The Musketeers

Image via Wikipedia

My husband and I have started watching BBC's show The Musketeers, yet another screen adaption of the popular novel by Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers. Besides the wonderful character names in the story, the opening credits of this show also provided some fun entertainment for the name-lover in me.

Alexandre Dumas was French, his 19th century novel took place in 17th century France, and the names of his four heroes were inspired by real musketeers. The famous musketeers are the secretive and noble Athos, the lover and faithful friend Aramis, and the funny and loyal Porthos. d'Artagnan is the young swordsman seeking justice and joins the three musketeers. On their adventures, they encounter the King of France, Louis XIII, his wife the Queen Anne, and the Cardinal Armand Richelieu, one who does what he thinks is best for France and becomes an enemy to the musketeers. The mysterious and calculating Milady de Winter is connected to the Cardinal and the musketeers both. Constance is married to Monsieur Bonacieux but obviously attracted to d'Artagnan, showing her allegiance to the musketeers on numerous occasions. And Captian Treville is the musketeers' leader and a great man of integrity.

While the names in the novel are authentically French, the actors portraying them in BBC's version of the story are British, or have a significant connection to Britain and names showing otherwise. Athos is played by Tom Liam Benedict Burke, born in Kent, England. Aramis is played by Santiago Cabrera, a Chilean actor who was born in Venezuela but raised mainly in England. Porthos is portrayed by Howard Charles, from the UK. And d'Artagnan is played by Luca Giuseppe "Luke" Pasqualino, born in Peterborough, England but of Italian heritage.

The villain Richelieu is portrayed by Peter Dougan Capaldi from Glasgow, Scotland to an Irish mother and an Italian father. English actor Ryan Gage plays King Louis, and Hugo Speer, who plays Captain Treville, hails from Harrogate, England. And Monsieur Bonacieux is played by Bo Poraj, born in England to Polish parents. His full name is Bohdan Poraj-Pstrokonski.

What about the ladies? These are the ones that caught my eye in the first place. Maimie McCoy, born Mary, plays Milady and is from Yorkshire, England. English actress Alexandra Dowling plays Queen Anne. And Tamla Kari, from Coventry, England, plays Constance.

I wish I knew where Tamla came from. I am a huge fan of both Tamsin and Tamar, so the name stuck out to me. Maimie is also a refreshing sight. While Mamie is the more common spelling, it is currently a less common nickname for Mary but was in the Top 100 in the United States prior to 1913.

It is interesting to note that Bohdan is the Czech and Ukranian form of Bogdan, a Polish or Slavic name. I love the nickname Bo for it. I also love seeing Benedict, Dougan and Hugo among the male actors.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite musketeer name, either from the book or the new show?

Thanks to Wikipedia and Behind the Name for help with this post.

The Sisters 8

While at the bookstore yesterday, I came across the book The Sisters 8: Annie's Adventures, the first book in a series written by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. It is about octuplet sisters solving the mystery of their missing parents. Eight sisters! Name heaven! Here they are in age order (they are each a minute apart, and notice they are in alphabetical order)...

Annie
Durinda
Georgia
Jackie
Marcia
Petal
Rebecca
Zinnia

There are nine books in the series; one for each girl and then a final book. The books' titles are great too: Annie's Adventures, Durinda's Dangers, Georgia's Greatness, Jackie's Jokes, Marcia's Madness, Petal's Problems, Rebecca's Rashness, and Zinnia's Zaniness. Each girl has her own personality that is profiled in the books and there is even a quiz on the website that girls can take to see which sister they are most like. I have not read the books, so I cannot say how good they are, but the names definitely grabbed my attention.

Most of the names are commonly heard, or at least a common word (Petal), but Durinda and Zinnia stand out to me. According to Behind the Name, Zinnia is the name of a flower, which was named after German botanist Johann Zinn. Durinda was harder to find any information on. Maybe it's a variant of Dorinda, which is a Greek name meaning "bountiful gift" and a variant of Dora.

