Literary Baby Names Inspired by Authors

Might be an honorific for novelist Saul Bellow, although bellowing is not the gentlest of sounds. Consider Saul instead.

Lolita without the naughty implications.

An Anglicized derivative of the Gaelic name Beatha, meaning "life," best known as the surname of Irish playwright Brendan Behan.

Writer Jerzy Kosinski put this foreign variation on the U. S. name map.

No matter how much you love the novels of Papa H., don't saddle your son with this unwieldy appellation.

The name of one of the greatest Western philosophers is often used as a first name in its land of origin, Greece, and would make a really interesting, thought-provoking choice here. It is remembered here as the nickname of the memorable character played by Sal Mineo in the classic film "Rebel Without a Cause."

The surname of father-son British writers Kingsley and Martin could work very well as a first, though its Amy connection makes it sound a tad feminine.

Associated with the poet and novelist Galway Kinnell, this name of an Irish city, county, and bay would make an evocative choice. For further literary cred, writers Liam O'Flaherty and Frank Harris both hail from Galway.

The spelling Woolf inevitably conjures writer Virginia. If you're a fan of Mrs. Dalloway and the Bloomsbury group, Woolf might be a creative way to combine a trendy animal name with an original honor name. Woolf was the surname of Virginia's husband, Leonard.

Cheever has a nice, cheery sound, literary ties to novelist and short writer John Cheever and also, sideways, to the Edward Arlington Robinson narrative poem "Miniver Cheevy," as well as a subliminal association with the desirable word achiever: all strong pluses.

Charming name occasionally heard in England, would be a real standout here. Jessamyn is the spelling used by writer West.

Eliot is the sleekest spelling of the original, very occasionally used for girls, perhaps to honor novelist George Eliot.

Evocative of the great Nobel Prize winning poet Pablo Neruda, real last name Basoalito, who took on the surname Neruda to honor a Czech poet of that name. One of the most poetic boy names starting with N, or with any letter, for that matter.

Plausible literary name to honor upbeat Armenian-American playwright and prose writer William Saroyan.

No: no Picasso, no Beethoven, and no Shakespeare.

For fans of the (female) author A. S. ; makes an interesting alternative to Wyatt or the hotelish Hyatt.

Briefly faddish a few decades ago when Darrell was cool. But does have a creative connection to poet Randall Jarrell.

Forster, a variation of Foster or potentially even Forester, is associated with British novelist E.M. Forster, author of A Passage to India, Howard's End, and A Room with a View. But if you choose Forster, you'd always have to force that 'r'.

The surname Rudd, made most famous by Antman actor Paul, derives from the words ruddy or red and may have originally been given to someone with a reddish complexion.

A British surname that was used only for males until Mrs. Norman Mailer, Norris Church (born Barbara), came under the public eye.