A dispute continues as to whether the name "Molly" was ever used during her lifetime. Certainly she was born Margaret Tobin, and family called her Maggie. All her correspondence used Margaret or Mrs. J.J. Brown. The recent biographer, Kristen Iversen, in the 1999 book "Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth," proposes it was Hollywood that created the name Molly.

But the answer is not so easy. The obituary written by Jack Carberry for the Denver Post upon her death in October 1932 used the name Molly. For a contemporary journalist at her hometown newspaper to use this nickname gives some credence that folks knew her as Molly. Perhaps it was slang for anyone Irish named Margaret. Just as President Bill Clinton was called "Willie," even though only by his enemies, perhaps Molly was not what Margaret Brown would have considered a proper name.

Nevertheless, the name Molly was picked up by Gene Fowler, another Denver journalist, when he wrote a chapter about her in his 1933 book, "Timberline." This received further public scrutiny when it was excerpted it Reader's Digest in March 1937. He elaborated the obituary's stories and created the tall tale of Molly's adventures on the Mississippi as a child, such as being saved from drowning by none other than Mark Twain. The Leadville tales include Molly hiding $300,000 cash in a stove, and J.J. allegedly sets it on fire. Of course they weren't using paper money in Leadville at that time, and the Browns would not have seen that much money until after the gold strike in 1893. But the legend grew.

In the November 4, 1955 Life magazine, an ad for U.S. Savings bonds uses the story of Molly and Titanic to promote sales. It depicts her stripped down to a corset, waving a pistol at cowardly Hichens threatening to throw him overboard. In 1956, Caroline Bancroft wrote a small booklet on "The Unsinkable Mrs. Brown." It was a rather unflattering depiction which expanded the "uncouth outcast of society" myth. This same year Walter Lord wrote "A Night to Remember" recounting the Titanic disaster, and Molly's heroism in Lifeboat No. 6.

Then in 1960, Meridith Wilson wrote the stage play, "Unsinkable Molly Brown," which opened on Broadway starring Tammy Grimes. It was made into a movie with Debbie Reynolds in 1963. The Hollywood version of her life gave Molly a posthumous notoriety of a magnitude she never imagined during her life. It created enough fervor that in 1965 NASA named a Gemini II space capsule after her. The birthplace is Hannibal was saved from demolition, and her place in history was assured.

More recently the1997 James Cameron movie "Titanic" continued the myth of the rough western millionaire with a heart of gold, and the common touch. Molly, portrayed by Kathy Bates, helps the fictitious character Jack Dawson deal with high society. Interest in her life continued with a televised A&E Biography in 1998, and the Kristen Iversen biography in 1999. Attendance at the Denver museum in her adult home, and the birthplace in Hannibal continue to be high. Her contributions as a progressive politician and philanthropist make her life worth remembering beyond her connection with Titanic.