What was the name of the real girl who inspired Alice?

The story behind the answer

The real girl who inspired Alice was Alice Liddell.

Alice Pleasance Liddell was the daughter of Henry Liddell, dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and a childhood acquaintance of Charles Dodgson, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll. On 4 July 1862, Dodgson told Alice and her sisters a fantastic story during a boating trip on the River Isis. Alice asked him to write it down, leading eventually to the manuscript Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and the published novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

The fictional Alice is not a literal portrait of Liddell. Carroll’s drawings differed from her appearance, and scholars debate how extensively he based the character on her. Nevertheless, the heroine shares her name, the story was first told to her, and Carroll gave her the handwritten manuscript in November 1864.

Alice later married Reginald Hargreaves and became known as Alice Hargreaves, but “Alice Liddell” is the standard answer for the girl associated with the character’s origin.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

Add question to a list

Choose a list to keep this question in: