Names from the Arts and Pop Culture
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 23 pages
of 23
Place-name, Sanskrit
"teacher, guide, ruler"
A Californian mountain range, named for the Indigenous American tribe, the Shasta People, Shasta has been predominantly been used for girls in the US. In Sanskrit, however, it is used as both the…
Persian
"noble lineage"
Scheherazade -- or Sheherazade --is a legendary Persian queen immortalized as the narrator of all one thousand stories in the One Thousand and One Nights . Her story is even more remarkable than the…
Literary name, or variation of Ares
A knight in the Game of Thrones universe, Arys debuted on the charts for both sexes in 2023, possibly owing to the pop culture connection, but also thanks to the popularity of Ares, a Greek mythology…
She may have been an appealing Chinese heroine in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but her name won't translate for a modern American girl. Better choices: Snow, or Flora.
Scottish, poetic place-name
"the big gap"
In the Ossianic poems written by James Macpherson in the 1760s, Morven is the name of the Fingal's kingdom, Fingal being the hero, likely inspired by Fionn mac Cumhaill of early Gaelic legend. It…
American literary name
Featherleigh Dale is the femme fatale of a certain age in American writer Elin Hilderbrand's novel The Perfect Couple , adapted as a television series by Netflix. The book also features characters…
Literary name
A character name in the Shadow and Bone book series, invented by author Leigh Bardugo. It is intended as a Ravkan form of Malcolm, meaning "disciple of St Columba".
Literary invented name
A name created by author Tamora Pierce for a character in her Protector of the Small series, a quartet of young adult fantasy novels. In the novels, Keladry is the first girl in centuries to seek a…
English word name
Snow is increasing in usage mostly as a girls' name, but hero Jon Snow of Game of Thrones just might nudge it into the boys' column. Currently, there are 12 times as many girls named Snow as boys,…
Sidda is a name made famous by the heroine of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood; it probably started life as a nickname.
Hebrew, short variation of Bathsheba
"daughter of an oath"
This biblical place-name for the region now known as Yemen started to feel fresh again as the name of the heroine of Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal , played on screen by Cate Blanchett. Sheba is…
Variation of Jasmine or Jessamine, Persian
"jasmine"
National Book Award-winning novelist Jesmyn Ward brought this uncommon spelling of a lovely name into the public eye. Jasmine is the flower-y version, and Jessamine the genteel British version.…
Latin, literary name
"like just-born infants do"
The name of the protagonist of The Hunchback of Notre Dame does not translate well into real life. Quasimodo comes from the Latin phrase used in Christian texts, "Quasi modo geniti infantes", meaning…
Literature, English
"modest, reverant"
While Haidee may sound like a variant of Heidi or Hailey, it's actually a separate name with a literary history. First appearing in Byron's epic poem Don Juan (1819), it was likely inspired by the…
Place-name
An archipelago near the center of the Mediterranean, the name derives from the Greek word for honey. Malta has been heard as a girl’s name in the past and was used as a character name by both Dickens…
English
"brandish spear"
This name will forever be associated with the Bard and would likely prove hard to live up to. It might be cool for a pet though.
Egyptian mythological name or variation of Seth, Hebrew
"appointed, placed"
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…
Invented literary name
A fanciful concoction whipped up by L. Frank Baum for a beautiful and powerful princess in one of his Oz books.
"prince portrait"
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…
English word and nature name
"to swindle"
Bird name possibility, rarer than Lark and Wren but with the same short, punchy feel. Only five baby girls were named Finch in the most recent year, and four times as many baby boys.
