Names from Popular Culture

[rubberducky1467.livejournal.com]

Hi guys.

Here's a question: What are some names that you like/love that come from pop culture?

And: Would you use these names or would you be afraid that somebody would forever associate it with whatever book, movie, television show you took it from?


Here are a few of my favorites:
Matthew: I fell in love with this name when I was watching Downton Abbey.
Rory: This name is from Doctor Who. I'm not sure I like it as a regular given name, but as a nickname for something.
Liesl: The eldest daughter from The Sound of Music is called this. I know it's a nickname for Elisabeth.

EDIT: Oh shoot, I forgot I was going to mention I know a girl named Leia. And she has a brother named Luke. Nobody is ever going to forget where these names came from.

Comments

[silvermidnight.livejournal.com]

I have a ton, I get a lot of name inspiration from TV.

Sutton ----this is from "The Lying Game" TV show that is kind of new. I would not use this name any time soon- I have to wait and see if it becomes wildly popular.
Dexter ---- this is from "Dexter" the TV show about a serial (serial killer) killer. I love the character and would really like to use it on a boy but this show is just too popular to dissociate from it, I don't think it will get lived down in my lifetime.
Calista---- I ripped this off Calista Flockhart in her Ally McBeal days. I think everyone and their brother associates it with her so I am on the fence about it.
Serena -----This comes from the TV show "Gossip Girl". I liked it before but the show made me really like it. I would consider using it but only after the series ends so I would know everything it would be associated with.
Miley ----- I don't want to like it but I can't deny it. But I would never use it.
Aiden ---- damn you, Sex and the City. Too popular for my tastes, though.
Keira ---a la Kiera Knightly. This isn't too popular and I rather like her and wouldn't mind the association, so as long as it doesn't get too popular, it's a contender.

I used to really like the name Coral but it got ruined by that woman who was on The Real World. Same with Alice and Twilight.

[silvermidnight.livejournal.com]

1 more- I like Winona from Winona Ryder but after the shoplifting thing, it's a no-go. :(

[fleckerbug.livejournal.com]

IDK... our favorite name is the name of an author, and it was used in a fictional biography film about someone the author knew. Despite both those counts, I still want to use it. I might be less-inclined to use it if either the film or the author in question were well-known. Of course, I love the names Edward and Esme and will vey likely use both, and had planned to use Alice until my husband's sister did, and those have a huge connotation with that sparkly teenage vampire book/movie series. I've never read/seen it and think it's silly that people automatically jump to that conclusion.



I'm neutral on Matthew. I think it's a nice, solid name, but it doesn't particularly appeal to me and I would never use it. I think it's common enough, and normal enough, that no one would ever assume it came from pop culture.

Rory... I have mixed feelings about. I think it's cute, but just associate way too much with Gilmore Girls. I think I like it better on a boy though. If it's a girl, the connection to Gilmore Girls is much stronger.

Liesl. Pronounced? Lee-syl? Again, I don't think many people would immediately make the connection. It's okay, wouldn't use. It reminds me of a name I like that appears in a series I enjoy-- Lisiel.

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

Rory will always make me think of Gilmore girls first. That being said, my second connection is to the hockey player (Rory Fitzpatrick) and the son in Simple Rules.

[eveyalecia.livejournal.com]

I LOVE Liesl! I also really like Georg because of that movie. :)

-Right now, I'm really liking Arthur because of the BBC show Merlin. This is a pretty classic name; though it may always be somewhat associated with King Arthur, that wouldn't put me off of using it.
-I love Briar after reading Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series, and Prosper after Cornelia Funke's Thief Lord. These I don't think are popular enough for people to know where I got them from, much less associate them with. (But tell me if I'm wrong!)
-I actually really like Socrates, but I don't think that will ever not be associated with the philosopher.
-I like Carlisle, but I fear that will be associated with Twilight for some years to come.
-I lovelovelove Casper, and I personally don't think of the friendly ghost because I never watched those movies, but I know that other people do. :(

[snoglobel.livejournal.com]

I think of Sleeping Beauty with Briar, since her name was Briar Rose. :)

[pleasure-past.livejournal.com]

All I can think of right now is Lyra (His Dark Materials). It's not really a popular enough series for me to worry. My best friend waants to name her hypothetical daughter Arwen, though. I approve.

[chaichilaquiles.livejournal.com]

I like Lyra a lot right now too. Unfortunately for me, it doesn't really go with our last name. And the DH vetoed it anyway.

My favorite guilty pleasure sibset is Orion & Lyra. yeah.