These are not eight names I would have put together as sisters, but their variety is part of the allure. I love Annie and Georgia together, and Petal is a sweet flower name that has only been given to more than 5 babies in a year once (2010 with 8 babies). Jackie, Marcia and Rebecca are all names that are not as popular now as they once were. It all makes me wonder how these names were chosen. At least one of the eight has been explained: the Houghton Mifflin webpage discloses that Jackie was named after the author's daughter.

Which Sisters 8 name do you like best? Can you name octuplets with the same initials... A, D, G, J, M, P, R and Z?

Little Women - A Sibling Study

Two-volume Roberts Brothers printing, from the early 1870s via Wikipedia

On my Facebook page, I recently asked fellow NameFreaks what they thought would be the name of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy's little sister. I'm talking Little Women, of course, and the suggestions were fantastic. It made me want to look into the sisters' names a little more.

If we are going to look at the novel's characters, we should first take a glimpse at the one who named them. Louisa May Alcott was born in Pennsylvania in 1832 to Amos Bronson and Abigail May Alcott. In 1838, her family moved to Massachusetts, which is also the setting for her most famous novel. In fact, Little Women is said to have been based on Alcott's childhood. Louisa was the second of four sisters: Anna Bronson, Louisa May, Elizabeth Sewall and Abigail May.

For the four girls of Little Women, the nicknames go together so perfectly that when put together it is actually an alternate title to the book. But when you look at their full names, the youngest definitely stands out. It's short, doesn't have a nickname, and as you will see below, probably wasn't as popular as the other three at the time the book was written. I had a similar observation about a TV family, the Crawfords from Downton Abbey.

Little Women was published in 1868, but unfortunately, the earliest we can look at name rankings is 1880:

Margaret #6
Josephine #50
Elizabeth #4
Amy #108

Margaret and Elizabeth were (and Elizabeth still is) consistently on top. Josephine is a bit lower, but still a strong classic name. Amy sits outside the Top 100. Even Amelia, a name for which Amy can be a nickname, was ranked #96 in 1880. Amy's numbers get lower after 1880, so maybe the name was ranked higher in the 1860s.

Since the sisters in the book were modeled after the real-life sisters, let's compare:

Anna/Margaret - Anna was a very popular name in the late 1800s (#2 from 1880 until 1900). Maybe she chose Margaret because she heard it as much as she heard Anna. The fictional oldest daughter shared her mother's name, while the real youngest daughter shared hers.

Louisa/Josephine - Louisa was ranked #130 in 1880 and wasn't even the least popular name of her sisters (Abigail was #492, but also shared the name with her mother). I don't see a connection between Louisa and Josephine. Maybe she just liked it, or wanted a name with a boyish nickname to go with the tomboy character.

Elizabeth/Elizabeth - Louisa's sister died in 1858 and it is said to have been a pretty emotional event for the family. The character of Beth's death had a similar impact on the March family. I could make a guess that Louisa wanted to keep the honor of her sister's name in the book. The family called the real Elizabeth "Lizzie", however, I have seen in a journal entry written by Louisa in which she refers to her as "Beth".

Abigail/Amy - The youngest, Abigail, was called Abba and Abby as a child, but decided to be May once she reached her twenties (the 1860s). As some of you may already know or now realize, Amy is an anagram of May. So, that's where the odd one out came from.

I really have no idea if Alcott, or any author, is this analytical when choosing their character names, especially when the characters are so personal. But it's still fun to analyze. ;)

How have these names performed since the novel? Margaret has made a gradual and incomprehensible fall since reaching #3 in the early 1900s. Josephine had its lowest numbers in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s before it started to rise again. As already discussed, Elizabeth is the only one of these names that stayed consistently at the top, never ranking below #26 as it did in the 1940s. Amy also reached its depths in the 1940s, but climbed to its peak in the 1970s, even reaching #2 for a few years. Amy is now on the decline.

So, would these make good sister names today? Here are their 2011 ranks:

Margaret #187
Josephine #182
Elizabeth #11
Amy #143

Would you have guessed Margaret to be the lowest ranked of the four? Elizabeth may be considered "too popular" for this bunch, and Josephine is the only one on the rise. But I think no matter what the ranks are, the first three names go very well together.

