fitzy and Hollis drove to Jake's game to yell at him
Hunter going to salsa lessons needs to happen
DO THEY GET THE PIG? PLEASE TELL ME THEY GET THE PIG
Demi & Taylor friendship after they move in together
Who becomes the next Dean/Hunter/Conor
I need a scene of Grace meeting Tom Brady or Gronk and Logan being annoyed because he too is a successful professional athlete (for reasons)
