Would/Did you ever name a child after a literary/cinematic character?

[DerekG]

I recently read a story about a Norwegian princess--one of the grandchildren of Queen Sonja--who was given the moniker of Leah (after Princess Leia of "Star Wars," of course).

Soonafter, I got to thinking: if I ever had a son, I'd be tempted to name him Alyosha (an ode to the spiritual anchor of Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamozov"). Alyosha is simply the most beautiful character I've encountered in world fiction. Immensely appealing.

[skygazer]

1. I see nothing wrong with that

It's similar to naming a child for an ancestor or famous person - someone you admire. My sister was named for Melanie Wilkes of Gone With the Wind fame but the rest of us were named for relatives. I think both ideas are nice (as long as you don't name a kid Winnie-the-Pooh or something).

[XemaSab]

2. I was named after

Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch.

NOT Brooke Shields, or anyone on a soap opera.

[SarahB]

3. We decided on a girl's name during an episode of Twin Peaks.

Oddly enough, my daughter has dark hair, blue eyes, and looks a bit similar to the said character at 13.

Anyone care to guess?

[DerekG]

7. Audrey?

Just please tell me it ain't Laura.

[ghostsofgiants]

37. Dark hair and blue eyes...I'm guessing Shelly

[SarahB]

40. Nope, Audrey was right.

This is her several years ago when she was all dressed up for a dance recital. I always thought she looked like rather Sherilynn Fenn-esque in this one (like a mini-version then, she's 5' 8" though now and well, too cute for me to post on the board).

[ghostsofgiants]

43. Haha, damn

Those eyes are absolutely piercing. And if she looks anything like Sherilynn Fenn she's going to be fighting the guys off with sticks throughout high school.

[SarahB]

46. She fights them off now.

Imagine that face on someone 5'8" and a grown-up figure? :scared:

But thankfully she's as strong, tough, and smart as she is beautiful. She's still my baby though. :)

[Pale Blue Dot]

59. She can kick my ass!

If I were ever to go completely insane and break Sarah's heart, I'd be a dead man! :scared:

[JVS]

4. I'd like to introduce my son Humbert Humbert *insert last name here*

Ahhh, maybe that wouldn't be such a good name.

[XemaSab]

20. Nobody would get it

If you named a daughter Lolita they would think it was after amy fisher. :eyesroll:

[KittyWampus]

65. too damned funny. Nabakov's my favorite author and he was too damned

smart.

[Hugin]

5. Why do you ask, Moby?

j/k

I think it's fine.

[jackelope72]

6. I was in a grocery store and there was a young (early 20's) mother...

She had two little girls who were squabbling. Finally, she got tired of it and snapped, "Ariel! Jasmine! Stop fighting right now, or I'm going to put you both on a time out!"

Thank God she didn't have a third girl. Probably would've named her Pocahontas or something.

[DerekG]

8. Yeah, but imagine if they had an Esmerelda...

You could ask them: "So, you're a Victor Hugo fan?"

And she'd say: "Victor, who?"

[brack]

9. My son

I wanted to name him "Beavis". My wife (at the time) had other ideas.

[JVS]

10. Wives can be so mean!

[skygazer]

11. Butthead perhaps?

Much prettier name. :)

[brack]

13. Way prettier!!

We settled on Tyler. This was a little before that name became ridiculously trendy...

I still wish we would have went with Beavis though.

[AmyDeLune]

12. A friend of my brother's--

named their first child (a son) Annakin, their second child (a daughter) Skye, and the family banded together and refused to let him name the third child (a son) Walker.

[DerekG]

16. The third name should have gone through

Walker is the only semi-normal name of the bunch, and you might as well complete the triad.

[AmyDeLune]

18. I thought that too, but

I think the collective embarrassment of introducing all three children at once won out.

[skygazer]

19. They could have at least gone with "Luke"

Young Anakin will grow up to hate his family, no doubt. And Star Wars.

[WeRQ4U]

14. I was named after John "Jay" Traynor from "Jay and the Americans"

How's that one?

[Splatter Phoenix]

15. Yes.

If I had a son, I'd call him Dorian. x_X I know Dorian Gray was an extremely unsympathetic anti-hero, but...it's a beautiful name.