As for a little sister to Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, the following were suggested by NameFreaks:

Katherine (Kit, Kitty, Kate)
Nancy (Nan)
Emmaline
Charlotte (Lettie)
Helen (Nell, Nellie)
Fantasia

My personal pick would be Harriet (Hattie).

Do you have any other suggestions? And please share any other tidbits of name information you may have about Miss Alcott, her sisters or Little Women. I'm always wanting to know more. :)

The information above was retrieved from www.louisamayalcott.org and Wikipedia.

Welcome to NOVember!

via mycutegraphics.com

As we enter into November, I wonder about the likability of the month's name as a baby name. So, I look into the history of it, as well as the history in general of names that begin with the letters N-O-V.

First, let's look at meanings. November means "ninth month" and was the ninth month of the ancient Roman calendar. The meanings of names that begin with Nov- usually include "new" or "young".

Now, let's look at popularity throughout history. I checked every 10 years since 1881 and listed each name that begins with Nov- along with the number of babies born with that name:

1881
None

1891
Nova 13
Novella 13

1901
Nova 23
Novella 28
Novie 8

1911
Nova 36, 5
Novella 63
Novie 8

1921
Nova 91, 5
Noval 5
Novel 6
Novella 140
Novelle 7
Novice 9
Novie 10

1931
Nova 75, 7
Novella 90
Novie 5

1941
Nova 35
Novella 74

1951
Nova 33
Novel 7
Novella 53

1961
Nova 23
Novella 37

1971
Nova 46, 6
Novella 32
November 6

1981
Nova 53
Novella 6
Novia 7

1991
Nova 20
Novella 7
Novia 7
Novian 15

2001
Nova 86, 19
Novalee 62
Novaleigh 6
Novali 5
Novella 7
November 16
Novia 6

2011
Nova 293, 41
Novah 21, 6
Novak 19
Novalea 7
Novalee 83
Novaleigh 15
Novali 6
Novalie 12
Novalynn 8
Novella 33
November 30
Novia 7

Nova and Novella have a constant presence over recorded history. Novalee, and it's various spellings, has been around since 2000, probably due to the book by Billie Letts and the subsequent movie starting Natalie Portman, Where the Heart Is, in which the lead character is named Novalee Nation. Other names I saw in the annual lists that weren't used in the years above are Novalene, Novaline, Novaly, Novena, Noveta, and Novis.

November first appeared as a given name in the 1970s, but has only recently started to make a scene (albeit a small one). The thirty Novembers born in 2011 are the most born in any year. Visually, I think it's a beautiful name and it has a pretty nickname in Ember. Out of all the Nov- names, I like Novalene or Novaline in terms of sound. But overall, I really love Novella. It is a word name literature-enthusiasts would love (a novella is a narrative that is shorter than a novel but longer than a novelette), flows nicely, and has the always attractive "ah" ending we love for our girls.

For boys, Novian has a strong sound to which people who like Adrian or Damion might be attracted.

What do you think of November as a given name? Which of the Nov- names is your favorite?

Famous Surnames

Joe DiMaggio via Wikipedia

As I was going through the list of names from 2011 for my post on boys with girl names, I noticed a lot of great "named after famous people" names! Of course, some of these kids could have been named after family members and not the famous people with the same name, or their parents just chose the name because they liked it and didn't know or care about the celebrity, but some can't help but think of the celebrity when hearing the name, so I thought I would take a look at them anyway.

Being a baseball fan, Dimaggio is a name that stuck out to me right away. The Baltimore Orioles are my team, which means I hate severely dislike the New York Yankees, but certain past and present Yankee players are highly respected in my book. Joe DiMaggio is one of them, and Lou Gehrig is another. Pat Neshek, relief pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, and his wife recently suffered the sudden loss of their newborn baby, a boy named Gehrig John. I may be a little biased, but I think baseball players provide some of the best honorary names for babies.

