Literary Baby Names

Hello and welcome back to another baby name Sunday! I have really loved doing these posts and I hope some people are enjoying reading them as well.

I don’t know about you, but books have always been so important to me and had a huge influence over my life since childhood. Literature is amazing in that it can teach us so much about ourselves and about life in all stages. For that reason I think literary baby names are incredible because book characters can have just as much influence over our lives as the people in our lives do, especially as children, and how sweet would it be to name your baby after a character from literature who has influenced you?

I know there are a lot of lists like this one floating around, so I wanted to keep this one very personal to me and pull from books that I personally love and treasure. Let’s jump in!

B O Y S

1. Atticus- I know this one is through the roof popular right now, but honestly for such good reason! As I’m sure you already know this name comes from the classic To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and is after the amazing father character in the novel. I felt I had to throw this one in there because it is such a sweet, unique, and adventurous sounding name for a little boy, and I would love to see it become even more widely used.
2. Peter- The Narnia series was one of my absolute favorite books (and movies) as a kid and I still love the magical memories I have associated with them. I mentioned loving the name Edmund in my vintage baby names post but Peter is also such a sweet and strong name that is so underused and is after a lovely role model of a character.
3. Wilbur- Okay, so I know I’m not the only one who loved Charlotte’s Web as a kid right? It’s such a lovely classic children’s book and while yes, the character Wilbur is a pig I think it still makes an absolutely adorable name for a little boy, especially if you are into the whole vintage name vibe! (And you know I am 😉
4. Perry- This one is from a classic book that is a lot less well known, but one of my all-time favorites; the Emily of New Moon series by L.M. Montgomery. In the books Emily’s childhood friend goes by the darling moniker of Perry. Honest and well-intentioned yet mischievous and with a knack for getting into trouble, he is a lovable character with an equally lovable name.
5. Sebastian- Last but not least, I have a baby name from Shakespeare because his plays have had an incredible impact on my life and I love the idea of honoring that with a child’s name. There are plenty of amazing girl names from Shakespeare’s plays but I had to search pretty hard for a good boy name because as cool as some of them are (Orlando, Romeo, etc) I wouldn’t consider them super usable in today’s world. I decided to go with Sebastian from Twelfth Night because it is so sophisticated and strong sounding and I think it works really well for a modern day baby.

G I R L S

1. Meg- I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Little Women among my collection of influential books. It’s one I’ve read over and over again for as long as I can remember, and the characters are like old and dear friends. While we all love the fiercely independent Jo, Meg is another great character I’ve always related to, since I’m also the oldest in my family, and I love the idea of giving a little girl this sweet one-syllable name. While in the book Meg is short for Margaret, I think just using it as a name by itself would be such a cute, unique alternative to Megan and other similar names.
2. Blythe- If you know me, you know that I LOVE the Anne of Green Gables series, not just the first book but all eight of them are equally special to me and have been a huge part of my life since I was about eight years old. I could probably do an entire name post about this series as there are so many names I love from these books (and maybe I will in the future) but for this post I had to choose Blythe (for Gilbert Blythe) because I think it is such a gorgeous and fresh sounding name for a girl! I love the surname as first name vibe as well as the name meaning ‘happy + joyous’. Basically there are just so many reasons to love this name!
3. Ilse- Okay, just one more name from the Emily series. This rare vintage name belongs to Emily’s best friend in the books, and I think it is SO stunning! I’ve never heard of anyone being named this IRL and I think someone should absolutely snatch it up because it’s beautiful.
4. Phoebe- This name actually belongs to a minor character in the Shakespeare play As You Like It (a character I played when I was in the show in eighth grade), and it’s such a lovely one. I think Phoebe is so spunky and full of personality and an amazing name to give a modern day little girl.
5. Sylvia- For my last name I decided to go with another one from Shakespeare (Two Gentlemen of Verona) because it’s another one of my absolute favorites. It is so gorgeous and elegant sounding and would make a perfect name for a pretty little girl.

Well that’s it for this week’s name list! Hopefully you got some good name inspiration and maybe some good reading inspiration as well! If you read it make sure to let me know which name was your favorite down below and have an amazing day!