See the results of this poll: Have you ever looked to books for name inspiration?
Respondents: 27 (This poll is closed)
- Yes : 22 (81%)
- No: 5 (19%)
I love literary names, and good literary associations are always a huge plus for me. Technically, my favourite literary name is [name_f]Demelza[/name_f], although I haven’t actually read the series yet (Poldark series, [name_m]Graham[/name_m] [name_m]Winston[/name_m]), but I have watched a TV adaptation that made me fall in love with the character. From books I have read [name_f]Lyra[/name_f], from [name_m]Philip[/name_m] Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, is highest up my list. But I absolutely adore [name_f]Georgiana[/name_f] (as [name_m]George[/name_m]-ee-[name_m]AH[/name_m]-nuh) from Pride and Prejudice and [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m]'s [name_f]Hermione[/name_f] too.
I love literary names, partly because I love books so much and the kind of honor names that I would use would be using character names to honor authors. [name_f]Tamara[/name_f] [name_m]Pierce[/name_m] is one of my favorite authors and she has great names! Plus a pronunciation guide on her website =) Some of my favorite of her names are:
[name_f]Alanna[/name_f]: a-LAH-nah
[name_f]Eleni[/name_f]: ell-EHN-nee
[name_f]Idalia[/name_f]: ee-DAHL-ee-ah
Kalasin: KAHL-ah-sihn
Keladry: KELL-ah-dree
Onua: oh-NOO-ah
Oranie: OHR-ah-nee
Thayet: THIGH-yet
Veralidaine: vehr-AHL-ee-dayn (she went by [name_m]Daine[/name_m], but I love her full name!)
Berenene: [name_m]BEAR[/name_m]-ehn-een
[name_f]Daja[/name_f]: DAH-jah
Sandrilene: SAHN-drih-leen
Trisana: trih-SAH-nah
And then there is:
Eilonwy from [name_m]Lloyd[/name_m] [name_m]Alexander[/name_m]
Elliryana, Llynia, and [name_f]Halia[/name_f] from T.A. [name_m]Barron[/name_m]
Katsa, [name_f]Tilda[/name_f], Roen, Helda, and Ashen from [name_f]Kristin[/name_f] Cashore
I’m sure that there are others somewhere, but these are the main ones I’m remembering right now.
Well, [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] of course. 
A name that I definitely started appreciating after reading the book was [name_f]Alba[/name_f], from The Time [name_u]Traveler[/name_u]'s Wife.
You might like Liadan or [name_f]Sorcha[/name_f] from [name_f]Juliet[/name_f] Marillier’s Sevenwaters Triology.
Thank you for sharing the literary names you love! I think it’s an awesome way to discover new potential names and also new book series to read 
I need to dig through some of my books and write the ones I’m drawn to. I feel like pregnancy brain is taking over and I can’t remember anything! I’m not even that far along >.>
I think it’s great for a name to have literary associations. These are some of my favourite literary names:
[name_f]Hazel[/name_f] / “The Fault in Our Stars” - [name_m]John[/name_m] [name_u]Green[/name_u]
[name_f]Sybil[/name_f], [name_u]Dorian[/name_u] / “The Picture of [name_u]Dorian[/name_u] [name_u]Gray[/name_u]” - [name_m]Oscar[/name_m] Wilde
[name_f]Ophelia[/name_f] / “[name_m]Hamlet[/name_m]” - [name_m]William[/name_m] [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m]
[name_m]Romeo[/name_m], [name_f]Juliet[/name_f] / “[name_m]Romeo[/name_m] and [name_f]Juliet[/name_f]” - [name_m]William[/name_m] [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m]
[name_f]Viola[/name_f] / “[name_f]Viola[/name_f] (Twelfth [name_m]Night[/name_m])” - [name_m]William[/name_m] [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m]
[name_m]Adam[/name_m] / “Before I Die” - [name_f]Jenny[/name_f] Downham
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] / “Me Before You” - [name_u]Jojo[/name_u] Moyes
[name_m]Diego[/name_m] / “Zorro” - [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] Allende
[name_f]Cassandra[/name_f], [name_m]Achilles[/name_m], [name_f]Helen[/name_f] (though I prefer the Aahil and [name_f]Helene[/name_f] versions) / “Iliad” - [name_m]Homer[/name_m]
[name_u]Owen[/name_u], [name_u]Chase[/name_u] / “In the Heart of the Sea” - [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] Philbrick
[name_m]Ah[/name_m], there’s so many! I wish I could recall them all, but my mind is shot right now 
[name_f]Catherine[/name_f]: there’s a YA series called “Dear [name_u]America[/name_u]”…it’s fictional journals of children who “lived” during certain points in history. Well, they have a royal series as well and I got the one on [name_f]Catherine[/name_f] the Great while on vacation. I loved the book and it made me love the name, since I got to “see” it on a little girl, not just people my mother’s age.
[name_f]Cassia[/name_f]: I can’t remember what series it is from, but I really liked this name after reading it. This was the female protagonist’s name.
[name_f]Hermione[/name_f]: obvious. I would use this in a heartbeat, but it clashes with our last name and DH isn’t a huge fan of it.
[name_m]Pip[/name_m]: Great Expectations. Such an adorable nickname.
[name_m]Ebenezer[/name_m]: Yes, Scrooge. I love the redemption story.