Other famous people (possibly) honored are authors, artists, musicians, models, athletes, designers, philosophers, newscasters, criminals, television and movie celebrities, and politicians (although I did skip President(ial) Names, since I already wrote on them). I also only took into account the names that were spelled exactly like the celebrity.

Here are a list of the names that caught my eye, along with the number of babies born with the name in 2011:

Amadeus 35 (Not his surname, but still very linked to Mozart.)
Aniston 179
Arden 175, 72
Aristotle 23
Armani 516, 377
Austen 147, 28 (Could be a variant of Austin, but I choose to think some of these are after the author Jane, especially the girls.)
Beckham 356, 5
Berra 6
Brando 53
Brinkley 71
Brolin 13
Bronte 13
Browning 9
Cagney 5
Capone 5
Cheney 5 (Do you think this is possibly another spelling for Shanae?  If so, could be a reason to stay away from variant spellings, especially if you wouldn't like people to think your daughter is named after the former VP.)
Chesney 66, 6
Clancy 14, 13
Coltrane 13
Crawford 33
Crockett 8
Crosby 301, 24
Cruise 11
Daly 10
Darwin 291, 5
Dempsey 67, 25
Dillinger 36
Dimaggio 8
Dorsey 5
Fielder 6
Fitzgerald 7
Gable 7
Gabor 5
Garland 21, 6
Garner 12
Gehrig 27
Getty 5
Grisham 6
Guthrie 12
Hanson 39
Harlow 462, 13
Hendrix 200, 14
Hogan 29
Hughes 11
Huston 18
Hutton 16, 6
Iverson 20
Jenner 50
Jeter 37
Jolie 367
Joplin 14
Keaton 802, 57
Kepler 7
Kingsley 196, 33
Kipling 8
Lambert 6
Landry 284, 212
Larson 51
Lennon 302, 112
Lennox 262, 44
Lofton 10
Lovell 17
Macarthur 10
Maguire 21, 5
Malone 7, 5
Manning 22
Marino 16
Mattingly 23, 6
Mays 7, 5
Mccartney 13, 7
Monet 55
Monroe 141, 42 (I am including this due to Marilyn Monroe, not the president, especially since the majority are girls.)
Napoleon 20
Newman 6
Newton 14
Nobel 9
Olivier 77
Olsen 10
Patterson 11
Patton 50, 7
Powell 6
Presley 1384, 123
Ptolemy 6
Reeve 33
Reeves 12
Reiner 5
Rembrandt 5
Reynolds 7, 5
Reznor 14
Ricci 5
Ripken 9
Ritter 11
Robinson 48
Rollins 7
Romano 8
Romney 5
Rooney 43, 6
Rourke 9
Sanders 14
Sandler 5
Shaffer 5
Slater 57
Socrates 7
Spartacus 6
Stiles 11
Stockton 45
Swayze 26, 5
Tennyson 34, 15
Thatcher 164
Theron 87
Thurman 10
Tierney 89
Tyson 1370, 5
Wagner 5
Whitaker 18
Whitman 24
Wilder 62
Wyland 11
Zeppelin 20

Other baseball notables: Catcher 11; Dodger 7; Fenway 5; Shea 171, 148; Wrigley 25, 14; Yogi, 7. And I wouldn't be a loyal Orioles fan if I didn't mention Camden. Most non-baseball fans wouldn't see a connection, but if your name is Camden and you are from the Baltimore area, you were most likely named after the Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Which famous surname would you use?

Romancing Miss Brontë

I'm on vacation! It's a beach vacation, which means I can sit and read a book. The book I chose to read is Romancing Miss Brontë by Juliet Gael, and of course it has inspired me to write about names.

Romancing Miss Brontë is historical fiction about Charlotte Brontë and her sisters, Emily and Anne. After doing some research on the Brontë family, I found that Emily is the only one listed that had a middle name, Jane. The three sisters also had two older sisters who died from tuberculosis, and their names were Maria and Elizabeth. A great sibset of sisters if I have ever heard one. Their brother's name was Patrick Branwell, which was their father's name and their mother's maiden name (they called him Branwell).

