Literary baby names

Every name links to its full page: meaning, origin, and its real popularity curve since 1890.

Abdiel Hebrew · servant of God

Achilles Greek · pain; the great hero of the Iliad

Afton Scottish · from the River Afton in Scotland, popularized by Robert Burns's poem 'Sweet Afton'

Aida Arabic · traditionally happy, returning one

Aisling Irish · dream, vision; a beloved literary-mythic heritage name

Alethea Greek · 'truth', from Greek aletheia

Alice Germanic · noble

Alonso Spanish · noble and ready (Spanish form of Alfonso); a classic Spain name carried by Don Quixote's true identity, Alonso Quijano

Amoret English · personification of married love in Spenser's The Faerie Queene

Anabel Scottish · traditionally lovable, combining grace and beauty

Anais French · Provencal French form of Anne, meaning grace

Anakin English · invented name created by George Lucas for Star Wars

Andal Tamil · "she who rules": epithet of the 8th-century Tamil poet-saint Andal, the sole female among the twelve Vaishnavite Alvars

Andromache Greek · battle of man (aner/andros 'man' + mache 'battle'); Hector's devoted wife in Homer's Iliad

Annabel Scottish · lovable (variant of Amabel)

Araminta English · 18th-century literary coinage; posh English revival

Aramis French · literary; the elegant, romantic musketeer of Dumas's Three Musketeers

Arden English · from an English/French place name (Forest of Arden), possibly meaning 'high'

Aritra Bengali · an oar or rudder used to propel or steer a boat, hence "helmsman, navigator" (a Vedic-era Sanskrit word preserved chiefly as a Bengali given name)

Arjuna Indonesian · Mahabharata's archer-prince hero

Arundhati Sanskrit · name of a revered star and sage's wife in Hindu tradition, associated with steadfastness; Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things

Arwen Welsh · literary name coined by J.R.R. Tolkien, possibly 'noble maiden'

Arya Sanskrit · noble (a unisex pick whose popularity got an extra lift from Game of Thrones)

Arya Sanskrit · "noble"

Atticus Latin · from Attica

Audre English · noble strength (respelling of Audrey); the spelling poet and essayist Audre Lorde chose for herself, liking the visual symmetry with 'Lorde'

Austen Latin · variant of Austin, a medieval contraction of Augustine meaning great

Avalon Welsh · the legendary 'isle of apples' from Arthurian legend

Avvaiyar Tamil · honors the celebrated Sangam and medieval-era Tamil poetess Avvaiyar

Ayla Turkish · traditionally "halo, moonlight"

Beatrice Latin · she who blesses

Beatrix Latin · she who brings happiness

Beckett English · beehive; bee cottage

Belinda Germanic · meaning uncertain (possibly 'beautiful serpent')

Bella Italian · beautiful

Bellamy French · from French 'bel ami', meaning 'handsome friend'

Belle French · French for 'beautiful'; also used as a short form of Isabelle/Annabelle

Beowulf English · bee-wolf, a kenning for bear; the monster-slaying hero of supreme strength

Bharathi Tamil · honors the poet Subramania Bharathi (1882-1921), a foundational figure of modern Tamil literature

Bijan Persian · hero of the Shahnameh's Bijan and Manijeh

Blanche French · white, fair; immortalized by Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Booker English · scribe, maker of books

Brienne French · a place name (Brienne-le-Château); recast as formidable by a female knight in modern fantasy fiction

Brunilde Portuguese · armored battle-maiden (Portuguese form of the German Brunhilde, the Nibelungenlied heroine)

Bryon English · variant spelling of Byron, an English surname meaning 'at the cattle sheds'

Byron English · surname-style, "at the cattle sheds"; after Lord Byron, the archetypal passionate Romantic poet

Byron English · from an English surname meaning 'at the cattle sheds' (Old English 'byre')

Camilla Italian · attendant, noble (Roman mythology, the Aeneid)

Caspian Persian · from the Caspian Sea, named for an ancient people near the Caucasus; popularized by C.S. Lewis

Cassandra Greek · she who entangles men; prophetess

Castiel Hebrew · TV angel name (Supernatural), echoing the angel Cassiel

Cataleya Spanish · modern invented name inspired by the Cattleya orchid and the 2011 film character Cataleya

Cedric English · literary name coined by Sir Walter Scott, based on the Anglo-Saxon name Cerdic

Cedrick English · variant of Cedric, a name invented by Sir Walter Scott, meaning uncertain

Chinua Igbo · short form of Chinualumogu, 'may God fight on my behalf'; Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart

Clarice Latin · clear, famous (feminine form of Clarence); immortalized by Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Clarice Latin · clear, bright, famous

Clarissa Latin · elaborated form of Clara, 'clear, bright'

Claudia Latin · lame (from the Roman clan name Claudius); Claudia Rankine, contemporary poet known for Citizen: An American Lyric