[name_f]Leah[/name_f], [name_m]Abram[/name_m], [name_f]Sadie[/name_f], and [name_f]Lydia[/name_f]: these are from an Amish fiction series by [name_f]Beverly[/name_f] [name_m]Lewis[/name_m], one of my favorite authors, called “[name_m]Abram[/name_m]'s Daughters”.
[name_m]Jonas[/name_m]: The Giver.
[name_f]Mina[/name_f]: Dracula.
[name_f]Winnie[/name_f]: [name_f]Winnie[/name_f] the Pooh…can this count? lol 
That’s all I can think of right now 
Okay so I’ve thought of a few!
[name_f]Jane[/name_f]: many literary references for this one
Phedre: Kushiels [name_m]Dart[/name_m]
[name_m]Pippin[/name_m], [name_f]Arwen[/name_f]: [name_m]Lord[/name_m] of the Rings
I love [name_u]Dorian[/name_u]! DH vetoed it sadly. We have a cat named [name_f]Sybil[/name_f] 
Ooh, I loved the book Walk Two Moons by [name_f]Sharon[/name_f] Creech, as a kid. It features a [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f] which I’m pretty sure is where I first heard the name. By the same author, Chasing Redbird has a [name_f]Zinnia[/name_f].
I’m a sucker for [name_f]Isabel[/name_f] Allende books so from the top of my head:
[name_f]Eva[/name_f] [name_f]Luna[/name_f]
[name_f]Elvira[/name_f]
[name_f]Alma[/name_f]
[name_f]Katharina[/name_f]
[name_f]Mimi[/name_f]
[name_f]Irina[/name_f]
[name_f]Violette[/name_f]
[name_f]Delphine[/name_f]
[name_f]Lola[/name_f]
[name_f]Eugenia[/name_f]
[name_f]Rose[/name_f]
If you want more unusual/Classical era names - Invisible Cities by [name_m]Calvino[/name_m] is the place to go! Wikipedia has lists of all the cities (each one goes by the name of a woman).
Lots of my favorite names are literary!
[name_f]Clarissa[/name_f] - the first name of the title character in Mrs. Dalloway, the title of one of the first true novels in English, by [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Richardson[/name_m]
[name_f]Tess[/name_f] - title character in [name_m]Hardy[/name_m]'s [name_f]Tess[/name_f] of the d’Urbervilles
[name_f]Rosalind[/name_f] - the main character in [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m]'s As You Like It (his best, strongest female character period!)
[name_u]Arden[/name_u] - the name of the forest in As You Like It
[name_f]Imogen[/name_f] - character in [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m]'s [name_m]Cymbeline[/name_m]
[name_f]Miranda[/name_f] - character in [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m]'s The [name_f]Tempest[/name_f]
[name_f]Sylvie[/name_f] - name of [name_m]French[/name_m] surrealist novel by [name_m]Gerard[/name_m] de Nerval
[name_f]Aurelie[/name_f] - another [name_m]Gerard[/name_m] de Nerval character (though it’s spelled Aurélie)
[name_f]Sybil[/name_f] - from Wilde’s The Picture of [name_u]Dorian[/name_u] [name_u]Gray[/name_u]
[name_f]Cecily[/name_f] - character in Wilde’s The Importance of Being [name_m]Earnest[/name_m]
[name_f]Adelheid[/name_f]/[name_f]Heidi[/name_f] - title character of [name_f]Heidi[/name_f]
[name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] - title of [name_m]Henry[/name_m] Wadsworth [name_m]Longfellow[/name_m] epic poem
[name_f]Blythe[/name_f] - [name_m]Gilbert[/name_m] [name_f]Blythe[/name_f] was the love interest in [name_f]Anne[/name_f] of [name_u]Green[/name_u] Gables
[name_m]Hart[/name_m] - the poet [name_m]Hart[/name_m] [name_m]Crane[/name_m]
[name_u]Auden[/name_u] - the poet W. H. [name_u]Auden[/name_u]
[name_m]Wystan[/name_m] - the W. in above
[name_u]Emerson[/name_u] - after [name_m]Ralph[/name_m] [name_m]Waldo[/name_m]
[name_u]Jude[/name_u] - titular character in [name_m]Hardy[/name_m]'s [name_u]Jude[/name_u] the Obscure
[name_u]Walker[/name_u] - after the novelist [name_u]Walker[/name_u] [name_u]Percy[/name_u]
And of course, [name_u]Dorian[/name_u], after The Picture of [name_u]Dorian[/name_u] [name_u]Gray[/name_u]! This was always one of my favorite names, and then I met and fell for a man named [name_u]Dorian[/name_u]! I love his name, but we’re not going to do juniors.
I was going to say the same thing about [name_f]Tamora[/name_f] [name_m]Pierce[/name_m]! I love all her names! My favorite is [name_f]Alanna[/name_f]'s daughter Alianne. She’s in the Tricksters series. She went by [name_u]Ali[/name_u]. That’s where I get one of my favorite names, [name_f]Alianna[/name_f], from.
Another author who has some really good names is [name_f]Anne[/name_f] McCaffrey. Here are some off the top of my head.
Lessa
[name_f]Sharra[/name_f]
Brekke
Kylara
Moreta
Menolly
I’m not sure how some of these are supposed to be pronounced (I’m sure I pronounce some of them incorrectly) but I’m sure you can google it.