Literary Names

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.

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 character in the Wicked novels and musicals, Dr Dillamond is a Goat, mentor and professor. It could blend the Old English element mund meaning "protection" with Dil, a Germanic diminutive meaning "people" or an English word, referring to the herb, dill.

A minor (female) character in the Wicked book and musical, who is gender swapped for the 2024 movie.

Created by Gregory Maguire for his book, Wicked (and featured in the subsequent Broadway musical), Fiyero derives from the word "furious".

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".

Used by Gregory Maguire in his novel Wicked along with the Broadway musical adaptation of the same name, Frexspar could be inspired by the word feckless meaning "irresponsible, lacking strength of character"; by Freki, a wolf in Norse mythology whose name comes from frekr meaning "greedy, avaricious"; or by names such as Frederick, Felix and Caspar.

Also spelled Silvander, this poetic and woodsy name was used in various works of literature throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Deriving from the Roman and Biblical name Silvanus, Sylvander could also be considered a compound name, blending together Sylvester or Sylvan with Anders or Alexander.