Les Miserables character names: what's the significance?

Victor Hugo used Cosette as the nickname for one of the characters in his novel 'Les Miserables'. Cosette's given name is Euphrasie. His character got intertwined with the name and has a rather negative connotation in France itself.

Cosette is a petname of uncertain origin. Victor Hugo's choice is unclear.

It may also be related to the French word 'causette' meaning "chat", reflecting the quality of being talkative. It is a credible suggestion since her real name, Euphrasie, is derived from the Greek for "good talker", the preffix 'eu' suggesting abundance.

As a real given name, Cosette is more probably a variant of Cozette, which is an old pet form of Nicole.

Fantine:

eminine form of Fantin; derived from the Latin 'infans' meaning "child". The name was always rare, although its popularity has been increasing since 1995. The name is strongly associated with Victor Hugo's novel "Les Misérables". A working-class girl who leaves her hometown of Montreuil-sur-mer to seek her fortune in Paris. Fantine’s innocent affair with a dapper student named Tholomyès leaves her pregnant and abandoned. Although she is frail, she makes a Herculean effort to feed herself and her daughter, Cosette. Even as she descends into prostitution, she never stops caring for Cosette. She represents the destruction that nineteenth-century French society cruelly wreaks on the less fortunate

Eponine:

This name was invented by Victor Hugo, and it has no meaning.

Other sources, while not denying that Victor Hugo made it up, state that the meaning of this name is "horse goddess" and derives from Epona. Epona was the Roman goddes of horses, mules, and donkeys.

Les Miserables Book Characters

Les Miserable Characters

I do see a lot of people on here begging for character names. They then describe the personality of their character along with appearance. And then they want a name to match up to their descriptions. All the while, I'm thinking: I didn't realize parents could predict all of this and find the perfect name right after birth -___- But I think people who look for the 'perfect' set of character names do this to stall from doing ane actual writing. God forbid if they actually wrote a full paragraph that didn't pertain to their character's appearances, likes, and dislikes. There are also those that think that after finding the perfect names, everything else will just fall into place. BQ: My username? People have called me a hippie crossed with the neon 80ties. Or flower child....So I just picked Hippie Chick and stuck with it. I just added 'Insanity' in some funky characters...after I felt like I was going insane from editing. A thing about me...I'm not a fan of editing my work. It's doable to a point...after that point, I feel the need to have my head come in contact with my desk numerous times.

Well, Cosette means 'Victorious People', which obviously links in. Marius is warlike, an Jean means 'god is gracious' (obviously ties in again).