Movie Character Names

Bartleby (that's his last name) the Scrivener is a famous Herman Melville character whose surprisingly powerful refrain was, "I would prefer not to." Or, in the immortal words of any two-year-old: No.

Cross-cultural name with a great nautical meaning. It boomed in the 1930s and has potential for revival now.

Emira is one of those pan-international names that feels pleasant enough but seems so unrooted to any one culture that it might as well be made up.

Marty is one of those Old Man nicknames that's just starting to sound cute again.

The mythological queen whose perpetual weeping for her slain children turned her into a stone has always cast a pall over this name. Still, when other names with less-than-savory associations -- Delilah, Ophelia, Persephone -- are becoming popular, parents might want to consider this one of the more unusual mythology names for girls.

Overly ambitious choice, recently borne by the hapless hero of cult movie hit Napoleon Dynamite.

Star Wars fans may know the lore behind the origin of the word and the concept Jedi well enough to confidently choose their name for their child. It has to do with balancing the forces of the universe.

Ethne is one of the many Irish Gaelic names whose spelling and pronunciation -- it's en-ya -- will prove endlessly confusing to English speakers.

Shortening Francisco somehow makes it sound even cooler. Cisco is also the name of a digital security company.

Cady is one of those names that sounds popular but is actually rare in this form, given to only a few dozen baby girls in the US last year.

Ralphie is one of those short forms that have been out of style for so long it just might have a chance of coming back in, if you can get past seeing it as a desperate attempt to cute-ify a stodgy old man's name.

Technically a boy's name, but certainly one that would work in the Western culture for a girl, especially after the release of Black Panther, in which it was the name of Lupita Nyong'o's fiery character. Nakia lies outside the Top 1000 but is among the fastest-rising names for both girls and boys.

Name of mythological fiend who seduced young men and then ate them, which inspired the Keats poem "Lamia." Described in mythology as a snake with the head and breasts of a woman, this name has been considered in modern times as a vampire name. And if all that isn't discouraging enough, there's the "lame" connection.

Fox, okay. Buck, maybe. But Wolverine? You gotta be kidding us. On the plus side, your five-year-old will love you for giving him this superhero name. Your fifteen-year-old, not so much.

An Irish surname — the Anglicized form of O’Duibhgeannáin — that would make a one-of-a-kind first name, unless you count the character in Wes Anderson's first film, Bottle Rocket. For fans of the auteur, perhaps Dignan is a better name for a pet — it may be extra appropriate to use the nickname Diggy.

Kaena is a pleasant sounding unisex Hawaiian place name, the westernmost point of the island of Oahu. In the computer-generated fantasy movie Kaena: The Prophecy, the character of Kaena is voiced by Kirsten Dunst.

The name of several early saints, including one, Pelagia the Penitent, a beautiful and licentious dancing girl who repented, then, disguised as a man, spent the rest of her life living alone in a cave on the Mount of Olives. Because of her early vocation, she is the patron saint of actresses.

Swaggering, cutting-edge choice equally appropriate for both genders. It's also very rare, given in the US in 2015 to only seven baby girls....and no recorded baby boys. Do you want to be the first?