Can anyone help me come up with a list of literature name? E.g. coy mistress names created specifically for that poetry, etc… The criteria are EITHER:
Name was made up by the author or…
Name is STRONGLY associated only with one character. E.g. [name]Anne[/name] (of [name]Green[/name] Gables) doesn’t count
Perhaps leave out [name]Lord[/name] of The Rings/[name]Harry[/name] [name]Potter[/name]. There are SO many of those names they deserve a special category.
Hmmm… tough criteria, although a lot of those girls names aren’t strongly associated with characters for me. The only one I can think of at the moment is [name]Lolita[/name], it definitely is strongly associated with the character but I’m not sure if [name]Vladimir[/name] Nabokov invented it or not.
[name]Wendy[/name] is the one “made up” name I can think of. I strongly associate it with [name]Peter[/name] [name]Pan[/name], though I’m not sure others do.
Ones that just have strong links to their books:
[name]Sawyer[/name]
[name]Huckleberry[/name]
[name]Gatsby[/name] (I know a little boy with the name)
[name]Arthur[/name] - I strongly associate it with [name]King[/name] [name]Arthur[/name]
[name]Rhett[/name]
[name]Horatio[/name]
[name]Romeo[/name]
[name]Holden[/name]
[name]Atticus[/name]
He did not invent it since [name]Lola[/name] is a short form of [name]Dolores[/name] and [name]Lolita[/name] is a Spanish diminutive of [name]Lola[/name]. But you’re right. Whenever I see [name]Lola[/name] I think of the book [name]Lolita[/name], which isn’t really a good thing…
And Gone With the Wind. There should be a blog post about that.
[name]Scarlett[/name]'s original name was [name]Pansy[/name]. Also the book popularized the little-known name [name]Melanie[/name]. And there’s the manly [name]Rhett[/name] and his foil [name]Ashley[/name]. Too perfect.
Actually, that’s a popular misconception that author J.M. [name]Barrie[/name] made up the name “[name]Wendy[/name],” although [name]Barrie[/name] did help to popularize the name for the first time.
The name [name]Wendy[/name], though rare, can be found in census records of the 1800s in both Great [name]Britain[/name] and the U.S., that pre-date the year (1904) that [name]Barrie[/name]'s [name]Peter[/name] [name]Pan[/name] was published.
You can see for yourself, by going to this genealogical site:
Type in the name “[name]Wendy[/name] [name]Gram[/name]” and you’ll be taken to an 1880 census record for a [name]Wendy[/name] who was born in Ohio in the year 1828.
Here’s a name for the list here that was most likely invented by playwright [name]William[/name] Congreve in the 17th century:
[name]Araminta[/name]
This also happens to be the birth name of [name]Harriet[/name] Tubman (1820-1913), American abolitionist and former slave.
There is [name]Pollyanna[/name], which appears in the eponymous book. Also, I think [name]Alice[/name] is fairly strongly associated with [name]Alice[/name] in Wonderland, but it is also in the top 50 in [name]England[/name], so perhaps it is too popular to count?
[name]Reuben[/name] and [name]Elvira[/name] always make me think of Cold [name]Comfort[/name] Farm, but I am not sure if I am alone in that or not.
‘‘Call me [name]Ishmael[/name]’’ is all I have to say.
[name]Moby[/name] [name]Dick[/name] is epic, and [name]Ishmael[/name] is awsome. It needs to be added to the list!
[name]Miranda[/name] (coined by [name]Shakespeare[/name] in The [name]Tempest[/name])
[name]Imogen[/name] ([name]Shakespeare[/name]'s typo from another play, can’t remember which)
[name]Clarissa[/name] ([name]Richardson[/name]'s novel–though maybe the association isn’t as strong as with [name]Shakespeare[/name]–and I guess there’s also [name]Clarissa[/name] Dalloway)
[name]Dorothea[/name] ([name]Eliot[/name]'s Middlemarch)
[name]Hester[/name] (Prynne, The [name]Scarlet[/name] Letter)
[name]Tess[/name] ([name]Hardy[/name])
For me [name]Emma[/name] is associated with [name]Emma[/name] Woodhouse ([name]Austen[/name]) and [name]Emma[/name] Bovary (Flaubert), though I guess maybe its ubiquity lessens the association for most people?
Ditto [name]Rebecca[/name] (duMaurier)
and maybe [name]Jane[/name] (Eyre–[name]Bronte[/name])
[name]Moll[/name] (Flanders–Defoe)
[name]Iago[/name] (though I’m not sure who would name their kid that . . .)
Healthcliff
[name]Jude[/name]
I have a few associations with modern novels, too, though maybe these aren’t imprinted yet on the popular imagination . . .