Cora Greek · maiden

Coraline English · invented by author Neil Gaiman, originally a typo for Caroline

Cordelia Latin · heart

Cornell English · surname-style name, forever tied to scholar and activist Cornel West

Cosette French · popularized by the character Cosette in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables

Cressida English · from Chaucer and Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida

Cyrano French · of Cyrene; the eloquent poet-swordsman who wooed Roxane through love letters

Damon Greek · to tame, loyal friend

Danae Greek · in Greek myth, the mother of Perseus

Dante Italian · enduring; forever tied to poet Dante Alighieri, embraced with literary pride

Darcy French · from the Anglo-Norman surname d'Arcy, meaning 'from Arcy' (a place in Normandy)

Dilan Welsh · variant of Dylan, Welsh for 'son of the sea'

Donte Italian · variant of Dante, Italian for 'enduring'

Dorian Greek · relating to Doris/the Dorians; forever tied to Oscar Wilde's beautiful, seductive Dorian Gray

Dorian Greek · referring to the Dorians, an ancient Greek people; popularized by Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'

Draven English · modern coinage, popularized by the film character Eric Draven

Dulcinea Spanish · sweet one; Cervantes's idealized, unattainable beloved in Don Quixote

Duncan Scottish · brown warrior

Dwaipayan Bengali · island-born; an epithet of the sage Vyasa, compiler of the Vedas and the Mahabharata, who was born on a river island

Elaine French · form of Helen, "shining light"; the Lily Maid of Astolat who dies of unrequited love for Lancelot

Elham Persian · inspiration, revelation

Elif Turkish · the letter A; slender and graceful, like the first Arabic letter

Eliot English · variant of Elliot, an English surname from a diminutive of Elias, Hebrew 'the Lord is my God'

Elissa Greek · variant of Elisa/Elizabeth ('God is my oath'); also the name Dido bore in classical legend

Elliot Hebrew · Jehovah is God

Eloisa Germanic · Spanish/Italian form of Heloise, traditionally 'healthy and wide'

Elora English · modern coinage popularized by the film Willow

Emerson English · son of Emery

Emmeline French · medieval diminutive of Amelia/Emma, Germanic origin

Emrys Welsh · immortal (from Latin Ambrosius); the boyhood name of Merlin

Enid Welsh · soul, spirit, life; Arthurian legend heroine

Esme French · traditionally translated as 'esteemed' or 'loved'

Esmeralda Spanish · "emerald"

Esmé French · esteemed, loved (from Old French aimé); literally means beloved

Estella Latin · from 'stella', meaning 'star'

Eudora Greek · good gift, generous

Evander Greek · 'good man', a mythological founder-hero in the Aeneid

Evangeline Greek · "bearer of good news"

Evelina Germanic · variant of Evelyn, from the Norman name Aveline

Farhad Persian · legendary hero-lover of Shirin and Farhad

Federico Italian · peaceful ruler; Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet and playwright

Ferris Celtic · man of vigor (Anglicized form of Fergus); immortalized by Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Finnegan Irish · Irish surname meaning 'descendant of Fionnagán', from 'fionn' (fair, white)

Fitzwilliam English · surname-style, "son of William"; Mr. Darcy's given name in Pride and Prejudice

Flannery Irish · meaning debated, often glossed 'red eyebrow' (from Ó Flannabhra); Flannery O'Connor, celebrated Southern Gothic writer

Fyodor Greek · gift of God (Russian form of Theodore); Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist and author of Crime and Punishment

Gareth Welsh · gentle (Welsh, popularized by Arthurian legend); famously borne by Gareth Bale

Genevieve French · tribe woman

Georgiana Greek · earth-worker, farmer

Ginevra Italian · fair one (Italian form of Guinevere)

Grazyna Polish · gracious, amiable; US-friendly spelling of Grażyna

Grażyna Polish · gracious, amiable; popularized by Adam Mickiewicz's Romantic poem "Grażyna"

Griselda Spanish · gray battle maiden (Germanic root, carried into Spanish via the literary figure of patient Griselda)

Hafez Arabic · guardian, one who has memorized the Quran; Hafez of Shiraz, one of Persian literature's most beloved lyric poets

Hannibal Phoenician · grace of Baal (the Carthaginian general); immortalized by Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Hansel Germanic · German pet form of Hans (Johannes), ultimately Hebrew 'God is gracious'; known from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel

Hanyu Chinese · culture and tolerance; the universe (涵宇)

Haruki Japanese · clear, sunny spring (kanji-dependent); Haruki Murakami, internationally bestselling novelist

Heathcliff English · surname-style, "heath cliff"; Wuthering Heights' tempestuous, obsessive lover

Ho-Yin Cantonese · vast and true, noble integrity (浩然, from Mencius)

Holden English · place name/surname, "hollow valley"

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