User-created list
A Literary Family
Across 2 pages
of 2
The names
Katerina
Macedonian, Czech, Russian, Bulgarian, and Greek form of Katherine, Greek
"pure"
Katerina and its near-identical twin Katarina have a pleasingly lilting European sound, though for some Americans they may be uncomfortably close to Katrina, which will be linked for a long time to…
Marianne
French combination of Marie and Anne
"drop of the sea, bitter, or beloved + grace"
A midcentury Catholic classic that's not chosen by many parents today. Leonard Cohen fans might think of the beautiful song So Long, Marianne , named for his lover and muse Marianne Ihlen. The…
Heathcliff
English
"cliff near a heath"
Heathcliff is the name of the original passionate macho hero of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights , and also of the cartoon cat. It was chosen by fashionista Lucy Sykes for her son, and inspired the…
Hestor
Fyodor
Russian variation of Theodore
"God's gift"
This variation of Theodore is familiar here mostly via the great Russian novelist Dostoyevsky. It was also the name of three early tsars of Russia.
Rochester
English
"stone camp or fortress"
Rochester was Jack Benny's famous valet and sidekick, played by early African-American comic Eddie Anderson.
