 The title refers to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, on which the story is centred, and the true protagonist of the story Esméralda.English translator Frederic Shoberl named the novel ""The Hunchback of Notre Dame"" in 1833 because at the time, Gothic novels were a popular form of Romance at that time in England.The story is set in Paris, France in the Late Middle Ages, during the reign of Louis XI (1461–1483).