Disclaimer: Elizabeth and Weatherby Swann and Will Turner all belong to Disney, as does the Edinburgh Trader. I only came up with the name of Lizzie's mother and her middle name and intend to make no money with this little drabble or anything like that.
Author's note: I'm aware that this has flaws, so I would very grateful of constructive criticism.
The Seven Names Of Elizabeth Swann
Elizabeth
Elizabeth was the first name given to the only daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann and his late wife Constance Mary, a good Biblical name for a well-behaved young Christian lady.
Young Elizabeth, however, rather favoured the idea of being named after the legendary Queen of England who reigned during the time when the likes of Sir Francis Drake roamed the seas pillaging and plundering in Her Majesty's name.
Elizabeth never got to know her mother for she had died of smallpox when Elizabeth had been only four years old, but she liked to think that Constance Mary Swann had been a free spirit and a believer in the equality of genders and in women being just as capable of taking control of their own lives as any man.
Anne
Very few knew of the second name given to Elizabeth, her middle name. In fact, she wasn't sure if even Will knew, if she had ever told him she actually was a namesake of another queen also, of the "Pirate Queen" Anne Bonney, one of the most loyal crew members of the infamous Calico Jack Rackham and even more famous than her crew mate Mary Read.
As a little girl obsessed with pirates, she took great pride in her middle name and dreamed of one day being like her larger-than-life namesake, roaming the high seas, fighting with a cutlass and a pistol alongside men, free to do whatever she wanted when- and wherever she wanted just because she wanted it.
Miss Swann
Miss Swann, who she became to most people in her vicinity around the same time as her mother passed away, was her third and quite possibly most hated name.
Miss Swann she was to the servants of the Governor's mansion, Miss Swann she was to the townspeople of Port Royal, Miss Swann she was to Will Turner for eight years, despite her frustrated attempts to make him call her Elizabeth.
Miss Swann she was never to him. Perhaps mockingly but never truly, and even though she tried to appear irritated with his lack of propriety, underneath she was glad and even grateful that someone treated her as her, not as prim and proper Miss Swann.
Love
"Sticks and stones, love," he had laughed in her infuriated face, dark eyes twinkling with wicked amusement, only minutes after their very first, watery encounter.
It was a word that very often casually rolled out of his mouth when he spoke to her, just like words like darlin' and pet and even dearie. Sure, he undoubtedly addressed every female creature with those idly flirtatious little words, and she reckoned calling women "love" was to him the equivalent of the word "mate" he used of males.
Nevertheless, it was somehow his prerogative to call her that, and even though the word was used by almost every single British sailor and lower-class man of British descent in general in the world, she always associated it with him. Thus she half-consciously adopted it as her fourth name.
There was no fifth name, really, unless you counted "Hey you!" or "You there!" as names.
Aboard the Edinburgh Trader she had no name. She hadn't had to come up with one because no one had asked. It was a very liberating feeling somehow, she thought, to be just a nobody for a while. Just some young sailor lad or cabin boy no one paid much attention to. Not interesting enough to bother to ask him his name.
For her it was freedom that made her heart beat faster, made her laugh out loud and spread her arms wide for a second, letting the warm winds of the Caribbean night caress her face while sitting alone in the top rigging in the middle of the night after successfully tricking the crew into sailing to Tortuga.
Lizzie
"You know, Lizzie..." She ought have been indignant at his all too free use of the pet form of her name, a lady would have been.
But after all, could she really call herself a lady any longer? Sailing with pirates, dressed in men's clothes, wielding a cutlass at her hip and - yes - accepting the bottle of rum offered to her by a notorious pirate captain and taking a hearty swig of it without as much as a grimace. Nay, she is not a lady.
She decides Lizzie quite suits her, accepting it as her sixth name with the same ease as she accepts the bottle of rum.
And moments later when she is more intoxicated with his nearness than she is with the rum and once again drowning into those dark, dark eyes, she vaguely considers if she should one day tell him her second name.
Pirate
It's not an accusation, not really. More like a triumphant taunt and an ultimate expression of pride, admiration and affection. The highest praise he can give her.
Her seventh name echoes in her head maddeningly, burning her soul just like that look he gave her, the look she will never forget.
It sears a fiery 'P' into her soul and into her heart, marking her forever as surely as it would mark her were the scarlet letter burned into her right wrist, like it was burned into his.
And would she, given a chance, give her everything; sail to the very ends of the earth and beyond, to hear him say her name - any of them - again?
Yes, she decides. Oh yes, she would.
~Fin