Literary boys names

[ElmtreeMama]

I really like the following names

ATTICUS
RHETT
HOLDEN

They're my current faves in that order.

I know they're not everyone's bag, but just wondering if people can think of anything dreadful about them that I've not considered, also happy to have other literary names suggested :)

Hillary
Evelyn
Wildeve
Gabriel
Jolyon
Ashley
Heathcliffe
Hareton

Cecil
Jay
Pip
Bertie
Sawyer
Huck
Silas

Lysander
Rupert
Malise
Declan

... perhaps not THAT type of literature 😵🤣

Holden is a name of a car in Australia, not saying it's a bad association but maybe one you might want to consider

@custardbear

Lysander Rupert Malise Declan

... perhaps not THAT type of literature 😵🤣

I actually really like Lysander as well but don't think it goes with surname unfortunately 😕

Lots of other suggestions here though, thanks everyone :)

@romdowa

Holden is a name of a car in Australia, not saying it's a bad association but maybe one you might want to consider

I didn't know that!! Thanks :)

Atticus is very cool.

Horatio (Hornblower)
Peter (Wimsey)
Sebastian (St Cyr)
Percy (Blakeney)

Yes, I have a type. ;)

@bridgetreilly

Atticus is very cool.

Horatio (Hornblower)
Peter (Wimsey)
Sebastian (St Cyr)
Percy (Blakeney)

Yes, I have a type. ;)

Haha me too!!

Sebastian is going to be my nephew's name!

I like Percy but reminds me of blackadder!

Holden is a popular car name in Aus, would be like calling a kid Toyota

I know he doesn't live in Aus... but he might. And might have Aussie friends who might cal him Ford Fiesta 😐

Fitzwilliam
Edward
Laurie
Matthew
Gilbert
Oliver
Pip
Abel
Lemuel
Randle
Huckleberry
Hal
Dean
Sherlock
Don
Orlando
Leopold
Bertie
Jay

Silas

Please don’t use Holden, it’s a middle of the range car brand in Australia. It has the same badge as a Vauxhall in the UK.

Hmmm.

What about the associations with the characters? Can you really consider Rhett to be a 'good' character? I'm mean, he's a patronising prick who's a philanderer?

Holden Caulfield is also not somebody I'd want to consciously name my child after. Definitely not aspirational, and what about when they're an adult? It's a definite 'teenage' name.

Atticus? Isn't he also a little problematic, because although he is a 'good' character, I'm not sure that the associations with the book will always be positive (white saviour complex).

All of the names are great, of course, but if you're consciously going for a literary name, then I think you'd need to use a character name that is largely positive. Rhett definitely isn't, Holden is a little odd, and Atticus will always be linked with Mockingbird.

I prefer Atticus from your list. Here’s a few other suggestions:

Sawyer
Lawrence
Landon
Phineas
Radley
Byron
Orwell
Conrad

I love all your names but I absolutely love Rhett if I had another he'd be Rhett!

Thanks everyone

Holden is now off the list!!

Lots of food for thought there :)

@BellaVida

I prefer Atticus from your list. Here’s a few other suggestions:

Sawyer
Lawrence
Landon
Phineas
Radley
Byron
Orwell
Conrad

I love Landon!

'Literary' names are always tricky to suggest, because most names have been in a book at some point. I'm sure I could go through most of the top hundred names to find a literary reference somewhere. I really don't like Atticus. To me it seems so try hard: almost like the parents are so desperate to seem well-read and cultured. I still think it's better than Holden or Rhett though.

My favourite boys name with many literary references though is Peter. Between Narnia, Peter Pan and Peter Rabbit, there is a lot of established children's books with strong characters called Peter. I think it matters more to a child than an adult. As a child I loved books with characters with my name in, but as an adult I really couldn't care less.

Orlando (nn Landon?)
Sebastian
Demetrius

My fave obviously literary boys names (as opposed to "normal" names that just happen to have been used by a book character) are Maxim and Caspian (I like Heath too but Heathcliff is a bit much). Atticus comes a close third though, so would be my pick of your choices.

Oscar
August
Ernest
Cormac

Great suggestions thank you

I think Ernest is seriously underrated.
Laurence
Victor

Consider last names - Willoughby (even though he was a twat), D’Arcy, Rochester,
authors names such as Hugo, Huxley etc

There are some awesome names in the Poldark novels...

The thing about literary names is that if you want people to think 'oh they must be named after X from that novel' you have to pick a really obvious and quite out there one. Whereas most of the great characters just have ordinary names