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Literary Names: Shaw, Waugh, Wodehouse and Wilde

Linda Rosenkrantz
By Linda Rosenkrantz
Updated Wed Oct 06 2010

I remember how, when I first read the novels of Evelyn Waugh and the plays of George Bernard Shaw, a whole new universe of names opened up for me. A world of sophisticated, eccentric, kind of uppity and veddy veddy Victorian and Edwardian  British names, many of which I had never heard before, but instantly became enamored with.

The comic novels of Waugh and P.G. Wodehouse and the plays (and novel) of Oscar Wilde and Shaw are still a good place to start if you’re looking for a name with a certain elegance, gentility, swank—and sometimes a bit of quirkiness as well.

GIRLS

  • Agatha – Waugh

  • Amarylis – Shaw

  • Ariadne – Shaw

  • Augusta – Wilde

  • Candida – Shaw

  • Cecily – Shaw and Wilde

  • Chastity – Waugh

  • Clarice – Wodehouse

  • Cordelia – Waugh

  • Dahlia – Wodehouse

  • Domenica – Waugh

  • Eliza – Shaw

  • Epifania – Shaw

  • Evangeline – Wodehouse

  • Flossie – Waugh

  • Fortitude – Waugh

  • Gwendolen – Wilde

  • Hester – Wilde

  • Hypatia  – Wodehouse

  • Justice – Waugh

  • Lilith – Shaw

  • Mercy—  Waugh

  • Orinthia – Shaw

  • Perdita – Waugh

  • Ursula – Waugh

    • BOYS

  • Adolphus – Shaw

  • Algernon – Wilde

  • Ambrose –Wodehouse and Waugh

  • Archibald – Wodehouse

  • Augustine – Wodehouse

  • Augustus – Waugh and Wilde

  • Basil – Waugh and Wilde

  • Bingo – Wodehouse

  • Cecil— Shaw

  • Cyril – Wodehouse

  • Dorian – Wilde

  • Duncan –Waugh

  • Ernest – Wilde

  • Eustace – Wodehouse

  • Everand – Waugh

  • Gervase – Waugh

  • Humphrey –Waugh

  • Ivor – Wodehouse and Waugh

  • Jocelyn – Waugh

  • Lancelot — Wodehouse

  • Melchoir –Waugh

  • Montague – Wodehouse

  • Octavius – Shaw

  • Orlando – Wodehuse

  • Otto – Waugh

  • Percy –Wodehouse and Waugh

  • Peregrine – Waugh

  • Reginald – Shaw and Wodehouse

  • Rex – Waugh

  • Roderick – Wodehouse

  • Rodney – Wodehouse

  • Rupert – Wodehouse

  • Sebastian – Waugh

  • Sergius — Shaw

    • And if that’s not enough, here are a few more of similar ilk from the plays of Noel Coward:

    girls:

  • Almina

  • Beryl

  • Bunty

  • Daphne

  • Elvira

  • Felicity

  • Isobel

  • Larita

  • Maudie

  • Miranda

  • Queenie

  • Sorel

  • Taris

    • boys:

  • Cyril

  • Elyot

  • Nigel

  • Obadiah

    • About the Author

    Linda Rosenkrantz

    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.

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    The Nameberry App Is Live

    Nameberry app screenshot
    Find your perfect baby name together in our iPhone app, now available on the App Store.
    • Swipe through thousands of names with your partner
    • Names you match on are saved to your shared list
    • Get personalized recommendations that learn based on your and your partner's preferences
    • Partner with friends and family to find names you all love
    • Backed by Nameberry's 20 years of data around name preferences.
    Download on the App Store
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