Baby D-Day for the Blazier household is quickly approaching. We are now just a few weeks away from an Armageddon of vomit, poo, and cute little outfits. We’ve already picked out a name for her, but as a fantasy geek it did at least cross my mind to name her after some of my favorite characters. Fantasy is full of awesome names, and I thought about how great it would be to send my daughter off into the world with a name like Anastasia Lightbringer, or maybe Elven Swiftfeet.
I’m only kidding, mostly. My examples were just a tad too silly, and If I actually named her one of those I would likely be condemning her to a very difficult life as a fantasy convention prostitute. However, I have seen some really cool real-life fantasy-inspired names. Have you? If so, submit them in the comments. If you don’t know of any, just make one up. The commenter with one of the more awesome or silly names will get to pick a book from our stacks.
My wife and I have a son named Rowan, and a little girl named Story. They are both unusual names, but I totally can relate to what your saying about naming your child after a favorite character! As a fan of the Price of Nothing series I thought Achamian or Esmenet would be cool, but it would be awkward explaining to them that they were named after a whore and an alcoholic spy… Might be setting them up for disaster.
Always thought Lirael is a lovely, quirky name for a girl ;)
A lot of the celtic names work well like the person before mentioned, Rowan and there’s the female counterpart Rowena. Bethany sounds more fantasy than Elizabeth. Alanna from Tamora Pierce’s books would make for one that isn’t too strange. I personally think you should go with Gaelana Starfire, the Conquerer of Sicily ~~
Off the top of my head, I knew a woman in college named Myrlin Ambrosia Hermes (First name pronounced: Merlin). In fact, she’s now an author: http://www.myrlinahermes.com/
Two of my favorite names (real people) are Fairy GoLightly and Princess Prairie Rose Kills-in-Sight.
I think my favorite fantasy name is Ariana.
I can’t think of anybody I know with a fantasy first name, but as for a middle name…
I was named after my great-grandfather Samuel, but my middle name isn’t Samuel. It’s Samwise. I’m glad it’s not my first name, but I like sharing a namesake with the small hobbit who was arguably the most practical, the bravest, and the most loyal of all the characters in Lord of the Rings.
“Story” is a gorgeous name – it gets my vote.
At one point, I decided that, if I ever had a daughter, I’d call her Siuan. Not that I ever liked the Wheel of Time that much, but I always thought that was a lovely name, at least in the way I pronounced it mentally (see-Wan).
A woman who worked for me had two daughters. The older was name Eowyn, for the LOTR character and the younger was named Aminita, for the mushroom.
If I ever had a little girl, her name would have been Aerin Eilonwy. (The first name would’ve been negotiable, but Eilonwy was a lock. :) )
My wife and I recently had a baby and b/f we knew the sex we had decided that if it was a girl it would be named Acelynne
I remember a book called The Great Gilly Hopkins, where the main character was named Galadriel, but went by Gilly. If I ever felt the need to name my daughter Galadriel, I wouldn’t shorten it to Gilly, though. Or Gal. Or Gally. Thank goodness I didn’t have a daughter or felt the need to use the name Galadriel. I also thought that you could change it to a boy’s name by removing the “Ga” to make it just plain Ladriel. But then you’d get people calling him Lad or Laddy. Is that better or worse than naming him Jayne?
I also know a couple in real life (here in Germany) who named their sons Tristan and Merlin.
If I ever had a girl, I would name her Klio (like the muse in Greek mythology.)
I know someone named Phèdre, but she was named after Racine’s Phèdre, not Carey’s.
Also, my best friend’s dog is named Samweis, if that counts.
Well I have a son and 1 week after his birth my husband and I couldn’t decide his name, so 2 minutes before his registration we just came up with a mixed name based on Gaia (the spiritd’s Earth) and Gabriel (the archangel), and after 7 years he is been called
GAiAEL
I really like it, even if most of the time it’s really difficult for most of the people to pronounce it =)
I didn’t name my kids after SFF characters, but I noticed that two of my kids’ names are used by Scott Westerfield in his Uglies novels: Zane and Tally. Except we spell it Tali, short for Talitha, which is Aramaic for “Little Girl” (after having 3 boys, “Little Girl” seemed like a meaningful name).
Of all the books my kids’ names could be in, why did it have to be “Uglies”?
I have to agree with Stefan here. There are a lot of great suggestions, but Story is such an awesome name.
underext7, if you live in the USA, you win a book of your choice from our stacks. Please contact me (Tim) with your choice and a US address.
Wow thanks so much! Awesome!
Personally I love my first name which is Otterly but I also have lots of name ideas in relation to this:
Girls:
Adara
Evraelle
Odelle
Melisande
Nimira
Aurelia
Evande
Xanthe
Xayla
Liora
Nyssa
Vanora
Xena
Arissa
Chalan
Isela
Islena
Porren
Ce’Nedra
Xnedra
Polgara
Beldarran
Kilana
Marayna
Nevala
Yareena
Lirael
Acelynne
Inara
Label
Aven
Nimira
I named my daughter Aria because I read Rhapsody and loved the nickname in there meaning “my star.”
I love unique fantasy and literary names! My husband and I don’t have any children yet, but names are always in the back of my mind. I LOVE the names Story and Rowen, as mentioned above. On my list I have Story listed as a shortening for Astoria, (Drago Malfoy’s wife from Harry Potter.)
Other names for females I like are:
Gaia (guy-uh), Goddess and Mother of the Earth.
Vivica
Sunisa (soon-ee-suh)
Ostara (goddess of the spring)
Persephone (my favorite Greek mythology character)
Snow
Sorsha
Adelaide
Sabrielle (say-bree-elle)
Lyra
For boys I like:
Artemis
Rowen
Silas (sigh-luhss)
Killian
Lachlan
Brynn
Ocean
Desmond
Bellamy
Monroe
Names are fun! When the time comes it will be hard to choose. :)