Dolly Varden was the name of a fictional character in an 1841 Charles Dickens novel. She was known for liking brightly colored dresses. At that time very colorful women's dresses were called "Dolly Vardens". Livingston Stone noted that in 1872 fishermen on the McCloud River in California were calling the brightly colored fish they caught "Dolly Varden" after the dresses. But there were no Dolly Varden in the McCloud river. They may have been catching its near relative the Bull Trout. In spite of the mistake the name stuck for 'Salvelinus malma'.