[fangirlism]

My top girl's name is Adele, has been for years, but I dunno if I could use it now, cause of the singer.

Also, I was given a pop culture name (my namesake is Erica Kane, yes my mom spelled it differently on purpose.), so idk if I could do the same to my own kids (granted, not a lot of people make the association.)

[silvermidnight.livejournal.com]

I was almost named Erica after Erica Kane too. I've never watched the show but she must be a hell of a woman!

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

Atticus: The father from To Kill a Mockingbird. I love this name, but it's A LOT to live up to.
Indiana: Indiana Jones, obviously. It sounds cool in theory, but it really needs the right (most likely short) last name paired with it to carry it off, and I don't have that.
Scarlett: Gone with the Wind as well as ScarJo. The latter's an okay association, but Scarlett O'Hara is quite the bitch (albeit an awesome one).
Finn: I love this, but...Glee. That's what first brought the name to my attention, and I can't really stand that show now. Luckily, if enough time passes, no one will think much of the associations.
River: Firefly and Doctor Who made me love this for a girl. However, there's a certain level of wackiness and/or insanity that goes with it.
Diana: My favorite name for a girl, but I'm afraid people will always associate it with Princess Diana.

One I could get away with:
Christopher: I came to love this name because of Christopher Eccleston (one of my favorite actors and my favorite Doctor) and then Chris Carpenter (my favorite baseball player) didn't help things. It's common enough that no one would make any associations, though.

Also, I'm loving the Sound of Music love! It was my very favorite film when I was a little kid (pretty much my first fandom).

[silvermidnight.livejournal.com]

idk, I think there are SO many Dianas out there that the princess thing gets diluted. I think people would call her Princess Diana a lot but I don't think it would be the first thing they think of when they hear the name.

[qtshorty1625.livejournal.com]

Anne: Anne of Green Gables
Emma: Emma (although I've never read the book, I've passively watched the movie at least twice)
Gilbert: Anne of Green Gables
Lyddie/Lydia: Lyddie
Lorelai: Gilmore girls
Pippin: The Lord of the Rings
Liesl: The Sound of Music

Lorelai & Pippin I could never use because they would be too obvious for people who know me. (and I don't see Pippin aging well). Liesl I think would be too obvious.
Anne, Emma and Lyddie/Lydia I could use without fear. Although I did worry for a while that people would know I got Emma from the book.
Gilbert I'm borderline on; I've only ever heard it in one other place (a baseball player).

[http://users.livejournal.com/-dahling-/]

Emma has been my top name for girls since I was 12 because of this book! However, it was recently bumped to the number 2 spot because I decided I like Kate better.

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

I might steer clear of a name from pop culture if it was
a) made up (Arwen, Eowyn, etc)
b) a name hardly anybody had heard of until that book/movie/show (Hermione

I wouldn't be afraid of using a name like Bella or Edward, for instance, if I really liked it. It may be associated with Twilight in people's minds right now, but you could have gotten those names from absolutely anywhere, and it won't always be the first thing someone thinks of (if it even is right now).

Names like Arwen, Eowyn, Minerva, and Trinity are kind of guilty pleasure names for me, but I would never use them. I like names like Matthew, Mary and Daisy (Downton Abbey), but I liked the names long before the show. I know that I like and dislike a lot of names today because of people or characters I encountered when I was young, but I don't think that affects me quite so much anymore. Either I like a name or I don't: liking a character doesn't really alter my opinion of his name.

[snowowl.livejournal.com]

Arwen is actually Welsh and means beautiful one, if I remember right!

[jordle.livejournal.com]

I have wanted to call my daughter Abigail Johanna since I was 12 - it's the name of Jack and Jennifer's daughter on Days of Our Lives.

Most of my favourite names come from television.

[http://users.livejournal.com/-dahling-/]

Most of my favorite names come from television as well!

[spookymrsboo.livejournal.com]

I've loved the name Sherlock since I was a kid.

[http://users.livejournal.com/-dahling-/]

Elin- Tiger Woods' wife or exwife? idk
Bree- Desperate Housewives
Suri- Tom and Katie's daughter
Piper- From Charmed
I used to love Maci and Bentley from Teen Mom but my sister named my niece Macy, so that's out and Bentley is just so popular now!

