Literary Names

Remarkable Pettibone was a self-important housekeeper in James Fenimore Cooper's The Pioneers. Such names were not uncommon in early America, with such choices as Remember and Experience showing up in the records along with Puritan virtue names such as Chastity and Patience.

A possibility for fans of the mystery writer, but most parents would prefer Dashiell.

The surname of humorist Ring is a new entry in the trendy occupational class -- but watch the lard.

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

Falmouth may be a beautiful seaside spot in Massachusetts, but as a name it's perilously close to "foul mouth." Falmouth Kearney was the name of Barack Obama's great-great grandfather.

There is a Hindi name for boys Aroon, for the mythic charioteer of the dawn, but for girls the name Aroon relates to the Irish word for darling. Aroon is the name of the heroine of Molly Keane's classic novel of the Anglo-Irish gentry, Good Behaviour.

Pronounced GHEED, this surname of Nobel Prizewinning novelist Andre could make a smooth, sleek middle name choice.

The Alhambra, which means "red city," is in Granada, Spain. British writer Ali Smith used it for a character in her novel The Accidental.

The mixed-race heroine of one of Gertrude Stein's Three Lives searches for knowledge and power.

Name of pastoral Vermont town and college sounds too stiff and starchy.

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

To modernize and add some oomph to the dated CASEY, add an O'-and also honor the great Irish playwright Sean.