Poetic Baby Names: Lyrical choices for National Poetry Month
Since April is National Poetry Month, this seems like a perfect time to revisit some of the most poetic of baby names. We’ve already seen starbabies named Poet (Soleil Moon Frye), Sonnet (Forest Whitaker), Auden (Noah Wyle), Tennyson (Russell Crowe), and of course any number of Dylans (traceable back to poet Thomas), not to mention a growing profusion of Emersons.
By some quirk of fate — or maybe it’s prophecy fulfillment – poets in general seem to have more poetic surnames than prose writers do. Here are some poet-name possibilities:
ANGELOU
AUDEN
BARAKA
BLAKE
BLYBOGANBRONTE
BYRON
CAMPBELL
CAREW
CHAUCERCORSOCRANE
DANTE
DICKINSON
ELIOT
EMERSON
FLETCHER
FROST
HARDY
HERRICK
JARRELL
KEATS
KENYONKIPLINGLANDOR
LARKIN
LORCA
LOWELL
MACAULAY
MARLOWEMARVELLMERRILL
MERWIN
MILLAY
MILTON
MISTRAL
MORLEY
MORRISON
NERUDA
OLIVER
OWEN
PAZ
POEQUARLESRILEYRUMIRUSKIN
SHELLEY
SPENSER
TENNYSON
THOREAU
VAUGHANVERLAINEWHITMANWHITTIERWYATT
YEATS
Another group of poetically romantic names consists of the idealized Greek, Latinate, and other names used by the early English pastoral poets, in verse dedicated to their “coy mistresses” and such:
ALTHEA
AMARANTHA
AMINTA
ANTHEA
AUDRIA
CELIA
CLORINDA
CORINNA
CHLOE
CHLORIS
DELIA
DORINDA
FAWNIA
FLORA
GRATIANA
ISABELL
JULIA
LAURA
LUCASTAPERILLAPHILOMELA
PHILLIDA
PHILLIS
PHOEBE
ROSALIND
ROSALINE
SABRINASAMELASILVIA
VEVINA
And then there are the names connected to poetry via goddesses, muses, and other poetic associations–here are just a few of the almost endless possibilities:
ARIEL– The name of Sylvia Plath’s most famous group of poemsBEATRICE — Dante’s muse in The Divine ComedyBRIANA –one of many symbolic names in Spenser’s The Faerie Queen
BRIGID — Celtic goddess of poetry and songCALLIOPE — The Greek muse of epic poetryCERIDWEN — Legendary Welsh enchantress said to possess the cauldron of poetic inspirationCLARINDA — Invented by Edmund Spenser and used by Robert Burns in Verses to Clarinda
DEVIN — Gaelic name meaning musical poetELAINE and ENID –Revived by Tennyson in Idylls of the KingERATO –The Greek muse of love poetryEULALIE — Subject of a Poe poemEVANGELINE — Popularized via the Longfellow poemFIAMMETTA — From Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando FuriosoIANTHE — Appears in the poetry of Byron and Shelley; the latter used it for his daughterLEILA — Arabic name popularized in the works of Byron
LENORE — An Edgar Allan Poe favoriteMALVINA — invented by the Scottish poet James MacphersonPAMELA — invented by pastoral poet Sir Philip Sidney
THALIA — Greek muse of idyllic poetryUNA — Symbolic name used in Spenser’s The Faerie Queen
VANESSA — Created by Jonathan Swift for his autobiographical poem Cadenus and Vanessa
ZULEIKA — Heroine of one of Byron’s narrative poems
And finally there are the word names that cut straight to the chase:
BALLADBARD/BAIRD
CADENCECANZONEHAIKULYRIC
MUSEOTTAVAPOEM
POESY
POETPOETICAQUATRAINSESTINASONNETVILLANELLE