Names Created by Authors

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

Pfannee

Pippi may be cute but isn't very practical.  In addition to being forever Pippi Longstocking, there is that variant pee-pee spelling to consider.  Try Pippa instead.

Pippi

Podrick Payne is something of a Zelig character in Game of Thrones -- though he's never been all that prominent, he's popped up in many scenes in many different storylines on the show, first as squire to Tyrion Lannister and later to Brienne of Tarth. Most of the names George R.R. Martin invented for his book series A Song of Ice and Fire are light tweaks of existing English names, and this is no exception, being one stroke away from Rodrick. But in this case, that small change makes a fairly big difference -- because there are essentially no other <a href="https://nameberry.com">baby names</a> that start with the letters "Pod."

Podrick

Tied to the hero of the classic Spanish novel Don Quixote, likely to produce a quixotic daydreamer.

Quixote

Samuel Johnson invented the name Rasselas for the title character of his novel, Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. Rasselas is actually the son of the prince.

TV auteur Sally Wainwright recently used the name Rasselas for one of the heroes of her show Renegade Nell.

Rasselas

Reaver sure sounds like an occupational surname, thanks to its -er ending and similarity to names like Reeve, but it is actually a name invented by science fiction writers. The first documentation of the use of Reaver was in 1988, as the name of a team of cyborgs in a Marvel comic book. More recently, Reaver was used in the TV show Firefly as the name of a group of cannibalistic humans.

Reaver

Rhaegar Targaryen is one of the most glamorous, noble characters in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series... even though he's been dead over a decade when the books begin. The reader first learns about him through Robert and Ned, both enemies, who paint a distorted picture of this striking man. Among his many notable qualities? He's the uncle of Daenarys Targaryen, whose Essosi title Khaleesi has been the biggest breakout name in the whole Game of Thrones world.

Rhaegar

Rickon and Dickon are two names from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series we feel pretty confident will not take off. This one is most closely associated with Rickon Stark, the youngest and less articulate of the Stark siblings.

Rickon

Pippi Longstocking author Astrid Lindgren invented the name Ronja for her book Ronja, the Robber's Daughter. She was inspired by the lake Juronjaure, located in Norrbotten, Sweden.
 
Lindgren's creation has been a smash hit since the book was first published in 1981. Ronja was recently a Top 100 name in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Switzerland.
 
Despite similarities to the Hebrew names Ronia and Roniya, as well as the Russian Ronya, Ronja is unrelated.

Ronja

A literary creation, used by John Steinbeck in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath. It is a contracted form of "Rose of Sharon", which could make an interesting middle name to honor a Sharon or an unusual way to nicknames Rose or Rosie.

Rosasharn

Shakespeare invented the names Salerio, Solanio, and Salarino for his play The Merchant of Venice. The names are puns on salario, the Italian word for "salary," as each character shows great concern with money.

Salerio

Author Toni Morrison is an acknowledged master of naming, and Sethe, the name of one of the main characters of Beloved, which can be pronounced as Seth or Seth-eh, relates to the male biblical name Seth but is also the name of the Egyptian god of confusion.

Sethe

Used by Gregory Maguire in his novel Wicked, Shenshen also appears in the Broadway musical adaptation of the book. Her name could be based on Sinead or Shenade, variations of John, or perhaps the phrase "chin-chin", used as a toast or an informal greeting.

Shenshen

Sirje is a uniquely Estonian name of unconfirmed origins, although the story goes that it was created and offered up by Julius Mägiste, a linguist, in 1929. He derived it from the word sinisirje, meaning "blue-feathered" and tied to a mythical bird creature in the Kalevipoeg, Estonia's national epic. Eugen Kapp used Sirje for one of the characters in his 1945 opera Tasuleegid, which roughly translates to "The Flames of Fame."
 
Sirje Runge is an esteemed Estonian artist.

Sirje

Smilla is a feminine name with Scandinavian origins, particularly associated with Danish naming traditions. The name gained international recognition through Peter Høeg's novel 'Smilla's Sense of Snow' (1992). While its precise etymology remains somewhat debated, it may derive from 'smile' or have connections to ancient Nordic roots. Smilla carries a distinctively Nordic sound while being relatively accessible to English speakers. Though rare globally, the name has seen modest usage in Denmark and occasionally appears in other Scandinavian countries. Smilla offers parents a name that combines softness with strength, featuring an appealing blend of the familiar 'l' sounds with an exotic quality.

Smilla

The name of a controversial character in Game of Thrones, Stannis Baratheon. He's better liked by book readers -- who see him as the embodiment of rigorous law and order -- than show watchers. In HBO's version of the story, his character was mostly defined by his disastrous loyalty to the red priestess Melisandre.

Stannis

Looks very much like it lost its first initial.

Tacy

Lúthien Tinúviel is an elf princess in J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium, who falls in love with a mortal
human, Beren, and chooses to become mortal herself rather than to live without him. Tinúviel is a
Sindarin name given to her by Beren, meaning "daughter of twilight" and therefore "nightingale".

Tinuviel

Trilby was used first for a character by French novelist Charles Nodier (1822) and made more famous by writer George du Maurier in an 1894 work.  A Trilby hat, which Du Maurier's character wore, is a short-brimmed fedora of the kind recently revived by hipsters.  Du Maurier's character Trilby fell under the hypnotic power of Svengali: not the best choice for an independent and self-determining daughter. Still, if you want a unisex name that moves far beyond the usual Taylor and Morgan and has energy and feminine verve, Trilby might well be your girl. 

Trilby

Douglas Adams invented this name for a character (aka Tricia) in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It has a nice, trilly sound, and is accessible via its kinship with Gillian/Jillian.

Trillian

Names created by authors include newly conceived options like Rhaenyra and Katniss, as well as names that are so assimilated, you probably didn't even realize they were invented — Jessica, anyone?

In addition to Jessica, mainstream names including Miranda (

) were coined by writers and now have taken on lives outside of the book pages.

 were invented by J. R. R. Tolkien, such as Theoden, Tauriel, and Frodo.

, including Geraldine, Vanessa, Fiona, Stella, and Amanda.

Literary names invented by authors, writers, and poets, including Fiona, Mowgli, and Renesmee, with meaning, origin, and popularity (Page 12)