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ArchivesRe: Partial Answer
in reply to a message by lac
That's really interesting. Thanks for posting your research. The spelling "Lurline" (rather than Lurlene) makes me suspect Wallace was pronouncing the name lur-line, not lur-leen. Lur-line sounds a lot more like Lorelei than Lurlene does. (It would also rhyme with the English pronunciation of the Rhine river).
I rechecked the Social Security lists and while Lurlene never appears, Lurline goes off and on the top 1000 between 1887 and 1926. So it looks like Lurline is the original form and was almost certainly taken from the opera, instead of being an invented name as I guessed.
Then, Lurlene could have been a natural development from Lurline some time later when names like Marlene had become popular.
I rechecked the Social Security lists and while Lurlene never appears, Lurline goes off and on the top 1000 between 1887 and 1926. So it looks like Lurline is the original form and was almost certainly taken from the opera, instead of being an invented name as I guessed.
Then, Lurlene could have been a natural development from Lurline some time later when names like Marlene had become popular.
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