Literary Cat Names

Writer Jerzy Kosinski put this foreign variation on the U. S. name map.

A solid, brief but not brusque single-syllable surname with a presidential pedigree.

Faunia is more often rendered as Fauna, who was a Roman goddess of fertility, women and healing. Faunia was the downtrodden yet loving heroine of Philip Roth's Human Stain. Faunia and Fauna have more gravitas than the doe-like Fawn.

Associated with the poet and novelist Galway Kinnell, this name of an Irish city, county, and bay would make an evocative choice. For further literary cred, writers Liam O'Flaherty and Frank Harris both hail from Galway.

Name of the winning young heroine of Toni Morrison's first novel, The Bluest Eye.

Forster, a variation of Foster or potentially even Forester, is associated with British novelist E.M. Forster, author of A Passage to India, Howard's End, and A Room with a View. But if you choose Forster, you'd always have to force that 'r'.

The name of the protagonist of The Hunchback of Notre Dame does not translate well into real life. Quasimodo comes from the Latin phrase used in Christian texts, "Quasi modo geniti infantes", meaning "like just-born infants do".

The surname of father-son British writers Kingsley and Martin could work very well as a first, though its Amy connection makes it sound a tad feminine.

An interesting Canadian province and city name that has some literary history as the name of a character in Dickens's Bleak House; could make a distinctive choice for parents with northern roots.

The surname of humorist Ring is a new entry in the trendy occupational class -- but watch the lard.

Nenna is the name of the heroine of Penelope Fitzgerald's novel Offshore, but it's also sparingly used in Scandinavia as a variant of the name Nanna. Nanna is a diminutive of various names, including Anna, Johanna and Marianne, but it's also a name in its own right, possibly meaning "daring".

For fans of the (female) author A. S. ; makes an interesting alternative to Wyatt or the hotelish Hyatt.

Might be carrying things too far -- little little girl? -- though could freshen up this favorite.

Feather, though it was used for a character in a Walter Mosley novel, seems too light and fluttery for a real-life girl.

A possibility for fans of the mystery writer, but most parents would prefer Dashiell.

This variation of Jacey was the name of the gorgeous small-town heroine of Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show.

Shows some promise via its connection to the growing interest in Ewan.

Might be an honorific for novelist Saul Bellow, although bellowing is not the gentlest of sounds. Consider Saul instead.

Cool and casual, a la humorist Ring (born Ringgold. ) Lardner.

Pleasant surname connected to humorist James Thurber, with a sound as happy as a baby's gurgle.