Ouida (1 January 1839 – 25 January 1908) was the pseudonym of the English novelist Maria Louise Ramé (although she preferred to be known as Marie Louise de la Ramée).
Maria Louise Ramé was born at Bury St. Edmunds, England. Her mother was English and her father was from France; his first language was French[citation needed]. She derived her pen name from her own childish pronunciation of her given name “Louise”. Her opinion of her birthplace fluctuated; she wrote:
That clean, quiet antiquated town, that always puts me in the mind of an old maid dressed for a party; that lowest and dreariest of Boroughs, where the streets are as full of grass as an acre of pasture land. Why, the inhabitants are driven to ringing their own doorbells lest they rust from lack of use