Monday, 24 March 2014
BABY | Author and Literary Inspired Baby Names - Guest Post
I’m Jane, and I blog at Is That You Darling. I’m thrilled to be guest posting for Nicki again, especially as on this occasion it’s because she’s off having a baby! If there’s anything more exciting than that, I’m sure I don’t know what it is!
In honour of the fact that Nicki and her husband are about to welcome a new arrival, I thought something in the baby area would be appropriate for this guest post. As ever, my thoughts wandered to books (that’s pretty much what always happens in my brain!), and I started thinking about baby names that are inspired by authors and literary characters.
Here are a few of my favourites!
Desdemona – Othello
I don’t have any children of my own, but if I ever had a little girl, I would love to call her Desdemona.In Othello, she is quite the tragic character, having fallen in love with Othello himself, she is manipulated by Iago and eventually murdered. The reality of calling a child Desdemona is that I think I would have trouble convincing almost any partner to go along with this, as, let’s face it, it’s a bit of a mouthful, and would almost certainly mean the child would be singled out for unwanted attention at school. But I can’t help loving the name, I just think it’s beautiful!
Auden (Poet)
W.H. Auden was an English poet who later emigrated to America and became a US citizen. He wrote a good many poems, but a lot of people are most familiar with Funeral Blues, because it featured in Four Weddings and a Funeral. I think Auden is a lovely name, for either a boy or a girl, and I don’t think it’s too out of the ordinary either. How lovely would it be to be named after a poet?
Eulalie – The Professor
Eulalie is a minor character in Charlotte Brontë’s The Professor, as well as being the name of a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. It’s much more obscure, and probably wouldn’t be instantly recognisable as a literary name to anyone who wasn’t a Brontë or Poe fan, but it’s a lovely name. It wouldn’t work with my surname (too many ‘L’ sounds), but it might just work perfectly with different one.
Albus – Harry Potter
It’s not possible to make a list like this and not include a Harry Potter name! I know that everyone would know exactly what the reference was as soon as you said you were naming your son Albus, but I do actually think it’s a nice name. Other Harry Potter options include Luna, Andromeda, and Lucius.
Effie – The Hunger Games
Effie Trinket is one of my favourite characters from The Hunger Games, and not just because I love her name! It’s quite an old fashioned name; I can imagine a young mum in Call The Midwife being called Effie. But all the old fashioned names are very much back in fashion, so I don’t think an Effie would stand out too much in the playground.
Pip – Great Expectations
I know that Pip is really Phillip, but while I wouldn’t call my baby Phillip, I would definitely consider using Pip! I just love it; it puts me in mind of a chubby faced baby boy! It reminds me that once upon a time I wanted to have twins and call them Merry and Pippin (something I would never, ever, actually do!).
Arya – A Song of Ice and Fire
It’s tough to know if I just think I like this name because Arya is my favourite character in the George R.R. Martin books, or if I actually like it! I think it’s probably a bit of both to be honest; it’s a different sort of name, without being too strange. It’s also nice and short (I like short names), and it’s not one of those literary names that everyone would instantly recognise as coming from a book.
Huckleberry – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
My reasons for loving this name are two-fold. Firstly, I think Huck is an adorable name for a little boy. Secondly, Toby calls his little boy Huck in The West Wing, and if it’s good enough for Toby, it’s good enough for me. I also love the name Sawyer (as in Tom Sawyer), but that’s a surname in my family, and things might get a bit confusing if I was to use it as a baby name!
In honour of the fact that Nicki and her husband are about to welcome a new arrival, I thought something in the baby area would be appropriate for this guest post. As ever, my thoughts wandered to books (that’s pretty much what always happens in my brain!), and I started thinking about baby names that are inspired by authors and literary characters.
Here are a few of my favourites!
Desdemona – Othello
I don’t have any children of my own, but if I ever had a little girl, I would love to call her Desdemona.In Othello, she is quite the tragic character, having fallen in love with Othello himself, she is manipulated by Iago and eventually murdered. The reality of calling a child Desdemona is that I think I would have trouble convincing almost any partner to go along with this, as, let’s face it, it’s a bit of a mouthful, and would almost certainly mean the child would be singled out for unwanted attention at school. But I can’t help loving the name, I just think it’s beautiful!
Auden (Poet)
W.H. Auden was an English poet who later emigrated to America and became a US citizen. He wrote a good many poems, but a lot of people are most familiar with Funeral Blues, because it featured in Four Weddings and a Funeral. I think Auden is a lovely name, for either a boy or a girl, and I don’t think it’s too out of the ordinary either. How lovely would it be to be named after a poet?
Eulalie – The Professor
Eulalie is a minor character in Charlotte Brontë’s The Professor, as well as being the name of a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. It’s much more obscure, and probably wouldn’t be instantly recognisable as a literary name to anyone who wasn’t a Brontë or Poe fan, but it’s a lovely name. It wouldn’t work with my surname (too many ‘L’ sounds), but it might just work perfectly with different one.
Albus – Harry Potter
It’s not possible to make a list like this and not include a Harry Potter name! I know that everyone would know exactly what the reference was as soon as you said you were naming your son Albus, but I do actually think it’s a nice name. Other Harry Potter options include Luna, Andromeda, and Lucius.
Effie – The Hunger Games
Effie Trinket is one of my favourite characters from The Hunger Games, and not just because I love her name! It’s quite an old fashioned name; I can imagine a young mum in Call The Midwife being called Effie. But all the old fashioned names are very much back in fashion, so I don’t think an Effie would stand out too much in the playground.
Pip – Great Expectations
I know that Pip is really Phillip, but while I wouldn’t call my baby Phillip, I would definitely consider using Pip! I just love it; it puts me in mind of a chubby faced baby boy! It reminds me that once upon a time I wanted to have twins and call them Merry and Pippin (something I would never, ever, actually do!).
Arya – A Song of Ice and Fire
It’s tough to know if I just think I like this name because Arya is my favourite character in the George R.R. Martin books, or if I actually like it! I think it’s probably a bit of both to be honest; it’s a different sort of name, without being too strange. It’s also nice and short (I like short names), and it’s not one of those literary names that everyone would instantly recognise as coming from a book.
Huckleberry – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
My reasons for loving this name are two-fold. Firstly, I think Huck is an adorable name for a little boy. Secondly, Toby calls his little boy Huck in The West Wing, and if it’s good enough for Toby, it’s good enough for me. I also love the name Sawyer (as in Tom Sawyer), but that’s a surname in my family, and things might get a bit confusing if I was to use it as a baby name!
So there you have some of my favourite names inspired by literature.
What are your favourites?
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