Favourite literary boys' names

[eversomuch]

Just found out we're having a boy!

What are your favourite male names inspired by famous literary figures/authors/characters?

Ideally looking for names that aren't extremely common (have pretty much ruled out names like Harry (from Harry Potter) and Will (from His Dark Materials). But neither do we want anything too obscure or too baffling on the pronunciation front. Suggestions? Foreign names are fine, btw.

What are you favourite books? That's probably a starting point, as are favourite characters.

If you're just going for anything literary have a look here.

From that list my favourites are -

Atticus (you could also have Jem?)
Orlando
Silas
Magnus

Rufus
Quentin
Barnaby
Oscar

Casper, Darcy, Atticus, Wolf

Jude
Fitzwilliam
Pip
Phineas

Nathaniel - from Fenimmore Cooper's leatherstocking tales. I love that character.

Frodo ...

Hugo from the Hugo and Jospehine books.

Josephine even

Byron

What are your favourite books? Surely there is only any point in going for something literary if the book is meaningful to you?

Holden
Bertram
Reuven
Sherlock
Atticus
Jude
Dorian
Gabe

I'd say 90% of boy's names could claim to be literary names if you decide to look hard enough. Whether you want your child's name to proclaim 'this is a literary name you know' is a different matter.

DS5's names came from my favourite book (The Dark is Rising series) He's Barnaby Simon (the boy in the book is Barnabas, but our surname begins with S so I thought it would be a bit hissy with an S middle name too)

I love Jem too, from To Kill A Mockingbird.

Legolas
Thranduil
Glorfindel
Elrond
Erestor

I could go on.... Unfortunately elf names have never really taken off.

Ooh, I did really like Theoden from Lord of the Rings!

Jay - The Great Gatsby
Jolyon - The Forsythe Saga

Not Jolyon.

Sounds like an alternative to hard on.

Oliver :)

also love Benedict from Much Ado About Nothing.

what books do you like though?

Atticus. Was nearly DS's middle name.

squoosh it sounds nothing like hard on
it's more like jo/lee/oon (short oo as in book)

I know 2 one adult, one child and they're both delightful.

Benedict on the other hand opens up the teenage hell of 'Bendy-dick'

LOL, love the LOTR suggestions ... though they're probably a little on the "too obscure" side.

I like everything from literary fiction to fantasy, but (blame the pg brain) I'm having a hard time thinking of specific names right now. Luckily, I've got several months to go!

I don't have my heart set on finding a name from something I've already read -- I'm mainly looking for ideas that might be slightly different from the standard top 500 lists. Of course, I would research any names I liked and wasn't familiar with to make sure we weren't going with a nasty villain. :)

Benedict is on our list. I like Nathaniel. Silas, too, but too sibilant with an "s" surname.

Another thought: Ender from Ender's Game. One of my favourite characters ever, at least in book 1 of the series.

Authors' names (first and last) also under consideration. I sort of think Sendak would be a cool name for my little wild thing. :)

I have seen geeks elsewhere suggest a few things from 'A Song of Ice and Fire' (a.k.a. Game of Thrones) - more Eddard or Rickon than Rhaegar or Illyrio, though.

My favourite boys name is from a fantasy novel. However, I do have a cautionary tale. When he was a kid, my brother really liked the name of a character in an obscure fantasy novel, and said he would use it for his firstborn son. When said son was born he called him a different name. A few weeks later, the name become a lot better known. It was Kai.
So, be careful of the obscure ones.

Febreeze well that's a bit than Jolly-on admittedly although maybe a bit Dolly Partonesque now.

a bit better

Byron, Somerset, Wilfred, Keats, Xanadu, Virgil, Tacitus, Orlando, Phineas, Arthur, Merlin, Gawain, Morgan, Aslan, Caspian, Lysander, Holden, Percy, Beowulf, Nemo, Hugo, Horatio, Arragorn, Theoden, Faramir, Rohan, Ebeneezer, Silas, Willoughby, Heathcliff, Bastian, Atreyu, Caspar, Maurice, Dorian, Ernest, Victor.

In case you're interested in some arty ones too:

Marcel, Pablo, Henri, Tristan, Claude, Gustave, Jackson, Willem, Rothko, Lloyd, Eduardo, Anton, Constantin, Salvador, Miro, Francisco, Diego, Angelico, Cy, Claus.

Congrats by the way! We're having a boy too