Are you a bookworm, or hope your baby will be? Literary names can conjure up the memory of a favourite book, and the distinct magic of infamous characters. Take a look at more than 150+ literary baby names for boys and girls, and choose the perfect fit for your new baby.
Do you have the next Silas, Harper, Atticus or Heidi? Whether you prefer the classic names of Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters or the quirky style of Roald Dahl and J.K. Rowling, we have the perfect mix of literary names for you to choose from.
Literary Baby Names for Girls
A
Agatha (Agatha Christie)
Alice (Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland)
Amy (Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women)
Anna (Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina)
Anne (L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables)
Arya (George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones)
B
Beatrice (William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing)
Beatrix (Beatrix Potter)
Becky (William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair)
Bella (Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight)
Beth (Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women)
Bianca (William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew)
Bonnie (Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind)
C
Cassandra (Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle)
Catherine (Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights)
Celia (William Shakespeare’s As You Like It)
Charlotte (E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web)
Clara (Johanna Spyri’s Heidi)
Clarissa (Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway)
Connie (Enid Blyton’s The Faraway Tree series)
Cordelia (William Shakespeare’s King Lear)
Cressida (William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida)
D
Daisy (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby)
Desdemona (William Shakespeare’s Othello)
Dinah (Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland)
Dorothy (L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz)
E
Edith (Edith Wharton)
Elinor (Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility)
Eliza (George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion)
Elizabeth (Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice)
Emily (Emily Bronte)
Emma (Jane Austen’s Emma)
Enid (Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch)
Esme (J.D. Salinger’s For Esme, With Love and Squalor)
Esmerelda (Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Estella (Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations)
Ethel (William Makepeace Thackeray’s The Newcomes)
Evelyn (Evelyn Waugh)
F
Fern (E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web)
Frances (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
G
Georgiana (Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice)
Georgina (Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series)
Ginny (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series)
Guinevere (from the Legend of King Arthur)
H
Harper (Harper Lee)
Hazel (Richard Adam’s Watership Down)
Heidi (Johanna Spyri’s Heidi)
Helena (William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Hermione (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series)
Hester (Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter)
Holly (Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
I
Imogen (William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline)
India (Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind)
J
Jacqueline (Jacqueline Wilson)
Jane (Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre)
Jemima (Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck)
Josephine (Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women)
Juliet (William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet)
Juno (Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock)
K
Kitty (Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice)
L
Laura (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
Louisa (Louisa May Alcott)
Lucy (C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe)
Luna (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series)
Lydia (Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice)
Lyra (Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy)
M
Madeline (Ludwig Bemelmans’ Madeline)
Mallory (Ann M. Martin’s The Babysitters Club series)
Marianne (Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility)
Margaret (Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret)
Mary (P.L. Traver’s Mary Poppins)
Matilda (Roald Dahl’s Matilda)
Maya (Maya Angelou)
Meg (Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women)
Melanie (Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind)
Mildred (Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch)
N
Nancy (Carolyn Keene’s Nancy Drew series)
Nelly (Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights)
O
Octavia (William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra)
Olivia (William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night)
Ophelia (William Shakespeare’s Hamlet)
P
Pearl (Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter)
Pippi (Astrid Lundgren’s Pippi Longstocking)
Pollyanna (Eleanor H. Porter’s Pollyanna)
Portia (William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice)
Primrose (Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games)
R
Ramona (Beverly Cleary’s Ramona the Pest)
Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca)
Regan (William Shakespeare’s King Lear)
Rosalind (William Shakespeare’s As You Like It)
Rue (Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games)
S
Scarlett (Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind)
Scout (Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird)
Sophie (Roald Dahl’s The BFG)
Sylvia (Sylvia Plath)
Susan (C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe)
T
Tabitha (Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Tom Kitten)
Titania (William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Tess (Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles)
V
Violet (Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Virginia (Virginia Woolf)
W
Wendy (J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan)
Winnie (A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh)
Z
Zora (Zora Neale Hurston)
Literary Baby Names for Boys
A
Amory (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise)
Arthur (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Atticus (Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird)
Augustus (Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
B
Benjamin (Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Benjamin Bunny)
Bert (P.L. Traver’s Mary Poppins)
Byron (Lord Byron)
C
Charles (Charles Dickens)
Charlie (Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Christopher (A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh)
D
Danny (Roald Dahl’s Danny, the Champion of the World)
Darcy (Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice)
David (Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield)
Dorian (Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray)
E
Edmund (C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe)
Edward (Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre)
Ernest (Ernest Hemingway)
F
Finn (Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)
G
George (Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine)
Gilbert (L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables)
H
Harry (J.K, Rowling’s Harry Potter series)
Heathcliff (Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights)
Henrik (Henrik Ibsen)
Henry (George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion)
Holden (J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye)
J
Jacob (Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol)
Jeremy (Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher)
Julian (Julian Barnes)
L
Lancelot (from the Legend of King Arthur)
Laurie (Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women)
Leo (Leo Tolstoy)
Leopold (James Joyce’s Ulysses)
Lewis (Lewis Carroll)
Lucius (J.K, Rowling’s Harry Potter series)
Lysander (William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
N
Ned (Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited)
Noah (Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook)
O
Oliver (Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist)
Orlando (William Shakespeare’s As You Like It)
Oscar (Oscar Wilde)
P
Peter (J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan)
Pip (Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations)
Q
Quentin (Quentin Blake)
R
Rhett (Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind)
Robin (A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh)
Romeo (William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet)
S
Samuel (Samuel Beckett)
Sawyer (Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)
Sebastian (William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night)
Scout (Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird)
Silas (George Eliot’s Silas Marner)
Stuart (E.B. White’s Stuart Little)
T
Tristan (from Tristan and Isolde)
V
Victor (Victor Hugo)
W
Wilbur (E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web)
William (William Shakespeare)
About the Author: Emily Manning