[LisaL]

17. It's all very sweet, but unless your son is going to live in Russia,

I wouldn't do it.
Hearing my name butchered is no fun.

[DerekG]

26. I think it's worth the risk

It recalls Elijah--which is also one of my favorite names.

[jmm]

21. Some of the best names in my family come from

literary/cinematic characters. For example I have an uncle named after the movie Shane, a cousin named after Christopher Robins (his older brother was a Winnie the Pooh fan), and my mom is named Laura because my grandfather loved the theme song to the movie. Those certainly beat some of the other names of my relatives. Of course I have a friend that went to school with someone named Obi Wan Kenobi and I would not recommend that but there are plenty of great names that could be inspired by books and films.

[djeseru]

22. We named our daughter...

...Emily after Emily Dickenson and her middle name is Anderson after Gillian Anderson of The X-Files. The name we had picked out was William but the doctor said "It's a girl!" o_O We really did think we were going to have a boy but, you know, God and the sense of humor he/she/it seems to have...

[skygazer]

23. I had the same thing happen to me

For whatever reason, I just KNEW my second was a boy. I'd known my first was a girl and was right so I assumed I had it dialed. We never even discussed girl's names.

What was neat was that when she was born and the doc said "it's a girl" (and I said, "are you sure?"), the nurses all asked me what I'd name her. Without blinking an eye, I said, "Robin Ann" which was the name of my husband's little sister who died at three months old.

Out in the hallway where he waited with my MIL (he was too chicken to be in the room with me), my hubby got asked the same question by mom - he gave the exact same answer - we'd never discussed it, ever.

Some things are meant to be.

[djeseru]

24. "Meant to be." Exactly!

Although when the doctor said "it's a girl" both my husband and I said, "What?!" It took us another 24 hours to think of a name for her because girl names had never even been considered.

My husband told me not long after she was born that he had always wanted a girl. (He came from a household of all boys) I love their relationship, and things have worked for the best.

"Robin Ann" is just beautiful, and so obviously perfect at that moment!

[4_Legs_Good]

25. Maybe - I knew a girl named "Arwen" when I was growing up

I didn't realize where it came from for years and years.

Anyway, I don't see any problem with it.

:)

david

[Allenberg]

36. Where does it come from?

The secretary of the complex I live in is named Arwen.

[NewJeffCT]

44. Lord of the Rings

Arwen is the elf maiden that is in love with Aragorn (Arwen is played by Liv Tyler in the movies)

[LanternWaste]

27. Well...

One of my best friends named his son after his high school Dungeons & Dragons character-thingy. That one was too much for me... I call him by his Christian name rather than the weird one (although his Christian name is bit odd, too).

I named my dog after Shakespeare's character, Henry VI (yeah, I know Henry was a non-fictional individual, but after doing some reading about the real one, I decided I liked Shakespeare's guy a little better...)

If/when I have a son, I think I'd like to name him John-Morgan (there was a TV series some years back about a lawyer in a southern town with three kids and his youngest was named John-Morgan. Never called just John, or Morgan... always John-Morgan. I kinda like that one.

[Left Is Write]

28. Yes.

I chose the name Julian for my son when I was just 15, after reading a book that featured a character with the name. Frankly, he wasn't a very nice character, but I was 15 and angsty and the character was handsome and brooding.

By the time I had my son twenty years later, I still loved the name.

[SheilaT]

29. When my second son was born

I was so convinced I'd be having a girl, that we barely considered boys' names. Not that we'd yet decided on what her name would be -- we were dithering between Helen and Margaret. Anyway, when my husband told me (wonderful OB who had hubby tell me)with a voice full of wonder, "It's a boy", we were so surprised it took us four days to decide what to name him.

Jonah. We're used to it, but I was never convinced it was the right name for him, and around the time he was ten I decided we should really have named him Woodrow, but of course he'd have nothing to do with changing it.

[MeatLoafZero]

30. How Wonderful!

Jonah is a great name! We went Biblical, too. Naomi and Caleb over here. :)

[Ladyhawk]

31. Never name anyone or anything "Anakin." (New Jedi Order SPOILER)

Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side and Anakin Solo was killed by the Yuuzhan Vong.

