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Do you know anyone who named their child after a character in a book?
I used to have a friend at school who got together with her sister and brother names of I think a theater play. Her name was Aisha. A theater play or a book, don't remember it but her father loved it so much.
I have a student whose parents' favorite novel is To Kill A Mockingbird. So my student's middle name is Scout and her brother's middle name is Atticus. Both children go by their middle names.
I know of a woman whose parents named her Suzanne after Suzanne Pleshette from Bob Newhart show.
I dated a guy whose parents named him Dimitrio and his brother Alyasha (I think that's how it's spelled.) I think he told me they picked the names from a Tolstoy novel, but I've never read Tolstoy, so I can't be sure if that is correct.
I really like hearing all of these!
I had a friend called Wendy, not such an unusual name but she was called after the Wendy in Peter Pan (which actually was the first instance of the name anyway).
OK. Don't think I'm a goon.*not a goon, not a goon*
My daughter's name was supposed to be Ashley Lauren (both characters on my soap, Y&R), but when she was born, she looked just like my husband, so we changed it to Ashley Victoria (also on my soap). (hubby's name is Vic.)
I didn't pick them on purpose because of the soap, but I probably got the ideas from the soap, because I didn't know people w/those names. Now Ashley is a very common name, but back then it wasn't (she's 17).
Anyway. She and I used to watch the show together and we still do sometimes. AND all 3 of those characters are still on the show.
*goes back and hides*
Ashley is a lovely name so you chose well.
Thanks Petra. There are so many Ashleys at her school. My name's nice, it's never been a fad name, so I like the unique-ness of it.
Try being a Darla. I've met 2 other people named Darla in my entire life. :)
I have only ever met one Darla besides you. She lives up the road from me in this tiny village of about 30 or so people. She's an American lady, tall, elegant, beautifully-dressed, used to be a diver and likes (and gets) much, much younger men. :-)
lol. I'm short and mouthy and like much much older men....lol :)
My wife is called Wendy and she hates it because of Peter Pan.
My oldest friend (wow, I just thought about it and we've been friends 22 YEARS!) is named Christy after the book Christy by Catherine Marshall.
Wasn't Christy made into a TV show? I recall seeing it when I was younger.
It was. I think Kellie Martin from Life Goes On was in it.
Yeah! I use to watch it I think Saturday or Fridays when it came on with my mom. I really liked that show. My niece was named after Kristy from The Babysitter's club. I was into these books when my sister got pregnant (I'm a lot younger than her). I had named a baby doll I had Kristy and my sister liked the name, so she stole it and added Marie to it. My niece's name is Kristina Marie aka Kristy.
Laura - I was named after a character on General Hospital, so don't feel too bad. :O)(And it was my father, who is a total "man's man" who was watching the show at the time and came up with the idea!!)
I have friends who named their daughter Eowyn from Lord of the Rings.
Thanks Bird! (I almost didn't want to admit that here. Sometimes people automatically assume that if you watch a soap, you are ignorant, etc. I don't like sterotypes, particularly when they're applied to me....)>:)
LOL...Laura in Puerto Rico half the girls are named after soap characters. Soap operas or novellas as we call them are very popular. From time to time you will get one that everybody...I mean the whole family watches..that's usually when you get a influx of a character's name. Like, when Esmeralda became popular many little girls ended up with the name. The only difference between Spanish soaps and English ones is that Spanish ones end after a few months.
Almost on topic: when my son was born my husband overheard this conversation in the hospital, at the "display case", between the aunt and uncle of another baby boy born at the same time:
Uncle: I don't know, I think I would have preferred 'Marvin'. (don't forget we're in Italy and Marvin is not an Italian name)
Aunt: Oh, I don't agree. I think 'Maverick' is a great name... we can call him 'Ricky' for short!
Uncle: I don't know, I think I would have preferred 'Marvin'. (don't forget we're in Italy and Marvin is not an Italian name)
Aunt: Oh, I don't agree. I think 'Maverick' is a great name... we can call him 'Ricky' for short!
