Literary Baby Names Inspired by Authors
Updated Mon Feb 12 2024
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Literary baby names can be inspired by the characters in books or, in the case of the baby names on this list, by the first and last names of authors ranging from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Zora Neale Hurston.
Along with Emerson and Zora, other names inspired by authors in the US Top 1000 include August, Blake, Cooper, Ellison, Hadley, Langston, Walker, and Willa. Unique literary surnames inspired by female authors include Brontë, Morrison, Didion, and Munro.
If you’re looking to make a statement, distinctive literary surnames such as Thackeray or Kerouac, Salinger or Hemingway are dramatic yet name-worthy. You may even consider using the name Author itself, which, believe it or not, ranked in the US popularity charts until WWII.
An author-related baby name may inspire a lifelong love of reading in your child. In this category, as always, feel free to look to your personal favorite writers for your baby names inspiration.
Here, our selection of literary baby names inspired by authors, ordered by their current popularity on Nameberry.
RELATED:
- Alcott
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"dweller at the old cottage"
- Amis
Origin:
Literary name
- Anais
Origin:
Catalan and Provencal pet form of Hebrew AnnaMeaning:
"grace"
- Angelou
Origin:
Literary name
- Aphra
Origin:
Hebrew, variation of AphrahMeaning:
"dust"
- Auden
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"old friend"
- August
Origin:
German form of Latin AugustusMeaning:
"great, magnificent"
- Austen
Origin:
Literary surname and shortened form of Augustine, LatinMeaning:
"great, magnificent"
- Auster
Origin:
German surnameMeaning:
"oyster"
- Author
Origin:
Word and occupational name
- Ayn
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"grace"
- Baldwin
Origin:
GermanMeaning:
"brave friend"
- Beckett
Origin:
English and IrishMeaning:
"bee hive, little brook or bee cottage"
- Behan
Origin:
IrishMeaning:
"bee"
- Bellow
Origin:
English occupational nameMeaning:
"bellows maker"
- Blake
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"fair-haired, dark"
- Bly
Origin:
English surname nameMeaning:
"friendly"
- Brontë
Origin:
GreekMeaning:
"thunder"
- Byatt
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"by the enclosure"
- Byron
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"barn for cows"
- Cain
Origin:
HebrewMeaning:
"spear; possessed"
- Carson
Origin:
English and Scottish surnameMeaning:
"son of the marsh dwellers"
- Carver
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"wood carver"
- Chandler
Origin:
English from French occupational nameMeaning:
"candle maker"
- Cheever
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"female goat"
- Chimamanda
Origin:
IgboMeaning:
"my God will never fail"
- Conrad
Origin:
GermanMeaning:
"brave counsel"
- Cooper
Origin:
English occupational nameMeaning:
"barrel maker"
- Crane
Origin:
English surnameMeaning:
"crane"
- Dante
Origin:
Latin diminutive of DurantMeaning:
"enduring"
- Dashiell
Origin:
Anglicization of French surname de Chiel, meaning unknown
- Didion
- Djuna
Origin:
Invented name
- Dylan
Origin:
WelshMeaning:
"son of the sea"
- Eliot
Origin:
Variation of ElliotMeaning:
"The Lord is my God"
- Ellison
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Ellis"
- Emerson
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Emery"
- Eudora
Origin:
GreekMeaning:
"generous gift"
- Fitzgerald
Origin:
Irish and ScottishMeaning:
"son of Gerald"
- Flannery
Origin:
IrishMeaning:
"descendant of Flannghal"
- Forster
Origin:
English, variation of FosterMeaning:
"scissors maker"
- Frost
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"freezing"
- Galway
Origin:
Place-name
- Gide
Origin:
French surname
- Glasgow
Origin:
Scottish place-name
- Gore
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"wedge-shaped object"
- Hadley
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"heather field"
- Hammett
Origin:
English surname
- Harper
