Fanon / Pride and Prejudice

• There are several popular trends for how fan works name characters who go unnamed or solely by Last-Name Basis in canon:
  • Col. Fitzwilliam is most often named Richard, and when he's not, Edward is the next most popular choice.
  • Mr and Mrs Bennet are frequently given the names Thomas and Fanny (short for Frances). The latter comes from the 1995 miniseries.
  • Madeleine is a popular choice for Mrs Gardiner's given name based on the signature "M. Gardiner" which appears on her letter to Elizabeth, though since this was not a common choice of name for the place and time, many writers instead opt for Margaret.
  • Darcy's unnamed uncle the earl is commonly identified as the Earl of Matlock in adaptations, which also originated in the 1995 miniseries.
  • Mr Darcy's late father is usually named George. This assumption probably stems from the fact that his godson George Wickham shares the name (naming a boy after his godfather was a common practice) and his daughter is named Georgiana, which is both the feminine form of "George" and could be read as a combination of her father's name with that of her mother, Lady Anne.
• Almost nobody's hair or eye colors are mentioned in the novel, aside from Elizabeth's eyes being described as "dark," so fanon holds sway here as well:
  • Darcy is almost universally depicted as dark-haired, and Elizabeth is likewise nearly always a Brainy Brunette. This take is so ingrained in people's minds that Colin Firth dyed his hair and the blonde Jennifer Ehle wore brunette wigs for their roles in the 1995 adaptation.
  • Jane, meanwhile, is usually portrayed as a blonde, presumably due to the influence of the Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold trope. The beauty standards of Regency England favored blonde hair for women, so this depiction is also in keeping with the descriptions of Jane as the most beautiful of the Bennet sisters.
  • Georgiana Darcy is also frequently depicted as blonde, though not as consistently as Jane is. As with Jane this is probably influenced by her sweet, shy disposition and used to contrast her against her brother.
• It's a common interpretation that Mary secretly has a romantic interest in Mr. Collins, and that she was hoping he would propose to her as the next sister in prominence after Lizzy turns him down. There is almost no textual evidence for any strong feelings on Mary's part, just Mrs. Bennet's speculation and the narrator's note that Mary finds him more agreeable than the rest of the Bennets.
  "Mrs. Bennet wished to understand by it that Mr. Collins thought of paying his addresses to one of her younger girls, and Mary might have been prevailed on to accept him. She rated his abilities much higher than any of the others; there was a solidity in his reflections which often struck her, and though by no means so clever as herself, she thought that if encouraged to read and improve himself by such an example as hers, he might become a very agreeable companion."
• Since we learn very little about her other than she's sickly, some fans like to flesh out Anne de Bourgh. Popular interpretations are that she fakes (or least plays up) her illnesses as a way of coping with and avoiding her overbearing mother, and that neither she nor Darcy had any particular interest or desire to marry the other and that the whole "betrothal" was merely Lady Catherine seeing things that weren't there. Her mother's loathing of Elizabeth post-marriage is also contrasted by making Anne trying to befriend her (albeit in a somewhat timid and secretive fashion).
• It's very common to see fan works pair Col. Fitzwilliam romantically with either Anne de Bourgh or Georgiana Darcy.