When I was in aviculture, I named a clutch of African grey parrots after the children of Han Solo and Princess Leia: Jacen, Jaina and Anakin. Little Anakin had a congenital heart defect and died in my lap at the vet's office. That was the final blow that got me out of the bird breeding business.

[Tallison]

32. Had a friend name her son Atticus

He's four, but it suits him well. :hi:

[bertha katzenengel]

33. I was named for Kim Novak.

:shrug:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

34. I did!

Brazilian literature. I won't go into more detail.

[baldguy]

35. My sister-in-law named my nephew after Dylan Thomas.

My brother named him after Bob Dylan.

[BreweryYardRat]

38. I've considered it...

If and when I have kids (hopefully a long way down the road), the second son is probably going to be named Jory.

Points to anyone who can figure out what I'm referencing.

[progmom]

39. everyone i know was surprised we didn't name my son after a jazz musician

instead, we named him after my grandfather.

i just couldn't see naming the kid "Ellington" :D

[jpgray]

41. Er, name the kid Alex

Short for Alexei, which is after all where the familiar "Alyosha" comes from in the first place. Like "Vanya" for Ivan, "Mitya" for Dmitry, etc.

[dolo amber]

42. Does TV count?

I named my oldest after a character on "Soap." They used to show re-runs at like 3AM when I was pregnant, miserable and insomiac. I wanted an unusual name, but not weird. As soon as I head "Corinne", I knew that's what I wanted. :)

[NewJeffCT]

45. A guy named one of his twin sons for Robert Shaw's character in Jaws

I don't know the guy well, but I think the kid's name was Quint or something like that... specifically named after the guy in Jaws. Other son was named Drake, after Dragon...

[sakabatou]

47. A guy in my class was named after Darius II

[madrchsod]

48. yes

nissa from the doctor who series

[Tikki]

49. Well, we named our two sons after.....

60's/70's musicians. Both names are very distinct and 35 years later both names are considered 'girls' names..... WTF with that? :wtf:





Tikki

[grace0418]

50. I didn't realize it but one day I was telling someone that

my favorite boy's name is Avery and one of my favorite girl's names is Fern. Then I realized that those are both character's from Charlotte's Web. In fact, I even named my car Charlotte, so that book must've really had an impact on my psyche.

[Magrittes Pipe]

51. My children's names are:

Mary, David, Joanie, Nancy, Elizabeth, Susan, Tommy, and Nicholas.

[SarahB]

53. Don't you think that's....

Enough? :P

[Magrittes Pipe]

55. Well, yeah. Why do you think I had to have Joan killed?

Abby's far prettier, and much less fertile.

[jpgray]

61. Will your kids have annoying, nasal voices and star in the White Shadow?

:puke:

[Magrittes Pipe]

62. Don't forget Bibleman!

[jpgray]

63. Or the Master, with Lee Van Cleef!

[Tallison]

52. I was.

:)

[Dastard Stepchild]

54. Well.... I'm not naming said child after a comic book character, per se...

But Lynda Barry's "Marlys" character introduced me to the name Marlys, which I rather love. If we get our avatars back, she is my avatar.

:)

[joneschick]

56. daughter #1 is Lydia

she's looking forward to her first tattoo when she turns 18........honest I had never heard the song when we named her, and I didn't see Beetlejuice until years later

[LynneSin]

57. I've named my pets after literary & historic characters

I had 2 hamsters named Dante & Beatrice named after the main characters in Dante's Divine Comedy. Beatrice lasted the longest of all of them.

I also had 2 parakeets named Homer & Virgil but I had problems with taking care of them and a bird collector took them in for me.

Abbott is named after Abbie Hoffman and Evita is named after the musical Evita which happens to be about Eva Peron.

[miss_kitty]

58. I did

I named my cat 'Mr Big' After boris Badinov and Natasha's boss.

[Mz Pip]

60. Yoda

was one of my cats. Now we have Wicket. I have another cat named Scully.

I have a new kitten and am looking for a good name for the little guy.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Scout1071]

64. I would name my Internet self after a literary character.

:hi: