Do you refer to your house by name? The naming of property is trending, it's not just for English country estates or Gilded Age mansions anymore!

We've referred to our northern Michigan home as "Pemberly Pines" since 2007

Welcome to Pemberly Pines, our northern Michigan abode.

We've been calling the "estate" by name since we purchased twenty acres and set up a temporary pop-up camper on the  grounds thirteen years ago.  A year later, we had a house built in a natural clearing on the land, and ever since, we've been accessorizing it with  items of its own brand. Apparently, we were on the verge of a trend.

We've been accessorizing Pemberly Pines with its own brand since it was built twelve years ago.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, giving your home a name is becoming popular, mostly spurred on by increases in the vacation rental market (with the exception of current quarantine conditions). While there's no hard data  that  properties with titles sell better, there is anecdotal evidence that catchy names garner more attention.

The Biltmore Estate -  two visits from BTS, 2007 and 2019

The article quotes Bernard Herman, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as to the reason for the house-naming trend. "Once strictly the habit of landed gentry and aristocrats, house names have proliferated to reflect the democratization of estate ownership."

Um, okay.

But, he goes on to say that it is also "connected to the emergence of modern sensibilities of property and land".

Yes, that's it!  - that's why we call our up-north home Pemberly Pines.  It's due to our "Sense and Sensibilities", if you will.

Having tea at Lyme Park in 2018, one of the Pemberly's

I'm a fan of touring English estates and Gilded Age homes in the U.S - all that have wonderful names. Visits to the latter category include, Biltmore in Asheville and two of the Newport "cottages", Marble House and The Breakers,  Across the pond, we've been to many aristocratic residences, including two of  Jane Austen's "Pemberley"'s (Mr. Darcy's residence in "Pride and Prejudice"), Lyme Park and Chatsworth.  (It's probably pretty clear where the inspiration for our northern home's name derived from.)

Would Chatsworth be less magnificent if referred to as "that Cavendish place down the road"?

The WSJ article also interviewed Story Litchfield, a broker for vacation properties in Maine. She says most of the houses she works with have names, but she advises against titles that are "too pretentious or tongue-in-cheek".

Hmmm, we're two for two there.

Litchfield also stated that homeowners should stay away from nonsense words that no one can pronounce.

We're doing better!

Marble House in Newport

The Breakers "cottage"

In a 2008 blog (An Austentacious Weekend at Pemberly Pines), I explained the story behind the naming of Pemberly Pines.  Being fans of Jane Austen, we took the name Pemberley and "Americanized" it by dropping the last "e" and "northernized" it by adding "Pines". I pondered that Jane would most likely be amused at the irony, since Mr. Darcy's estate was most formidable in size and, in most conservative measurement, Pemberly Pines is but barely 1,200 square feet.

Pemberly Pines:  easy to pronounce!

However, we believe we pay appropriate homage to the spirit of Darcy's Pemberely from Elizabeth Bennet's account of her first visit to the estate. She exclaims that "she had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste." With respect to Mr. Darcy's expected condescension due his superior rank and pride, we believe we have achieved the same with Pemberly Pines.

What's in a name? Would Pemberly Pines be less sweet with another name or no name at all?  Would Chatsworth not be as magnificent if it was referred to as "that Cavindish place down the road"?  No great changes with or without titles, but names make it clear as to what you are referring to and gives a little insight into the property owners "sensibilities".

In 2021, we're adding a tiny home to the property. . .could Biltmore Bunkie be in our future?

Pemberly Pines ahead of the trend!