babynames | Shakespearean Names and a plethora of others.

I used to dabble in this community quite a bit a few years prior - my name lists have probably changed quite a bit, I should look them up. Might be interesting to compare!

The real reason that brings me here is that I'm pursuing a Ph. D. in Shakespeare and lately, all I've been able to think about is how lovely all of these names are - their only downfall is the fact that I don't think some of them would really mesh with a person named in modern-day.

Not all of these are Shakespearean, some of them are inspired by the research on the Elziabeth era I've been doing.

Female:
Ophelia (LOVE this one.) - Elizabeth, of course! - Juliet - Rosalind/Rosaline - Kate - Helena - Aliena - Beatrice - Cordelia - Celia
Hero - Emilia - Luciana - Marina - Miranda - Olivia - Titania - Regan (unisex, but I like it for a girl better) - Viola

Male:
Paris (favorite) - Romeo - Lysander - Cassius - Antony - Tybalt (I love Tybalt, but would only use it for a pet.) - Mercutio - Prospero - Benvolio - Jacques (sounds like Jakes, not like Jacques, the french name.) - Hal/Henry - Othello - Ganymede - Julius - Lear - Oberon - Orlando - Robin - Nick - Sebastian - Ross

Obviously these aren't all of Shakespeare's characters, just the ones I like.

Shakespeare's children were named Hamnet and Judith (twins) and Susanna, sometimes spelled Susannah. I like Susannah the best of these. His wife was called Anne.

His counterparts, a number of which were named John, all had pretty basic names that are still common today, such as William, Richard, Henry, and so on.
I think, however, for a literature buff, some of their last names could be used as names for people, in example:
Marlowe, after Christopher Marlowe, for a girl though.
Will Kemp was a member of his playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, so I think Kemp is a fine boy's name.

As far as Elizabethan names go, I'm quite fond of Elizabeth, obviously. Henry and William were also very common names, and I like those too.

For regular names, I'm a fan of pretty common / non-fancy names. I'll make a separate post containing those.
Enjoy, name afficionados!