Abstract
The hugely successful La Dame aux camélias (1848) by Alexandre Dumas fils has undergone important transformations both in terms of the language code (French / Italian) and the textual genre (novel vs opera). In this paper we analyze the floral names of the main female character (Margueritte, «signora dalle camelie», Violetta) with the aim of showing that any given type of text (verbal or musical) imposes specific onomastic choices on authors.