Literary Names for Girls

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.

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

She may have been an appealing Chinese heroine in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but her name won't translate for a modern American girl. Better choices: Snow, or Flora.

An admirable quality to impart; Pleasant was used by Charles Dickens in Our Mutual Friend and in modern times is known via American Girl dolls creator Pleasant Rowland.

The Alhambra, which means "red city," is in Granada, Spain. British writer Ali Smith used it for a character in her novel The Accidental.

Unusual and unfashionable name found in Toni Morrison's novel Tar Baby.

Remarkable Pettibone was a self-important housekeeper in James Fenimore Cooper's The Pioneers. Such names were not uncommon in early America, with such choices as Remember and Experience showing up in the records along with Puritan virtue names such as Chastity and Patience.

Name of pastoral Vermont town and college sounds too stiff and starchy.

Nicandra is the name of a plant known as apple-of-peru and also shoo-fly plant. It's also the feminine form of Nicander, an ancient Greek poet, physician, and grammarian.

A name created by author Tamora Pierce for a character in her Protector of the Small series, a quartet of young adult fantasy novels. In the novels, Keladry is the first girl in centuries to seek a knighthood and the novels follow her journey towards this goal.

Friendly-sounding name with big "Sweeney Todd" downside.

A fanciful concoction whipped up by L. Frank Baum for a beautiful and powerful princess in one of his Oz books.

The mixed-race heroine of one of Gertrude Stein's Three Lives searches for knowledge and power.

A smoosh name used by Gregory Maguire in his book Wicked and the subsequent musical. It blends Rose with Nessa, which can be a short form of Vanessa (or other -nessa names), an anglicized variation of Irish Neasa, or a Hebrew name meaning "miracle".

This rare feminization of Christopher blends in the sounds of the popular Josephine and is certainly more unexpected than Christine or Christina. German artist Christophine Reinwald (sister of playwright Friedrich von Schiller) is one notable bearer, while writer Jean Rhys used the name for a character in her 1966 Jane Eyre retelling, Wide Sargasso Sea. In the Caribbean and the UK, Christophine is also the colloquial name for the chayote fruit, a type of gourd named as such in reference to Christopher Columbus.

A feminine form of Ethelbert, which is itself the Middle English variant of Æþelbeorht, which is in turn the Old English version of Albert, Ethelberta could therefore be regarded as an alternative form of Alberta.

Inspired by Glendora, this name was invented by prolific Victorian novelist, Anthony Trollope for his Palliser novels. It blends the English glen with the Latin cor to make the whimsical meaning "heart of the glen", though it could also be considered a compound name, combining masculine Glenn with Cora, to mean "maiden of the valley".

The original name of Glinda from Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked and the subsequent Broadway musical. She drops the 'a' from her name to honor a goat, who mispronounced her name as a Glinda.