While the names of the siblings are alone perfectly blog-worthy, what really caught my eye was the nickname Charlotte's sisters called her: Tally. I am not sure if this is the author's creation, or if the sisters really called her Tally... if anyone knows I would love to hear! I had never heard that as a nickname for Charlotte. Charlie, Lottie, Lotta, Carly, Carla are the ones I can come up with, but never Tally. Tally, besides being a name in its own right, could be a nickname for Tallulah, Thalia, Talicia, or even Natalie.

That leads me to pronunciation. Are they pronouncing it like the word tally or like taw-lee, which would go with the sound of that last syllable in Charlotte? Like Lottie but switching the "t" and the "l"? I wonder, but the spelling makes it seem like they are saying it like the word tally. Again, not really sure how that came about, but definitely an interesting tidbit.

Besides the sisters, there are the males in Charlotte's life.  Her father, Patrick (who is Irish), and her two love interests, Arthur and George. Wonderfully common names for England in the 1800s. But another set of interesting names are the girls' pen names: Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. They are surnames that use their same initials: Charlotte was Currer (the name she used to publish Jane Eyre), Emily was Ellis (the name she used to publish Wuthering Heights), and Anne was Acton (the name she used to publish Agnes Grey). Currer is a variant of Currier, a tradesname from one who curries leather. Ellis is a name we are familiar with, as it is currently ranked #723 in the United States, and it is similar in root to the name Elijah. Acton means "oak tree settlement" and would be related to the name Oakley.

I love how books (and real life characters) make me delve into names that I would not have considered otherwise. If I were not on vacation, I might try to delve a little more, but I'll leave it to you for now. As a side question, I've often wondered what pen name I would create to publish fabulous novels. Do you know?

Jane Austen Heroes

Captain Frederick Wentworth from Persuasion (2008)

Last week I covered the names of Jane Austen's heroines. Now we will look at her captivating heroes.

The male characters of her novels have a variety of alluring characteristics, making some more attractive than others.  Captain Wentworth and Mr. Darcy are often the favorites, and their last names might be a favorable alternative to their first, especially in Fitzwilliam's case. In any case, as with her heroines, Miss Austen's heroes are the perfect group of classic names that will stand the test of time.

Edmund (Bertrum) - Mansfield Park is probably my least favorite novel by Miss Austen. I'm not sure if that has an influence on my feelings about the names of the main characters of the book or vice versa. ;) But Edmund is a strong name and one that should be used more than it is.

Edward (Ferrars) - Edward is my least favorite leading male character (Sense and Sensibility), but he is respectable and the name is a true classic with several nicknames to choose from: Ed, Eddie, Ned, Ted, Teddy, Ward.

Fitzwilliam (Darcy) - Ahhhh, Darcy. The hero of Pride and Prejudice. His last name is great, especially as a girl's name.  Fitzwilliam could be too much for a boy to carry off today, but parents could always go with William if they want to honor this distinguished character.

Frederick (Wentworth) - Captain Wentworth is definitely the most swoon-worthy of the heroes. The letter he wrote to Anne in Persuasion is by far the most romantic thing ever written. "You pierce my soul." What girl wouldn't want to hear that? As I've written before, Wentworth is an enchanting first name candidate, and Frederick is a sound choice as well. Freddy is an adorable nickname.

George (Knightley) - Mr. Knightley knew how to put Emma in her place, and he's one of my favorites for being so adept. I personally love the name George and it's steady in the rankings. Not to put a damper on it though, George was also the first name of Mr. Wickham in P&P.

Henry (Tilney) - Mr. Tilney doesn't stick out as a romantic hero in Northanger Abbey, but he has wonderful humor and personality. The name Henry is slowly rising the charts as it should. Miss Austen again puts a great first name on a hero as well as a less-than-stellar character: Henry was also the first name of Mr. Crawford in MP.


And the supporting gentlemen:

Charles - Bingley, Jane's love interest in P&P; Musgrove, Anne's brother-in-law in Persuasion.

Christopher - Brandon, Marianne's suitor in S&S.

