The news has just leaked out that in the September issue of Archie Comics, after more than 65 years of boomeranging back and forth between sweet blonde Betty and sultry brunette Veronica, perennial teenager Archie Andrews has finally made his pick, and he’s about to propose to….Veronica! Personality and character aside, we all know the real reason behind his choice—it’s because VERONICA HAS THE BETTER NAME!
Newspaper funny pages and comic books have always offered a rich variety of girls’ names. In the early days there were lots of sassy career gals–reporters, aviatrixes and secretaries with names like Fritzi and Mitzi, Tessie the Typist, Tillie the Toiler, and Nellie the Nurse. Some of these early career girl names still retain their spunk:
DIXIEDORAELLAETTAFRITZIGINGERKATYKITTYLIBBYLULUMARGIEMARGOMILLYMINMITZIENELLIENINAPATSYPOLLYSUZIETESSTESSIETILLIE
The comics have also always featured more exotic heroines–adventuresses and temptresses with mysterious, sometimes bizarre names like:
AMETHYSTARTIMISCAIROCALLISTOCHESHIRECHILIELEKTRAHIPPOLYTAIVANAJETTAJOCASTALEITALILLANDRALLYRALYJAMAIMAXIMAMYSTIQUENAMORANARDANIKANYOKAOLGAOOLAPANTHAPOLARISSHAKIRASHEENASIRYNTERRATIGRATITANIAZATANNA
The more recent comix and graphic novels have shown a penchant for female characters with word names, including:
ARGENTCOBRADOMINODOVEFROSTGLORYJOLTJUBILEEORACLEPARADISEPHASERAVENROGUESPIRALSTORMTAROTTHORNTHUNDERVELOCITYVELVETVIXEN
Linda Rosenkrantz
Linda Rosenkrantz is the co-founder of Nameberry, and co-author with Pamela Redmond of the ten baby naming books acknowledged to have revolutionized American baby naming. You can follow her personally at Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed New York Review Books Classics novel Talk and a number of other books.