Literary baby names?

I have an Anna Cordelia after Anna Karenina and King Lear and an Edward Tristan. Wanted Edmund originally but thought he would be teased in my Dad's working men's club!

I have a Caitlin named after a teenager in a Jilly Cooper

Have just had Atticus vetoed. Boo

BTW my name is from Punchbowl Midnight by Monica Edwards!

We considered Lyra (from Pullman's Dark Materials) and might contemplate it again if we have a girl, although it'll be a toss-up between that and Yseult (as in Tristan and Yseult); both of which are literary-ish.

I'm allowed Yseult because we are in Cornwall and have a very Cornish surname so it won't sound too daft.

My friend is going to call her DD Matilda as it's the only book her DP has ever read!

I think all the literary suggestions are fabulous names and it must be great for dcs to be able to read about someone they were named for. Dh and I have a name from Tolkein we want for a girl (don't know if bun in the oven is male or female yet) but I'm not going to say what. Like lots of you, I wanted Laurie (or rather Lawrence to be nicknamed Laurie) for a boy, although of course Lawrence was his surname, and his first name (I think) was Theodore. Anyway, dh has vetoed it so far. Compromise might be Edward, which I could call Teddy anyway (Jo's nn for Laurie)

My mum's family include a Scarlett, Ashley and Melanie (all born in the 40s / 50s)

No, nothing there. Unless I can call a boy Tiger Lily .

I NEED HELP.

Oh this is Looking Glass's list. Not better!

• Alice
• Red Queen
• White Queen
• Red King
• White King
• Hatta
• Haigha
• Humpty Dumpty
• Tweedledum and Tweedledee
• The Walrus and the Carpenter

According to Wikipedia here's a list of Alice's characters (in Adventures, not Looking Glass):

• Alice
• The White Rabbit
• The Mouse
• The Dodo
• The Lory
• The Eaglet
• The Duck
• Pat
• Bill the Lizard
• The Caterpillar
• The Frog Footman
• The Fish Footman
• The Duchess
• The Cook
• The Cheshire Cat
• The Hatter
• The March Hare
• The Dormouse
• The Queen of Hearts
• The Knave of Hearts
• The King of Hearts
• The Gryphon
• The Mock Turtle
• Pig Baby
• Alice's Sister
• Dinah (Alice's cat)

So realistically I've got a choice of Bill and - well - that's it. I would have gone with Alice with a girl, or maybe Dinah, as I def wanted the AAIW link.

I'll see what Wik says about Peter Pan now. Not sure how high literature this is - well Alice is, in its way, and in its importance as a nonsense and fantasy book, but PP may not be!

mopsyflopsy - Fatticus came to mind!

missi I'd never thought of that! IE the link, not the name. Unfortunately we've already decided against James as we have a nephew with that name my BF's son is James. It's such a gorgeous name though that it if wasn't for them it would be perfect.

I'm loving Sebastian (ironically same BF's hub's name!) but where's it from in literature? .

quattro we're in Yorkshire and I can assure you it's not actually stopping people from naming their kids totally outlandish stuff. Some good, some bad, but it's not just Georges and Henrys.

Yes, Quattro...Duncan does have a wider connotation, and so does Reagan, which is why they both kind of fit our 'criteria' about names...I liked that they were literary, but not SO obvious, and the first thing people think when they hear either of them is the 'fates' both those characters actually suffered...

Atticus is a great name. What is teaseworth about it ?

My DS's middle name is Atticus. My mother hated it initially and then I got her to read to Kill a Mocking Bird and she loves it now! DH wanted it as DS's first name but I thought it might be a prone to teasing at school! I have an unusual name and know the hell it can bring!

Do you ever wonder about the fate of the literary hero or heroine though?

I love the name Duncan although it has a wider connotation than just from Macbeth. Take Ophelia. Lovely name, but can't help picturing her drowned and covered in weeds...

I'd definitely prefer characters with happy associations.

I wanted literary names, DH want sort of OBVIOUS lit. names, but, fortunately, DCs names happened to be names we both liked that fit the literary thing, as well!

So we've got DS: Duncan (from MacBeth)

DD: Regan (from King Lear...though she's a horrible character, so we actually spell it Reagan)

I loved Scout, too, but I named our cat that pre-children, so didn't think DD would like to share her name with our pet!

Quattro, dd3 is Cordelia & Imogen is on shortlist if Dc4 is another DD. Loving your cunning plan though!!

I am named after a character from a Henry James novel that my dad was studying at uni shortly before I was born.

I wanted my DC's to be named after Anne's children in the Anne of Green Gables series. I got my Jem, but was vetoed by DH on either of my DD's being Diana or Marilla.I really wish I had stuck to my guns on DD2, as DH is not living with us any more and spends no time with her at all .But that's a whole other story!

The book, Harriet the Spy.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_the_Spy

From ...?

Harriet is a very respectable choice of name.

I did rather want any of the following for girls

Cordelia
Imogen
Hero

Or for a boy

Sebastian
Orlando

DH however is from Yorkshire. He informs me that In Yorkshire People Like Solid Names. Like Kings or Queens of England.

I was in serious danger of getting an Elizabeth or a Victoria or a George (nothing against those names but they weren't for me), but adopted a cunning plan of seeming to go along with his theme (Kings and Queens) in order to force a compromise, and professed to adore the names Ethelred and Canute.