Frank - Churchill, possible love interest for Emma in Emma.

James - Morland, Catherine's brother in NA; and Benwick, possible love interest for Anne in Persuasion.

John - Willoughby, Marianne's love interest and Dashwood, Elinor and Marianne's half-brother in S&S; Thorpe, Isabella's brother in NA. NOTE: Willoughby has also been seen often throughout the years as a given name.

Philip - Elton, rejected by Emma in Emma.

Robert - Ferrars, Edward's brother in S&S.

Tom - Bertram, Edmund's brother in MP.

Walter - Elliot, Anne's father in Persuasion.

William - Collins, rejected by Elizabeth in P&P.

Which of these would you use?

Jane Austen Heroines

Jane Austen, via The Jane Austen Society of North America

It is a truth universally acknowledged that anyone who wants to name their child a great name should look to Jane Austen.

I'm being silly of course, because there are tons of wonderful names out there. But those of us who love traditional and classic names can never go wrong turning to the novels of Jane Austen. First, let's take a look at the heroines:

Anne - The heroine from one of the most loved novels, Persuasion. Anne, the name, is simple and sweet... and with an "e". There is also an Anne in Sense and Sensibility (the sister of Lucy Steele), called Nancy, and in Emma (Emma's governess).

Catherine - The name of the main character in Northanger Abbey, as well as a younger Bennett sister in Pride and Prejudice (called Kitty). Catherine is also the name of Lady de Bourgh in P&P.

Elinor - A variant spelling of Eleanor and the main character in Sense and Sensibility. I wonder why Miss Austen chose the variant spelling (oh the questions I would ask her), especially since she uses the Eleanor spelling for Tilney's sister in Northanger Abbey. I love it either way. I also love the way it is pronounced in England... more like Ellen-uh.

Elizabeth - Miss Austen's most memorable character has the most usable name. She is called both Eliza and Lizzy in Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth is also Anne's sister in Persuasion.

Emma - The only character to also be the title of an Austen book, Emma. A favorite of mine for years, and then Ross and Rachel used it for their baby girl on the TV show Friends. It has been in the top five ever since.

Fanny - This heroine name, from the novel Mansfield Park, is probably the least used currently. Maybe it has something to do with its unfortunate use as an alternate name for our backside. Or maybe it's just considered an old fuddy duddy. But it must have been pretty popular in England in the early 1800s as Miss Austen uses it in Sense and Sensibility (Fanny Dashwood) and as minor characters in other novels.

Jane - Elizabeth's sister in P&P and Jane Fairfax in Emma (as well as Jane's aunt). My favorite name of all time. It's interesting to me that Miss Austen uses her own name in her novels, especially for two such different characters.

Marianne - The sensibility to Elinor's sense in S&S. The only name on this list for which the character changes my impression of the name. Marianne seemed a bit boring to me at first, however Austen's Marianne is anything but.


There are some more goodies in the list of side characters:

Augusta - Mr. Elton's wife in Emma.

Caroline - Bingley's sister in P&P.

Charlotte - Elizabeth's friend in P&P.

Georgiana - Darcy's sister in P&P.

Harriet - Emma's friend in Emma.  Catherine's sister in NA.

Henrietta - Musgrove's sister in Persuasion.

Hetty - Jane Fairfax's aunt in Emma.

Isabella - Catherine's "friend" in NA.

Julia - Edmund's sister in MP.

Louisa - Bingley's sister in P&P and Musgrove's sister in Persuasion.

Lucy - Edward's fiancée in S&S.

Lydia - Elizabeth's sister in P&P.

Margaret - Elinor and Marianne's sister in S&S.

Maria - Charlotte's sister in P&P and Edmund's sister in MP. Pronounced Ma-rye-uh, not Ma-ree-uh.

Mary - Elizabeth's sister in P&P, Henry Crawford's sister in MP, and Anne's sister in Persuasion.

Penelope - a character in Persuasion.

Sally/Sarah - Catherine's sister in NA.

Selina - Augusta Elton's sister in Emma.