I named my son after a character in a book! Grady is the protagonist in Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. Michael Chabon is my very favorite author, and one of the few authors that my husband and I both enjoy. Other names we discussed or that I've considered (for future kiddos or to just think about lovingly for hypothetical future children) include:-Theo (as in Theodore Laurence from Little Women)
-August/Augusten (as in Burroughs)
-Eliza (Protag's sister in Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick)
-Cormac (as in McCarthy)
My newest obsession is Liesel (as in Liesel Meminger from The book Thief!)
Literature is filled with fantastic names!
I named my daughter out of a poem in The Compleat Angler: Kenna.
I knew a set of doctors who named their son "Atticus" from To Kill a Mockingbird. I always wondered what they would name a second child if they chose to have one.
My husband and I have been debating on what we will name our as yet non-existent children. He insists that they have family names. Okay fine, I suppose I can go with that. One of the family names is Douglas. I asked him what comes as a second name, and he couldn't think of one. I only know of one name that goes with Douglas. Adams... So that's the name of the second boy we have, assuming there is a second boy. I really kind of hope there is ^^
I know a lot of Atticus and Scout middle names, but you don't hear those as first names too much.My kids are all named after movie characters. I was going to name a second daughter Kinsey after Kinsey Millhone from the Sue Grafton alphabet mysteries, but I never got that second daughter.
I picked the name of my oldest daughter around the time I was in Jr. high school - I can't remember if Dr. Bellow's wife (from I Dream of Jeannie) or Spock's mother was the inspiration, but they both were named 'Amanda'. I liked it. And it turned out to be a popular name during her school years, - she was born in '82.I chose the nome de plume that I use while re-enacting from The Belgariad series. Liselle
No, but my husband's agent tried to convince her daughter to name her first grandchild Royce after a character in his book - how funny is that.--
Wife of fantasy author: Michael J. Sullivan
The Crown Conspiracy (Oct 2008)
Avempartha (April 2009)
I agreed to name my daughter Jessica because of Paul's mother in Dune. Her Dad and I were not in agreement about names- I gave in on that one because I loved that character so much, but it was really his idea to use that name.
Jessica is a pretty name!I have a family member named Tavia. I'm not sure what book it comes from, some sci-fi book that her dad liked. I love the name, and she is such a cutie!
I guess I will take that as a compliment, Michelle. :)My parents didn't name me after anybody, they just liked the name and thought it was somewhat unique. Little did they know it would be the most popular name of 1985.
Hi!I'm new to goodreads but couldn't pass up answering this question and the answer is yes! I know of four children who were named after a character in a book.
I'll save the best for last.
The first is a former co worker at an independent bookstore I worked at who was named Anne after Anne of Green Gables-and she hates the book! How sad is that? To be named after Anne but hate the book?
The next two sound almost fictional but my mom knew a family that named their children John, Michael, and...Tinkerbell after the characters in Peter Pan.
Everyone have a great day!
Hilary
Hilary - Oh dear! She named her daughter Tinkerbell? :O It's a cute name but poor girl...I love Tinkerbell but I cannot imagine someone being named that.I read this article a while back ago and this topic made me think of it (a tale of two hales. Basically, a couple with the last name 'Hale' got two twins and decided to name them Rosalie and Jasper, after Twilight (two characters are named Rosalie and Jasper Hale). I thought it was cute. There are several people who have the same name as big characters (for ex. Harry Potter).
I wonder how that is..."Hi, my name is Harry Potter." or "Hi, my name is Edward Cullen". I can imagine the latter would work well on a date ;)
Ok so Laura I have a kind-of similar story... Lori you'll like this too.My older son is called Jack (although nowhere in his given name can you come up with that nickname???) and my younger is Sawyer.
I have to explain to many people that NO we did NOT name our boys after the two main male characters on LOST. simply a coincidence.
