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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Literary names

35 replies

Heh1991 · 24/10/2021 00:18

Looking for inspiration- what are your favourite literary names for either a boy or a girl??

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ThirdElephant · 24/10/2021 08:11

@LoveGrooveDanceParty

Odd thread. Why would you choose a literary name, just because it’s ‘literary’, and not because you read a book, connected with the character and like the name?

If someone comes comes up with a name you like, are you going to scurry off, read the book and claim it’s your favourite?

Maybe they're writing a book and need a name for the firstborn of a well-read character. Maybe they're organising a pub quiz and want to see which characters are memorable. Maybe they're planning a literary-themed event and need recognisable characters. Maybe they're making a crossword.

Does it matter?

LoveGrooveDanceParty · 24/10/2021 06:26

Odd thread. Why would you choose a literary name, just because it’s ‘literary’, and not because you read a book, connected with the character and like the name?

If someone comes comes up with a name you like, are you going to scurry off, read the book and claim it’s your favourite?

OrangeAndYellowAndBlue · 24/10/2021 06:19

My favourite names/characters

Elinor (Sense and Sensibility)
Lyra (His Dark Materials)
Imogen (Cymbeline)
Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)

Benedict (also from Much Ado)
Sam (after Sam Vimes from Discworld Grin)

Kanaloa · 24/10/2021 06:13

@MyOtherProfile

What books do you like and which characters in those books? Go for something you feel a connection to. Otherwise it's a bit pretentious I think.
Exactly this. And more than pretentious it’s just a bit daft. I mean why name your child Atticus just because it has literary connections? Surely better just to pick a name you like, and even better if it’s connected to a book that touched you.
MyOtherProfile · 24/10/2021 06:11

What books do you like and which characters in those books? Go for something you feel a connection to. Otherwise it's a bit pretentious I think.

ThirdElephant · 24/10/2021 06:09

I like Laurie/Lawrence inspired by Little Women (though I don't think it was his actual name- I think it was his surname?) and also Josephine from the same book.

I'm sure there are more, but it's still early!

Ricekrispie22 · 24/10/2021 05:54

Matilda
Alice
Maya
Lyra
Lisbeth
Harper
Beatrix

Arthur
Holden
Atticus
Finn
Willoughby

IamnotwhouthinkIam · 24/10/2021 03:10

William for a boy! (Shakespeare, Blake, Wordsworth, Godwin, Yeats, Golding, Somerset Maugham, Faulkner, Wharton etc - loads of the most prominent/classic male writers seem to have been called William as well as it being used for characters from Shakespeare, Austen, Bronte, Dickens, Tennyson... Smile). Mary/Maria or maybe Jane would probably be the girls equivalent.

But I'm guessing you mean names that instantly make you think "literary character" because they are relatively uncommon or invented by the writer - so Atticus, Lysander, Orlando, Caspian, Holden, Lyra, Coraline, Miranda, Perdita, Cordelia, Ophelia are some of my fave more obvious character names (even if I don't always like the characters themselves).

Kanaloa · 24/10/2021 00:20

Okay ignore the second paragraph! It was accidentally quotes from a different thread.

But yeah choose a name you like. Not one that feels ‘literary.’

Kanaloa · 24/10/2021 00:20

I mean most names are literary in some respect? So if your favourite author is Jane Austen and you name your daughter Jane then that name has literary inspiration for you?

Maybe pick a name from a favourite book or short story for the literary association. No point choosing something like Atticus just to say it’s ‘literary’ because it’s strongly Me and DS were on holiday this year and one of the boys got friendly with my DS. He came upto me and started to ask why my Son has black skin and why my hair is black too.... honestly I was gobsmacked... I just said we were born that way and we are ALL beautiful. associated with a specific literary work.