[twitchywoman.livejournal.com]

Emily - Emily Deschanel
Temperance - from Bones, but I only plan on using this for my next cat
Ada - I first heard it when I watched Cold Mountain, the movie was okay, but the name I have loved for almost 10 years.
Aurelia - Love Actually, coincidentally, I watched this movie the same weekend as I watched Cold Mountain and hence have loved this name for almost 10 years too.
Liesel - I like it spelled that way, but I began to love it when I watched the Sound of Music for the first time a few years ago.
Demetrius - from a Midsummer Night's Dream
Hadley - Ernest Hemingway's first wife
Louisa - I have loved this name since I heard it on Strong Medicine. The character spelled it Luisa and pronounced it the Spanish way (which I greatly prefer).
Lena - A character in one of my favorite books, My Antonia.

[sictransitsuzy.livejournal.com]

Aurora nn Rory from Gilmore Girls is my top pick for a girl
Flynn from Tron
River on a boy like River Phoenix the actor but boyfriend likes it from Serenity so everyone's happy, lol

vetoed by boyfriend:
Logan, Logan Lerman the actor
Cove, ex-lead singer of Saosin
Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter

[rorylareina.livejournal.com]

Cove is delightful! I'm not familiar with the band, but the name itself is great!

[imamaryanne.livejournal.com]

Both of my sons were given names from Michael Chabon novels. Grady and August. If August, nn Gus, had been a girl, Lyra (from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials) was on our list.

[behindgrey-eyes.livejournal.com]

Nathan - Nathan Drake from Uncharted
Luna - Harry Potter
Jasper, Edward - Twishite.
Dean - Supernatural
Spencer and Reid - Criminal Minds

There are probably a few names on that list I've liked for years that I now associate with pop culture, especially Jasper :( I like a few Greek mythology names like Athena, Artemis and Persephone which are probably now a little more known because of things like Percy Jackson.

[kampfbaby.livejournal.com]

I'm sure people will jump on me for this, but i kind of like Coraline as a middle name for Abigail. Not sure whether I'd use it for a first name though.

[eveyalecia.livejournal.com]

I really like Coraline! I think it's a cute variation of Caroline (which I also love).

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

I've read through all of the comments and most of the names mentioned are so commonly used in non-pop culture too that I don't think they would be a problem to use at all.

I agree with whoever said it that some names will always be associated with one thing, like Arwen, Suri and Hermione, but I don't think a fairly common name like Alice would be associated too much with twilight unless you had a whole sibset going Alice, Jacob and Jasper or something. Just my opinion though haha.


Most of the names I like I'm sure can be traced back to some sort of pop-culture, like Aurora with Sleeping Beauty for example, but I don't actually think I've chosen any of my top names for the sake of it being from pop-culture. There's only one name I like that I've specifically only heard in a book and that's Althea.

[sparklymoon.livejournal.com]

I like Scarlett, but between Scarlett O'Hara, Scarlett Johanssen, and the girl who played the daughter from Reba... I think it's a no go (Although I love GWtW)
I love Adele, and it is kind of a family name (my grandfather's half-sister, and her daughter), but I'm not sure it would fly.
Oscar is cute, but Oscar Wilde (are people well versed enough in lit to make this connection?) and Oscar the grouch lol; in the same vein, Dorian (although my friend's sister is named this)
I love Audrina, because of the VC Andrews book, but then that skank from The Hills was named Audrina also ....
I would go with Olivia or Mariska based on my love for L&O SVU, but Olivia is popular and Mariska would get misprounced a lot (and I am in now way EAstern European/Hungarian)

I really don't watch a lot of TV, but I do read a lot so I probably pick up some names from there, but I also read a lot of Russian stuff and I love Russian names - would love to name my daughter Svetlana "Lana" but now there's Lana del Rey, and son Konstatin "Kostya" after the actor in Night Watch and one of the characters too... But I would feel stupid using Russian names unless I married a Russian man.

[sparklymoon.livejournal.com]

Also Cassandra will always be the Greek soothsayer to me, and Ophelia (which I LOVEEE) will always be the one who drowned herself... so I couldn't use it.

[mrsbenglish.livejournal.com]

My answer is a bit different from most, but in my recent search for boy's names that were inspired by nature I found Ashton..
and then I said, oh right... Ashton Kutcher...ugh.

I'm on the fence whether I should use it or not.

[eveyalecia.livejournal.com]

My cousin's name is Ashton, and I always think of her before Ashton Kutcher when I hear the name. I think it's a really nice name and not many people would associate it with him automatically.

[how-obscure.livejournal.com]

I agree with the couple of other people who have basically said that, just because it is a name in pop culture, it doesn't mean that it is a pop culture name. I mean, you may have started liking Matthew after watching Downton Abbey, but it's such a basic name that people have been using for so long that it wouldn't stand out as a pop culture name. I'll list every name I like that has some connection to something in popular (and less popular) culture, but I'll bold the ones that I think would immediately make someone in the general population think it came from somewhere.