Sawyer came from Twain's Tom. and its southern.
I wish my mum's family had been readers. They might have come up with some more imaginative names than Philip Phillips (an uncle) June (she was born in ....), Gay (who isn't) David Henry David (another uncle). Aren't they appalling names?
My Grandmother went to school with a boy named:Willy Willy Willy
That is so wrong on so many levels.
LMAO!! Why do people give their kids silly names? Do they not realize the trauma it creates for them or do they just not care?
Another one was this guy I used to deal blackjack to. His best buddy in high school was a first generation american in a family that was from some European country up in the Netherlands or something like that. His parents came straight off the boat and had a great admiration for all things American. Their last name was Duop, (I believe that's how he said it was spelled) pronounced Dwop. They loved John Wayne, seeing as he was as All-American as you could get. So they named their son Wayne.Wayne Duop.
He said he was teased mercilessly in school, and his parents had no idea that it sounded like that because they didn't know a lick of English.
wayne duop! lol i like it!John did you know that the name Wendy didn't exist before Peter Pan? J.M.Barrie created it when writing the book so when you see bookmarks etc. with meanings of names and there's one for Wendy it's just made up cos it actually has no meaning! By the way my mum's name is Wendy and she doesn't like it either.
My brother was named after a character in a book. Around the time he was born one of my mum's favourite book was The L Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks so she named him Toby which is one of the characters in it. I found this hilariously funny when I read the book at 14 because Toby is a gay character! Ok so it was funny to me as a 14 yr old and discovering my big brother was named after a gay character in a book!
Incidentally I wasn't named after Alice in Wonderland I think they just liked the name. It was nearly my middle name but they changed them around at the last minute.
I had always planned to name a son Tristan (All Creatures Great and Small). I'm named after a soap character. I know a guy named Benjamin Hill. He goes by Benny Hill.
Some friends of the family had been desperate to have a girl. They had tried and tried but always ended up with a boy. They had 6 boys and decided that they would try one more time. Lo and behold, they had yet another boy. They named him Justin O. Kelly, but refused to tell anyone what the O. stood for. Eventually it came out. The O. stood for Other. Justin Other Kelly.
That boy is going to have serious self esteem issues when he gets older.
I have a friend who knows someone named Justin Case. (Just in case)!! Parents should just know better!!!
Don't know anyone named after a book, but I know some people who named their daughter Allora (I think that's how they spelled it) after the baby in Willow!
My dad always says I was named after rebecca of sunnybrook farm and becky thatcher. My oldest daughter was named after a line in Pollyanna. (the book) I read it when I was 10 or 11, and Pollyanna was telling the maid how she wished she had a fancier name, and one of them she mentioned was Clarissa. I loved it, and my daughter is named clarissa. Funny, no one had ever heard of it until about the time she started school, then it was used in a soap, and a kid's show, and she would get furious when people asked her if that's how she got her name!
This goes under the heading of "What the HELL were the parents thinking?" I knew a student whose name was "Sinsation" and, of course, she did her best to live up to her name. I remember I met Sinsation's mom one day and it was very hard for me not to slap the sh*t out of her.
A former friend of mine named her daughter Akasha, after a character in an Anne Rice novel. Although it bothered me, it's not why she's no longer a friend. I thought the name was rather ugly and sounded hard.
Last year I had a fifth grade student named Christmas Carol Cox. She usually went by C.C.
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Books mentioned in this topic
To Catch a Thief (other topics)Murphy's Boy (other topics)
Little Dorrit (other topics)
Gone with the Wind (other topics)
Fight Club (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Elizabeth Aston (other topics)Torey L. Hayden (other topics)
Michael J. Sullivan (other topics)
So, In some cases I think it would be neat to have the name after a character in a book. But a child that goes to the same day care as my son they named their son "Lestat" I think thats a bit different. I also have some friends who named their son "Rand" after the Wheel of Time Series.
Anyone else out there???