The only thing that is certain is that Marci made the Duke say this: "My title can only be inherited by a Talbot. When Faith married Gregory Bennet, he chose secretly change his last name to Talbot."
So, for a child of Darcy (and Elizabeth, I dare to presume?) to inherit the title, that child must bear the name Talbot. Now as to how he can possibly get that name, I don't know, I am not familar with the naming rules and regulations of Regency England. When I look at what Marci wrote, then I would sort of deduce the following:
- a man can also take his wife's surname and replace his own with it and/or (?) can add it to his own (So, was her father a Bennet Talbot, or did he switch Bennet for Talbot altogether?)
- I would assume he added 'Talbot' to his name, as his daughter is a 'Bennet Talbot', because if her father dropped Bennet then how could she bear that name?
- a child can only take her fathers name, because otherwise it would not have been necessary for Elizabeth's father to change his name. Or, in other words: IF a child could take (also) their mother's name, any of his children could have been a Talbot without him needing to change his name. Still correct?
- because if that is correct, then.... for a child of Darcy to be a Talbot, it is not enough that the child's mother is a (Bennet) Talbot; no, Darcy himself must also become a (Darcy) Talbot?!
And somehow, that just tickles my fantasy and makes me smile all over... Darcy's family pride, in the name, the heritage, what it represents to him (and the world),... to have him give up on that? No matter how Marci's excellent story will unfold, this whole idea is just tantalizing and I would be quite curious to see how such a story would evolve, how Darcy's mind wraps itself around it. So thank you, Marci, for adding this extra bit of entertainment in my head :-)
But then, my reasoning here may very well be flawed :-)