Felix - the Cat, Felix Unger (The Odd Couple) Harrison - Ford
Lane - Ed Lane (Flashpoint) Seamus - Harry Potter
Phineas - and Ferb Clark - Kent (Superman), Ed's son (Flashpoint)
James - Potter and probably lots of other places Tate - Bewitched
Callum - Callum Keith Rennie (actor) Linus - Peanuts (aka Charlie Brown cartoon), Sabrina (movie)
Simon - Firefly/Serenity Louis - J.K. Rowling's family tree for the trio and the rest of the Weasley kids
Hugo - see above, plus the movie that came out recently Hugh - Hugh Dillon (actor, musician)
Dell - computers Gideon - Harry Potter, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka's son
Neville - Harry Potter Malcolm - in the Middle (ick), Firefly/Serenity
Jane - Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice Tabitha - Bewitched
Willow - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Juniper - Benny & Joon
Lavinia - Johnny Tremain (YA novel) Charlotte - 's Web, Pride & Prejudice, Charlotte Church
Pearl - The Scarlet Letter River - Firefly/Serenity and apparently Doctor Who (I'm not far enough into the series yet)
Tallulah - Reilly (actress), Bruce Willis' daughter Hazel - TV show
Margaret - Thatcher, Meg (A Wrinkle in Time) Claire - LOST
Elizabeth - Pride & Prejudice Luna - Harry Potter
Clara - Bewitched Thomasina - The Three Lives of Thomasina (movie)
Daphne - Scooby Doo Summer - Glau (actress)
Kara - Thrace (aka Starbuck, Battlestar: Galactica) Hermione - Harry Potter

This is a large portion of my list. As you can see, I don't personally feel many of them would have ready associations. Even some of the ones I bolded, I hesitated on doing so. Some are not bolded because I do not feel that they are in the public consciousness enough for it to warrant it despite being an unusual name. I'm primarily thinking of Juniper here, which I did first hear in Benny & Joon. Some of these names I did hear and/or come to like through TV shows, but many of them I liked before. It's only now that I go back and apply popular culture to them. I'm not a fan of every series I've listed here; it's only that I know they have or have had some popularity and contain whichever name. This is all to say that, despite many of the names I like being able to be tied to something, I do not feel they warrant being called pop culture names. That being the case, associations would only cause hesitation on using Hermione and Neville and I don't love those names like some of the others so I probably wouldn't be considering them anyway.

This is in no way meant to be argumentative. It's just me thinking out loud mostly and my long-winded way of including all of the names that could have associations while staying true to my feeling that most of them don't count.

[how-obscure.livejournal.com]

Wow, it totally took out the multiple spaces I had between the names to create two neat columns. Sorry about that.

...and now, I'm reposting my comment because I accidentally left it as a whole new comment instead of a reply to my original one. Sorry about that too!

[laminy.livejournal.com]

Shoshannah - Inglourious Basterds
Lois - Superman
Veronica - Veronica Mars

Holden - The Catcher in the Rye
Clark - Superman
Alexander - Superman
Dillon - Friday Night Lights

...amongst others.

[sparklymoon.livejournal.com]

Veronica Mars, yes!!!

[unboundvoice.livejournal.com]

I had a Nirvana (the band) obsession for years and years (and years!) and I really wanted to name my first son Kurt, after Kurt Cobain. I'm glad I didn't though, because my obsession totally fizzled after having kids (and I was only 19 at the time), and that would have been a little over the top :)

[purplefog.livejournal.com]

I went to school with a Kylie and Dani sib-set. Will post more after supper :)

[forloveofbaby.livejournal.com]

My son's name, Nolan Grayson, is from the graphic novel Invincible ^_^

[forloveofbaby.livejournal.com]

Oh, and though it's a family name on DH's side, we both love Clark, which has the association with Superman

[kitchen-poet.livejournal.com]

Well, sort of. I like the name Finch a lot. It is my mom's maiden name, and it reminds me of Darwin's finches, and Atticus Finch. I love the name Atticus as well, mostly because of the Finch, and because the character reminds me so strongly of my dad, but it has gotten so much flak as a yuppie, obnoxious name we'd probably never use it.

I like Alice and Linus, both pop culture characters, and Harry/Henry, even though I suspect everyone will forever associate Harry with Harry Potter. I adore Mattie, Silver, and Xenobia, although my DH would immediately nix those. ;) Oh, I read a fabulous children's book, Wildwood and am really liking the name Prue!