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"harp player"
- Hart
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"stag"
- Harte
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"stag"
- Hemingway
Origin:
English place name
- Homer
Origin:
GreekMeaning:
"security, pledge"
- Hugo
Origin:
Latinized form of HughMeaning:
"mind, intellect"
- Ishmael
Origin:
HebrewMeaning:
"God will hear"
- Jarrell
Origin:
German variation of Gerald
- Jerzy
Origin:
Polish variation of GeorgeMeaning:
"farmer"
- Jesmyn
Origin:
Variation of Jasmine or Jessamine, PersianMeaning:
"jasmine"
- Jessamyn
Origin:
Variant spelling of JessamineMeaning:
"jasmine flower"
- Jhumpa
Origin:
Bengali, mening unknown
- Keats
Origin:
English literary nameMeaning:
"kite"
- Kerouac
Origin:
Breton literary name
- Kesey
Origin:
Irish literary name, variation of Casey
- Lafcadio
Origin:
Place-name
- Lalita
Origin:
SanskritMeaning:
"playful, charming"
- Langston
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"tall man's town"
- Lardner
Origin:
Occupational nameMeaning:
"servant in charge of a larder"
- Lionel
Origin:
FrenchMeaning:
"young lion"
- London
Origin:
Place-name
- Lowell
Origin:
FrenchMeaning:
"young wolf"
- Maya
Origin:
Greek; Central American Indian empire name; Latinate variation of May; Spanish, diminutive of Amalia; variation of Maia; HebrewMeaning:
"water"
- Mcewan
Origin:
ScottishMeaning:
"son of Ewan"
- Milan
Origin:
Italian place name, Slavic, Sanskrit "gracious, dear; union"Meaning:
"gracious, dear; union"
- Millay
Origin:
English literary name
- Morrison
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Morris"
- Moss
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"descendant of Moses"
- Munro
Origin:
ScottishMeaning:
"mouth of the river Ro"
- Neruda
Origin:
Literary name
- Nin
Origin:
Literary name, meaning unknown
- Norris
Origin:
FrenchMeaning:
"northerner"
- O'casey
Origin:
Irish surname
- Octavia
Origin:
LatinMeaning:
"eighth"
- Ottessa
Origin:
Variation of Atossa, Greek from PersianMeaning:
"bestowing very richly, well trickling, well granting"
- Paz
Origin:
Hebrew; SpanishMeaning:
"gold; peace"
- Plato
Origin:
GreekMeaning:
"broad-shouldered"
- Plum
Origin:
Fruit name
- Poe
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"peacock"
- Raleigh
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"meadow of roe deer"
- Rhys
Origin:
WelshMeaning:
"ardor"
- Ring
Origin:
Word name
- Roald
Origin:
NorwegianMeaning:
"famous ruler"
- Roxane
Origin:
PersianMeaning:
"dawn"
- Rudd
Origin:
English surnameMeaning:
"red or ruddy"
- Rumer
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"fame, braggart"
- Salinger
Origin:
French, Saint Léger
- Saroyan
Origin:
Armenian literary name
- Shakespeare
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"brandish spear"
- Shaw
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"dweller by the wood"
- Shelley
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"clearing on a bank"
- Tennessee
Origin:
Native American, Cherokee, place-name
- Tennyson
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"son of Dennis"
- Thackeray
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"place with thatching"
- Thisbe
Origin:
Greek mythological name, meaning unknown
- Thoreau
Origin:
FrenchMeaning:
"strength of a bull"
- Thurber
Origin:
NorseMeaning:
"Thor the warrior"
- Truman
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"loyal one"
- Twain
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"divided in two"
- Vidal
Origin:
Spanish and Catalan from LatinMeaning:
"life, vital"
- Walker
Origin:
English occupational nameMeaning:
"cloth-walker"
- Wharton
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"farm near the river"
- Willa
Origin:
Feminine variation of WilliamMeaning:
"resolute protection"
- Woolf
Origin:
Variation of Wolf, animal name
- Yeats
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"the gates"
- Zadie
Origin:
English variation of SadieMeaning:
"princess"
- Zane
Origin:
Possible variation of JohnMeaning:
"God is gracious"
- Zola
Origin:
Literary surname
- Zora
Origin:
Serbo-CroatianMeaning:
"dawn"