Names from children's books?

[lind-saay.livejournal.com]

There was a post a few days ago about the name Matilda, after the character from the book, and I'm wondering what you all think of names from children's books. Maybe it's just me and my literary nerdiness, but I think it would be awesome to be able to give my child a book that they're named after. I mean, what better way to encourage a love of reading?

The ones I would consider:

Matilda - from Matilda
James - from James and the Giant Peach
Harriet - from Harriet the Spy
Alexander - from Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Max - from Where the Wild Things Are
Olivia - from Olivia
Arthur - from the Arthur series
Amelia - from Amelia Bedelia
Charlie - from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Madeline - from Madeline
Peter - from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

What about you? Which names would you use? Would you ever actually name your kids a name from a children's book? What about literary names in general?

Comments

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

I love James, Amelia and Madeline. The rest are good too though.

Other names:
India Opal from Because of Winn Dixie
Claudia from The Babysitter's Club (my future kids better like the BSC, darnit, because I have nearly the entire collection of books, plus some other misc. stuff like the board game)

[lind-saay.livejournal.com]

Did you know they're re-issuing The Babysitter's Club and the original author of the books is writing a prequel?

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

Yep! I'm very excited about the prequel, not so much the reissued series (although I probably will collect those too...).

[ohhvelocitygirl.livejournal.com]

eloise would be cute

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

I love Eloise too! Are Eloise and Madeline too cutesy for sisters? :)

[ohhvelocitygirl.livejournal.com]

There is no such thing as too cutesy imo

[lovelymae.livejournal.com]

I think I am like...stupid or something. How in the heck do you pronounce Eloise?

eh-loyce? like rolls royce?

[ohhvelocitygirl.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm stupid too? I never was really sure but I've always said el-oh-ise. Kind of like elise and louisa (minus the a).

[compulsivelyme.livejournal.com]

It's pronounced El-Louise. Like the name Louise with an El tacked on the front.

[jeweledvixen.livejournal.com]

This is how I pronounce it, too. I love Eloise - the name and the books. I would so use this name.

[velkoria.livejournal.com]

my middle name is Eloisa and in the US I tended to use Eloise more since it was a bit easier to pronounce. I was always elle-oh-eese

[gregariouspeach.livejournal.com]

I wish I could name a son Pepito but that won't fly with my husband. Sadly. Cause whenever he was naughty I'd be yelling 'Pepito, you bad hat!"

[http://users.livejournal.com/__recidivist/]

Adorable.

Is it wrong that one of my considerations when thinking about a name is whether it is a good one for when they are in serious trouble? My dad's partner does this thing I find really endearing where she calls my little sister by her middle name only when she is in trouble and I love it.

[quitmyscene.livejournal.com]

I would use Max, Madeline, and possibly Charlie from your list. As a general rule, yes, I think I'd use any literary name - there are enough books out there that I'm sure there's *some* obscure children's book with some kid named ____.

I think most of my names nobody would guess/assume to be literary references, except for Atticus.

[harinakshi.livejournal.com]

Well, my daughter's name is Amelia, but I didn't even know about the books until about a year after I had her.

[theljfromheck.livejournal.com]

I love Harriet. I do like James but wouldn't use it. The others I don't care for.

I would use Harriet, my only hangup is that my son's name is Harvey. If I have another girl I would definitely consider it though.

[requiem-morrow.livejournal.com]

I adore literary names.

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

I like a lot of literary names, but I wouldn't go out of my way to use one, if that makes sense. Like, I wouldn't use Matilda just because I like the book or the character or whatever, but primarily because I like the name. So they wouldn't really be "for" the character. There are a lot of characters/books I like better whose names I would never use (like Hermione).

That being said, some (children's) literary names I always liked:

Anne, Diana (Anne of Green Gables)
Laura, Mary, Caroline (Little House on the Prairie)
Julian (Famous Five)
Nora (War Trilogy)
Leora (The Balloon Tree)
Mildred, Maud (The Worst Witch)

[wolfbane.livejournal.com]

I have always loved Ramona, from Ramona Quimby.

