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Original poster

Literary Names

28 replies

hannahfaith · 20/02/2020 03:05

DH and I are considering using a theme of literary Names for middle names for girls
We're set on doing a theme but are unsure of what kind of theme.
Recently the idea of literary Names has come up and we like the idea but are struggling to find female characters with short names.

Please help us come up with some shorter female bookish names

(We have a long surname and all of the first names we like are long)

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Wintersun13 · 20/02/2020 20:25

If you love scifi why not use scifi books ? Those names are not all necessarily out there. A boy called Luke after Luke Skywalker isn't gonna raise any eyebrows. George after George Martin isn't gonna seem weird either.

Obviously Khaleesi or Danaerys aren't gonna cut it but Arya is a nice name. Leliana or Morrigan are also pretty cool. What about Miranda from Mass Effect ? Nora from the Fallout games. Clary from the Mortal Instruments ? Alanna from the Lioness quartet ?

DappledThings · 20/02/2020 19:55

Dorothea - then everyone will think you love Middlemarch. Or they will think that you want them to think that you love Middlemarch.

I wanted DD to be Dorothea. Partly for Middlemarch but also for Dorothea Callum in Swallows and Amazons.

MuscatelGrapes · 20/02/2020 17:30

Yes, I know. Grin But it could also be TS Eliot, poet, publisher, all round pain in the arse, and author, most oddly, of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats which was adapted into the schlocky horror that is Cats, the Musical.

I don't know which.

Original poster
hannahfaith · 20/02/2020 17:24

@MuscatelGrapes Eliot could be from George Eliot which is the pen name of the author for Middlemarch

OP posts:
MuscatelGrapes · 20/02/2020 11:44

Dorothea - then everyone will think you love Middlemarch. Or they will think that you want them to think that you love Middlemarch.

Grin

I once had an older colleague whose adult children from a former marriage had literary surnames as names, and were something like Larkin, Lawrence, Bronte and Eliot.

I might be wrong about Eliot -- might have been Byron? Or maybe I just didn't know which Eliot they were named for.

Foxglovesandprimroses · 20/02/2020 11:37

But I can't talk, my daughter is named Polly after Magician's Nephew, Love in a Cold Climate and Cazalets.

Foxglovesandprimroses · 20/02/2020 11:35

Dorothea - then everyone will think you love Middlemarch. Or they will think that you want them to think that you love Middlemarch.

Omashu · 20/02/2020 10:22

My friend was named Madita after a character from a book. I think it’s really pretty!

HarrietM87 · 20/02/2020 09:10

Beautiful Shakespearean names: Imogen, Ophelia, Viola, Portia, Miranda, Isabella, Juliet, Beatrice, Bianca, Cordelia, Jessica

Whatsyourflava · 20/02/2020 09:04

Alice from Alice in the looking glass
Emma from book Emma

ilovemykids5 · 20/02/2020 07:53

Maeve
Bronte

Singingatmidnight · 20/02/2020 06:06

Lots of short names in the books you mention - and why not reread them! (Are you American? I only ask because these are mostly N American kids' books.)

Anne
Diana
Rilla (and Marilla)
Jem (a boy, but could be a cute girl's nn)
Josie
Gertie
Ruby
Jane
Bertha (Anne's mother)
Walter
Nan
Shirley
Faith
Una
Mary

Meg
Jo
Beth
Amy
Sally
Daisy
Josie
Estelle/Esther

MyOtherProfile · 20/02/2020 05:52

Marilla not Mariela if you want AofGG names

MyOtherProfile · 20/02/2020 05:51

Scout
Daisy
Jay - I know it's a boy's name in the GG but it works for a girl
Mariela
Diana
Josie
Minnie

Snaleandthewhail · 20/02/2020 05:49

I knew one of four sisters once: Elizabeth, Jane, Mary, Catherine.

I also know someone middle names Radclyffe after Radclyffe Hall.

But I agree with pp, if you’re not so literary that you don’t remember the names in the classics, it’s all a bit poserish.

ArriettyJones · 20/02/2020 05:46

I think OP just wants some memory joggers.

How about Cassandra from I Capture the Castle?

MuscatelGrapes · 20/02/2020 05:38

Here’s a wild idea. Reread these old childhood favourites. Or admit you only read sci-fi and thrillers and call the baby Bene Gesserit or Ghanima.

PeppaisaBitch · 20/02/2020 05:31

Then google characters from the books you mentioned.
Any name can be literary because almost any name has been in a book at some point.

ArriettyJones · 20/02/2020 05:31

books such as Little House on the Prairie, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, Heidi, Great Gatsby,

Obviously names like Scout & Pollyanna will be more obviously book-inspired than Laura or Anne. Do you want it to be obvious and a bit quirky?

Original poster
hannahfaith · 20/02/2020 05:19

Both DH and I love to read. Ideally I was hoping to go for classic names from books such as Little House on the Prairie, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, Heidi, Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird etc. all classic books I read and loved as a child. While we still love to read and have quite the collection of books most of his are science fiction and mine are thrillers and neither of us want to name a child after those types of characters.
The main reason I had asked as it's been many years since I've read some of these I was trying to remember all of the characters and had hoped that people on here may remember some of the less obvious names characters more than I could.
I know the obvious names from these stories but I can't remember many of the side characters names.

OP posts:
ArriettyJones · 20/02/2020 05:13

(Not the Jones bit Wink)

ArriettyJones · 20/02/2020 05:13

Points to own user name ^^

MuscatelGrapes · 20/02/2020 05:01

Well, what do you read? Who/what is your favourite author/period/ genre?

This is a weird idea anyway, but it’s a lot weirder if you don’t really read.

Poorolddaddypig · 20/02/2020 04:57

I agree that ‘literary names’ is an odd theme if you don’t already have a bunch of names that you like from your favorite books? Choosing names from books for the sake of it (despite having potentially never even read the books) is a bit - fake?! Like a PP said. I mean that’s how it would potentially come across.

Jossina · 20/02/2020 04:12

Pick from your favourite books. Otherwise you're a bit of a poseur trying to seem literate.

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