Names from the Arts and Pop Culture
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 23 pages
of 23
English surname name
"friendly"
The surname of enterprising journalist Nellie Bly and poet Robert Bly makes a simple, modern, and upbeat sounding choice for either a boy or a girl.
Place-name
Name of pastoral Vermont town and college sounds too stiff and starchy.
English occupational name
"bellows maker"
Might be an honorific for novelist Saul Bellow, although bellowing is not the gentlest of sounds. Consider Saul instead.
Irish
"bee"
An Anglicized derivative of the Gaelic name Beatha, meaning "life," best known as the surname of Irish playwright Brendan Behan.
Hebrew
"daughter of an oath"
Popular with the Puritans, this name of the shrewd and beautiful wife of King David and mother of King Solomon could be a bit of a load for a modern girl to carry. Bathsheba is the name of the…
Diminutive of Bromley, English
"broom meadow"
Attached to one of the heroes of Christopher Paolini's megapopular fantasy novel Eragon , this name sounds strong yet sensitive. Paolini's character is named after another bestselling fantasy author…
Greek
"thunder"
This lovely surname of the three novel-writing sisters, now used as a baby name, makes a fitting tribute for lovers of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights . While the original name took an umlaut over…
English
"by the enclosure"
For fans of the (female) author A. S. ; makes an interesting alternative to Wyatt or the hotelish Hyatt.
"grower or seller of barley"
A bit too bad-boy (think bars, beer, Harley) for us, as well as being the name of a grain.
Romanian
"black"
In Shakespeare's The Tempest , Caliban is the name of the deformed son of a witch: not the greatest literary reference for a child. But Caliban does have an appealing international-yet-accessible…
German
"brave friend"
One "bald" name we can get behind, thanks to pioneering African-American author James Baldwin – though the name is now also associated with the Baldwin brothers, particularly Alec.
Latin literary name and bird name
Fringilla Vigo is a sorceress and villain in The Witcher series. Her name comes from a genus of singing finches.
"grace"
Ayn is a nonconformist name associated with controversial Russian-born writer and philosopher Ayn Rand, (born Alisa) author of The Fountainhead , who adopted it when she moved to the US in 1926.
Word and occupational name
"writer"
An occupation name with a preppy, scholarly air, Author could fit in alongside Arthur and August or Chosen and Booker, in terms of sound and style. Author saw more usage that you might think in the…
German surname
"oyster"
Fans of writer Paul Auster might consider this a worthy alternative to the trendy Austin.
Literary name
Auric is an Ian Fleming anti-hero, better known as Goldfinger. Better to go with James. Or even Bond.
Greek mythology name
"equal in weight"
Atalanta was a beautiful mythological maiden who refused to marry any man who couldn't beat her in a footrace -- quite a role model. This myth is found in Ovid's Metamorphoses and later in…
Swedish, literary name
Invented by Swedish author August Strindberg for a 1909 poem of the same name, this quirky choice is rare even in its native land but would make for an extremely eye-catching choice outside it. It…
"darling"
More popularly used as an alternative spelling to the popular Hindi name, Arun, the mythic charioteer of the dawn, Aroon is also used as an Irish term of endearment, loosely translating to "darling"…
Hebrew, variation of Aphrah
"dust"
Aphra would make an interesting choice-- especially since it's the name of the first professional female writer in English, the seventeenth century's Aphra Behn. Born in 1640, she was a prolific…