[cremepuff.livejournal.com]

I have, too. I also love her sister's name! But if I used Beatrice, I definitely wouldn't give my daughter the nickname Beezus. :)

[compulsivelyme.livejournal.com]

I LOVE the name Beatrice, but that's the name of my coworker's daughter I probably can't use it!

[cremepuff.livejournal.com]

I'd say Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy (all from Little Women).

[antichristie.livejournal.com]

Just childrens' books?

Charlotte from Charlotte's web.

Adult books? Ignatius, of course.

[sunshinefleur.livejournal.com]

I adore Madeline. I also think Matilda is cute, but I have a brother whose name is Matthew and we call him Matilda to aggravate him and yeah, lol.

as for literary names in general, I love Scarlett and Rhett, both from Gone With the Wind. but since I'm dead set I'm using Scarlett when I have kids I'll never use the name Rhett. that might be kinda creepy ;)

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

My cat is named Tobias after the Animorphs character. I got him in 5th grade when that series was popular.

[compulsivelyme.livejournal.com]

I'll add Margaret nn Meg from A Wrinkle in Time.
Celeste from the Babar series.
Alice from Alice in Wonderland
Charlotte from Charlotte's Web
Claudia from BSC (a guilty pleasure!)
Willa after the author Willa Cather

Byron
Milo from Phantom Tollbooth

[jeweledvixen.livejournal.com]

These are all great names. I would use Alexander, Olivia, Amelia and Madeline. I would use a literary name if I really loved it. If I didn't like the name, I wouldn't use it just because of the book, no matter how much I liked the book.

[speakingsoul.livejournal.com]

Actually pretty much all my favorite names are literary. I like alot of the names that have been suggested so far, I'll try not to repeat.

Theodore, Teddy for short (Little Women)
Gilbert (Anne of Green Gables) - I would use this for a middle name.
Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy (Chronicles of Narnia)
Anne (Anne of Green Gables)
Cordelia (Anne of Green Gables) - The name that Anne wanted to be called.
Ransom (The Space Trilogy) - Not a children's book at all, but another literary name I'm fond of.

Some names I might not like as much if not for the literary association.
Walter (Anne of Green Gables Series) - When I hear this name in my head it has a hint of the poetic when I think of Anne's gentle son.
Kenneth (Anne of Green Gables Series) - The son of one of Anne and Gilbert's close friends and eventually the beau of Anne's youngest daughter.
Phillipa (Anne of Green Gables Series) - One of Anne's college friends.

Some other ideas
Pauline, Petrova, Posy (Ballet Shoes)
Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz)
Wendy (Peter Pan)
Irene (The Princess and the Goblin)
Henry, Jessie, Violet, Benny (The Boxcar Children)
Ellen, Austine (Ellen Tebbits)

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

I'd use Peter, and I love the connection with Peter Pan, Peter Rabbit, and oh my gosh, I can't remember the third one and it's driving me crazy!

Anyway. I also love the combo Christopher Robin, though it's more of a GP. I actually know someone whose name is that.

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

Oh, and also I'd use Anne and it does make me think of Anne of Green Gables (the poster above me reminded me), which I love!

[florallove.livejournal.com]

Tacy from Betsy and Tacy. I suppose I like Betsy too. I don't like either of their full names, though, Anatasia and Elizabeth.

Fern from Charlotte's Web, also.

I love literary names. I think it'd be neat to read the book that your name came from.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

I don't necessarily like a lot of names from kids' books, but I really like a lot of the names that Sarah Dessen uses in her books. She's considered "young adult"/"teen" lit, I think (although I am 21 and still love her books, as does my 56-year-old mother):
Haven
Scarlett
Chloe (and there's a lot more but I won't bore you)

My number 1 boys' name, Landon, is from A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks.

[gipro2003.livejournal.com]

Well I'm a huge Harry Potter fanatic and love the names James, Severus, Minerva, Cedric, Sirius, etc. I wouldn't use most of them as first names, but I've considered using Severus, Minerva, and even Hermione as middle names.

[hwar.livejournal.com]

I like all the ones you mention. I'd add:

Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter from the Narnia books (Caspian and Aslan for the adventurous!)

Milo from The Phantom Tollbooth