My favorite childhood book was (and is) “A Wrinkle in Time”. I always wanted to name a son [name]Charles[/name] [name]Wallace[/name] because I thought the character was so charming! My DH really dislikes the name, so I won’t be CW’s mom after all.
I also fell in love with the name [name]Cosette[/name] while reading “[name]Les[/name] Miserables”, and am pushing to give this name to our daughter in 2010. I am planning on using Cosi (Cozy) as a nickname.
I was obsessed with [name]Lennox[/name] for a boy for a while because of [name]Mary[/name] [name]Lennox[/name] from The [name]Secret[/name] Garden.
I also love these names (although I don’t always love the character):
[name]Briony[/name], [name]Celia[/name] (Atonement)
Lizaveta, [name]Ilya[/name] (Crime & Punishment)
[name]Moira[/name] (The Handmaid’s Tale)
[name]Minerva[/name], [name]Millicent[/name] ([name]Harry[/name] [name]Potter[/name])
[name]Leon[/name], Rudolphe (Madam Bovary)
[name]Sabina[/name] (The Unbearable Lightness of Being)
[name]Neely[/name] ([name]Valley[/name] of the Dolls)
[name]Agnes[/name] ([name]David[/name] Copperfield)
After we had my son and his dad won the name war, I’ve been absolutely determined that the next one will have a more literary name. My favorites at the moment…
[name]Auden[/name] (After W.H.)
[name]Orson[/name] ([name]Orson[/name] Welles)
[name]Adah[/name] (The Poisonwood Bible)
[name]Lydia[/name] (Pride and Prejudice)
OH yes, The Poisonwood Bible, one of my favourite books - a [name]Little[/name] Women for modern day! I loved the names of the four girls and think they were well chosen - they “go” together and also hint at the characters of the individual girls - [name]Rachel[/name], [name]Leah[/name], [name]Adah[/name] and the little one, [name]Ruth[/name] [name]May[/name].
I love [name]Lux[/name] from The Virgin Suicides too, but perhaps I have already mentioned that.
My favourite book when I was a child was Ballet Shoes by [name]Noel[/name] Streatfield, and I was fascinated by the three Fossil girls, [name]PAULINE[/name], [name]PETROVA[/name] and [name]POSY[/name]. To a little Welsh girl in the early 1960s, these names (the last two, anyway) were quite revolutionary!
I also loved The [name]Secret[/name] Garden, and still love the name [name]MARY[/name] [name]LENNOX[/name].
Names are so important in books, as everywhere else.
PS I have often written to authors when I admire their books, and several authors have written back to admire my name and say they are going to use it in a future novel! [name]Margaret[/name] [name]Forster[/name] named one of her characters [name]Ailsa[/name] in her next book. Others said how my name sounded like a novelist! This was all very flattering, as you can imagine.
Omigosh, [name]Ailsa[/name]! Did you read what I posted earlier in this thread – or is this another twinning moment between us? I was a huge Ballet Shoes fan as a little girl, too! I mentioned [name]Pauline[/name], [name]Petrova[/name], and [name]Posy[/name] in my previous posting!
I was also hooked on All of a Kind Family. Here are the children’s names from [name]Sidney[/name] [name]Taylor[/name]'s wonderful series about a Jewish family living in New [name]York[/name] City (which I could relate to personally) in the early 1900s (no, I didn’t quite relate to the era, I’m not that old! Hahaha!):
[name]Ella[/name]
[name]Henrietta[/name] (nn “[name]Henny[/name]”)
[name]Sarah[/name]
[name]Charlotte[/name]
[name]Gertrude[/name] (nn “[name]Gertie[/name]”)
[name]Charlie[/name] (the baby brother of the five sisters, who is born later into the story)
– [name]Nephele[/name]
Soul mates, [name]Nephele[/name]!
[name_m]Dashiell[/name_m] ( After Hammett)
Ophelia… [name_m]Hamlet[/name_m]
Heathcliff… Wuthering Heights
Colette… [name_u]French[/name_u] author of [name_f]Gigi[/name_f]
Justine… title of the novel by [name_m]Marquis[/name_m] De [name_f]Sade[/name_f]
Eponine… [name_u]Les[/name_u] Miserables
[name_f]Wendy[/name_f] & Peter… [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Pan[/name_m]