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Baby names

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

If you had to name a child after a favourite book character....

147 replies

lemoncurdcupcake · 01/06/2026 14:56

....what would their name be?

Try and be decisive, no more than 2 suggestions per sex!

For me:
Boy: Gilbert or Laurie
Girl: Ginny

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
KnitWitsAnonymous · 01/06/2026 15:18

An easy one for me to answer!

I would choose Rosanna because I have always loved the book "Rosanna of the Amish". It's a true story of a baby who is brought up by an Amish woman after her mother dies. Her father is able to look after her older brothers but doesn't feel able to bring up a baby girl. It's an amazing story and there are so many details of the Amish lifestyle which I find fascinating

It's an amazing coincidence but during lockdown, when I was unable to go to church, I started watching services on YouTube from an Amish-Mennonite church in Kansas. After a while, I discovered that some ancestors of Rosanna attended that church

I think Rosanna is a beautiful name which I came to love because of this book

Cairneyes · 01/06/2026 15:31

Heidi for me- the book was my reading prize in school when I was 8 and I still have it 58 years later! I loved that book! Always wanted to use the name but I had 2 boys and I don’t think either of them would have thanked me for it😡

KnitWitsAnonymous · 01/06/2026 15:37

Cairneyes · 01/06/2026 15:31

Heidi for me- the book was my reading prize in school when I was 8 and I still have it 58 years later! I loved that book! Always wanted to use the name but I had 2 boys and I don’t think either of them would have thanked me for it😡

I loved Heidi too . . .

Did you name either of your sons Peter?!

ExpatForLife · 01/06/2026 15:46

Lucy (Pevensies)

DirtyGertiefromno30 · 01/06/2026 15:57

Sebastian
Heidi

boinger · 01/06/2026 15:57

Mina from Stokers’ Dracula. I don’t love the book but I like the name. But it wouldn’t work with my name which is Nina.

MrsHattie · 01/06/2026 16:00

lemoncurdcupcake · 01/06/2026 14:56

....what would their name be?

Try and be decisive, no more than 2 suggestions per sex!

For me:
Boy: Gilbert or Laurie
Girl: Ginny

Pinocchio

ourSusie · 01/06/2026 16:02

Cairneyes · 01/06/2026 15:31

Heidi for me- the book was my reading prize in school when I was 8 and I still have it 58 years later! I loved that book! Always wanted to use the name but I had 2 boys and I don’t think either of them would have thanked me for it😡

I was at junior school with a Heidi, the only one Ive ever known.
Heidi is German Adelheid, or we would say, Adelaide.

I would have chosen Adelaide but baby was a boy.

CaesarAugusta · 01/06/2026 16:03

If it's a children's book and it's a girl, I guess Nicola or Petrova.

followtheswallow · 01/06/2026 16:04

ExpatForLife · 01/06/2026 15:46

Lucy (Pevensies)

Snap!

WallaceinAnderland · 01/06/2026 16:06

Pippi

Oblahdeeoblahdoe · 01/06/2026 16:07

Pollyanna 😁

Celiathebanshee · 01/06/2026 16:09

Fern

BeaAndBen · 01/06/2026 16:09

Laura, Anne or Charlotte, I think, after Ingalls, Shirley or the spider. I read each of them so often they were real to me.

Oh, or maybe Scout.

CoffeeChocolateWine · 01/06/2026 16:10

Heidi for me as well, especially as I grew up in Switzerland. Second place, Nancy after Nancy Drew.

Boys, Danny from Danny the Champion of the World. And possibly Edmund from the Chronicles of Narnia.

AleynEivlys · 01/06/2026 16:25

Lyra (Belacqua/Silvertongue - His Dark Materials trilogy)

HugoThatway · 01/06/2026 16:25

Mog and Bernard

HugoThatway · 01/06/2026 16:28

Cruella, Gollum & Gandalf

HoppityBun · 01/06/2026 17:16

Pooh

FartNRoses · 01/06/2026 17:22

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Excellentsausages · 01/06/2026 17:22

Alanna (from the song of lioness series)
Nancy (from Swallows and Amazons)

Edmund (Narnia)
Liam (from the song of lioness series)

scrivette · 01/06/2026 17:29

Roberta (Bobby) or Sara (Crewe) - Sara from A Little Princess.

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 01/06/2026 17:32

Noddy, (but probably not Big Ears)

PersephoneParlormaid · 01/06/2026 17:34

Scout

Hatty65 · 01/06/2026 17:35

Loveday Minette from The Little White Horse.

I'd love to have been called that.