Sophia - Willoughby's wife in S&S and Wentworth's sister in Persuasion.

I am also going to mention the name Cassandra. It is not a character in any of Miss Austen's novels, although it is in her juvenlia. I mention it because it was her sister's name, and her sister was very dear to her.  Plus, it's a cool name.

Which of these cast of characters would you use?

We will take a look at Miss Austen's heroes next week.

Wentworth: From Rare Inspiration

Persuasion by Jane Austen by reihayashi via Flickr

Wentworth Miller, the actor from the former hit show Prison Break, has a very distinctive name. He is a third, after his father and grandfather, and he may share his name with a few others in the world, but his first name is by no means a mainstream one. Jane Austen fans recognize it immediately, and the fact is the three Wentworth Millers were named after the hero of her novel Persuasion, Captain Wentworth. According to IMDB, it was his great-grandmother's idea, and what a great one it was. Such formal names may not be obviously considered as first names, but why not branch out?

Wentworth has a deep history as a surname in England and has a meaning of "pale man's settlement" or "village of the white people." In Old English, it can be drawn from the words for "winter" and "enclosure." Ancestry.com writes that it could have referred to a settlement only inhabited in the winter. It is also a place name. We can only guess what drew Miss Austen to the name, but no matter what that was, Wentworth was assigned to a character who became the inspiration for a baby boy's name.

Miller was born in England in 1972. As far as I know, there's no way for me to see if there were any other Wentworths born in England (where Miss Austen is from as well). I checked the names of babies born in the United States in the 1970s and since it is nowhere to be seen, we know there were no more than five babies named Wentworth during that time. Nor was it found in the 2000s when Prison Break was a hit. It seems to be a truly unique name (in the States at least).

(Addendum: While looking at W names historically, I have found the following instances of baby Wentworths: 1917 (6), 1919 (5), 1921 (10), 1923 (6), 1924 (5), 1926 (6), 1935 (5), and 1947 (7). I would still call that rare.) :)

I know there are many parents out there who want that "one and only" name for their child. Are there any other character surnames in literature that could be an inspiration for them? Concentrating on possible boy names, here are several that caught my eye and ear:

Copperfield - From Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. Yes, this is a big name to carry and might be more suitable as a middle name. But a character considered to be influenced by the author himself might be inspirational enough to some parents willing to take a truly unique route. Also, Copper would be a great nickname.

Crusoe - From Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. The adventurer could inspire some parents to be adventurous themselves... with their son's name that is. If Cruz is acceptable, why not Crusoe?

Gatsby - From F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. While the character himself is not one to create inspiration, the sound of it is not too far from other two syllable names that end in -y.

Higgins - From George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. I can't help but think this is a name a little boy can pull off. Of course, I also can't get Magnum P.I. out of my head.

Holmes - From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels. Everyone would know who is honored by this first name, and I don't think anyone could deduce a reason to object. Watson is another name from these stories that warrants consideration... and did inspire the parents of 42 baby boys in 2011.

Joad - From John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Not exactly from a happy story, but Joad could pass for a little boy's name... a little like Joel, or a shortened form of Jody.

Knightley - From Jane Austen's Emma. Mr. Knightley has tremendous character from which to draw inspiration. It sounds like a name of nobility with a little cuteness mixed in.

Thornton - From Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. At least nine sets of parents agree that this would be a great first name, since that is how many baby boy Thorntons were born in 2011. So while it may not be completely unique, it is still one to be considered for its strong and masculine sound (and a great nickname in Thor).

Tilney - From Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. This name sounds like the feminine Tilly, however the "n" does give it some harshness appropriate for a boy. And the charismatic and romantic character of Tilney makes it a wonderfully different option for parents.

There are a lot of situations where people are called by their last names... in the military, in service (Branson on Downton Abbey is one that comes to mind), and on sports teams. And the concept of using surnames to name children is definitely not foreign. So while it may take some deep love of a novel to use any of the names mentioned above, it only takes a brave set of parents to go with their heart and possibly start a trend.

What character surnames might inspire you to take this step?