British names: Torquil?!? and Diana Wynne Jones

[granaiogirl]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "terryljames76"
<terryljames at h...> wrote:
> I was reading "The Edge" by Dick Francis last night, and the main 
> character's name is Tor, short for Torquil.  A character in "Archer's 
> Goon", by Diana Wynne Jones, a book I recommend for any age group, is 
> also named Torquil.  Both of these are English writers, and it's a 
> name I have never come across in the U.S.  Is it very common in the 
> UK?  Where is it from?  How would you pronounce it?
> 
>
> Terry LJ 

It is not a 'common' name in the UK.
I can tell you that though I have lived in England all my life, the
only place I have ever met anyone called Torquil is in the pages of
bad novels. Are you writing a fic that requires a well-bred yet
ignorant toff, ahem, I mean young scion of a noble house, that has
fallen on poor times, perchance? In that case, Torquil is your man.
Especially if your fic is set in the early years of the 20th century.